It's just fittin'

A guy would pull his stud from the gelding pasture, do a little washing and clip around the edges. About the most complicated part was making sure the horse would trot with a slack shank and stand square when the judge walked by. Usually, once the halter class ended, the guy threw on a saddle, bridled his horse and trotted off for the other events.

"You have to be dedicated," said world champion showman Ted Turner. "It's something you need to do everyday"

He ought to know. At the end of a lead rope, this Texas trainer holds 34 AQHA world championships and has fitted and trained many of the world's best halter horses.

He knows the business inside out. His tips are simple, succinct and require a whole lot of work and attention to detail. "Everything we do is repetition," Turner said. "We do the same thing everyday, six days a week and on Sunday, everybody takes a day off."

He's not kidding. Turner has his routine down to a science that has no room for elasticity. It's as firm as the muscular horses he leads into the ring. It begins at breakfast time and ends at dinner.

"We feed every morning at 7 and every evening at 5," Turner said. "If you know me or have ever been around me, it's doesn't matter what I'm doing, I'm always there to feed at 7, always feed at 5, seven days a week, 365 days a year."

The rest of Tuner's regimen is applied with the same precision.

"When we feed at 7, we start vacuuming horses and putting sweats on the horses," he said. "They're tied in front of their feed."

Within 90 or so minutes, every horse in the barn has been vacuumed and strapped into a snug neck sweat. Exercise takes place between 9 a.m. and noon. After an hour-long lunch, sweats are removed, all the horses are groomed and then returned to stalls where they remain tied until 4:30 p.m., when they are brushed one last time and turned loose.

"We do this six days a week," Turner reiterated. "On Sunday, they get vacuumed in the morning and everybody gets the rest of the day off."

Summer is the one and only time the habit changes.

"It gets extremely hot in Texas," Turner said. "When it's like that, we may not sweat as long or work as hard. When it's 95 degrees at 7 in the morning, we might not even work them with sweats on because they just can't take it."

Talk about a well-oiled machine. Through trial and error, Turner has created a system that works for him. And while it all sounds so matter of fact, so scheduled, his program is really very flexible so that it custom fits each and every horse that he prepares, trains and shows.

"No two horses are the same," Turner said. "No two horses get exactly the same amount of feed. No two horses get the same amount of hay. No two horses work exactly alike. All horses are individuals and they get treated that way."

What does it take?

How does a trainer know he's got a world champion prospect in that unproven weanling?

What does Turner look for?

"I want a horse to be pretty," he said. "I like pretty heads, pretty necks and a lot of balance. The easiest way to describe balance is if you put a horse on a teeter-totter, he would balance the teeter-totter."

Apparently, the quest for the next incredible specimen like the world champion stallion Mr Elusive is, well, becoming more elusive.

"When I'm at places looking at horses, it seems like they're harder to find all the time," Turner said. "I think we have bred so much for specialty that I don't know if there are as many good ones as there used to be."

Once a horse passes muster and comes to Turner's barn, the conditioning process begins.

"There's no easy or quick way to get one ready in a hurry," Turner said flatly. "To get one really ready, it takes at least six months, but you do it through repetition. Get on a routine and stay on a routine - that's the most important thing." According to Turner, the proper fitting is a process that starts from the inside and goes out.

"The first thing we do when we get horses in is make sure they are de-wormed," he said.

He rotates the worming products and makes sure the medicine is given every 30-45 days. Additionally, every horse has its own vaccination schedule.

As for mealtime, the Turner menu is as basic as it gets.

"We feed two things; we feed steam rolled oats and alfalfa hay," he said. "We do feed some DAK supplements to try to balance everything out."

Although the amounts vary from horse to horse, the combination of oats and hay remains the same.

A subtle medium between observation and adjustment is the only way to regulate how much feed a horse needs to grow and maintain its show conditioning. As a starting point, Turner gives his horses a gallon of grain in the morning and another gallon at night.

"Just see how they come around and if they're gaining weight," he said. "The horse will tell you. I feed my own horses every day, so I look at each horse every day and can tell if he needs more or less."

Interestingly enough, different shows require unique levels of fitting.

"At the Congress, you can get away with a horse being 50 pounds lighter," Turner explained. "There, you show in a smaller pen, so you don't have to have as much weight on them."

Once the Ohio event is over, the Turner barn ups its daily feed times to three, morning, noon and night, in preparation for Oklahoma City.

"When you get to the World Show, you need to have another 50 pounds on your horse because it's a huge arena," he said.

The workout

For a well-fitted halter horse, an exercise program is just as important as carbohydrates and proteins. Turner used to work his horses in a round pen, but now they're ponyed behind a four-wheeler across a five-acre pasture.

"I think it's better for the horses to go in a straight line," Turner said. "I think it's not only good physically, but it's good mentally because they get to get out, get to look around and don't have to go in little, tight circles."

While he likes to lope his horses, Turner makes sure he starts slowly, perhaps for a couple of minutes a day, and builds from there. Eventually, his horses reach a point where they are loping 10 or 12 minutes per session.

"There's no set time," he said. "I don't time anything; when I feel like they've had enough I quit."

Loping may be the gait of choice for healthy backs and firm tone, but Turner is careful to gauge workouts according to the horse's ability and tolerance. With former world champion stallion Mr Elusive, Turner had to tone down the exercise. Because of the horse's tremendous size, loping was side-passed and instead the stallion was put through a 20-minute straight line jogging routine.

"Use common sense and observe your horse every day, so you can pick up on what you can and can't do," Turner added. Slower workouts bide especially well for young horses and their still developing legs.

"We might hand walk or hand jog them 10 minutes in a straight line," Turner said. "You take them out on the grass, just make them jog right next to you. You don't think you could get one ready that way, but you can if you do it everyday."

It's common that Turner breaks his 2-year-olds to ride. Even Mr Elusive spent some time under the saddle.

"I think it's good for them and good for their mind," Turner said.

Stretching is another suggestion for horses that tend to be stiff in the front end. Picking up the front foot, extending it forward and gently pulling it upward stretches the tendons.

"It seems pretty simple, but you just can't believe how much they enjoy it," Turner said. "Mr Elusive is a good example. He was real big and just grew faster than his legs and tendons wanted to. In order to help him, we stretched him three times a day."

Lastly, Turner takes steps to avoid injury by using good bell boots during all exercise. Even when he's hauling his horses long distances, Turner relies on bell boots over leg wraps.

Working magic

Lessons go right along with nutrition and exercise. A horse might be the best looking in the class, but if he's got a hind foot pointed to left field you might as well head for the out-gate. According to Turner, teaching a horse to stop and stand perfectly still is the foundation.

"The first word in the halter horse dictionary is 'whoa,' " he said. "When they know 'whoa,' no matter what happens, they're going to know how to stop."

Incorporating sound and foot signals, Turner directs a horse to perfect posture in seconds. He makes it look downright easy and it all comes back learning when to stop.

"Once they learn the word 'whoa' and can stand still, then you start teaching them to plant the off-side foot," he said. "Move it back and forth until you get it where you want it. When it gets to the spot where you want it, you say 'whoa.' "

Just like the other ingredients, consistenancy and repetition are keys to effective training. It's also imperative to recognize quitting time.

"You have to do it every day," Turner stressed. "But once they're broke to stand and show, I don't stand them up at home at all. I think they get tired of it."

Some Ted Turner particulars

Each trainer has his or her own way of doing things. As far as horse trainers go, the halter guys have to double up as performance trainers and beauty consultants. Basically, a horse has to look perfect to make it in the ultra-competitive world of halter.

Long hair is not the halter horse's friend. While blankets do their part, Turner swears by an aggressive lighting system in his barn.

"Our horses think it's spring or summer the whole year round," he said. "We use a 300-watt bulb in every stall. Lights go on at 6 in the morning and go off at 11 at night."

Halter trainers are forever warring at the front white line disease, stubborn condition that affects the wall of the hoof. To prevent the highly infectious scourge, Turner is vigilant about daily hoof cleaning and treatment with iodine. This, he maintained, is the best and most affordable product on the market.

"Iodine will kill any infection or disease in the foot," he said.

Another strategy is to avoid water.

"I don't like to put water on horses at all, period," Turner said. "You don't need to put water on their feet because that softens their feet, plus, it fuels the fire on the white line disease."

If the horse gets wet or muddy, Turner suggests a good towel wipe down followed by rubber curry job to the body, rubber mitten rub for the legs and wire brushing to the hooves.

But when it's 100-plus degrees in the Texas summer, Turner has to change his own rules.

"I might rinse them off once a week," he said. "When we do, we seal their feet with some sort of hoof dressing so the water beads off."

There are countless techniques and theories Turner has applied over the years. His decades in the Quarter Horse business have taught him how to make a champion. He's got the numbers to prove it. Yet, with all this success, it boils down to his affinity for fine horses.

"You have to be dedicated," he repeated. "For me, I can't wait to get up every morning to go to the barn to feed my horses. This is my passion."

For Turner, halter horses are more than a job.

"I love what I do - this is what I do, this is what I am," he said.