There is no other training program in the world like ours. Michael has dedicated his life to horses and has spent the past decade refining a training method and system that will work successfully for any breed, age, or problem. Since Michael has had the opportunity to train over 5,000 horses, we know his system actually works and at a much faster rate than other programs. What takes most training programs 6 months can be completed here in 30 days, with lasting results. That's why we only have a 30-day minimum required for training. If you decide at the end of the 30 days that you want your horse to stay for longer and add more skills in, we are happy to do that and work towards the new goals you have now set for you horse! 

If your horse is under 2 years of age, we will not ride or work them undersaddle. For these horses we can only work on overall handling from the ground (leading, tying, grooming, bathing, loading, etc), groundwork to prep for riding, overall desensitizing, driving prep, ponying from another horse, liberty, and trick training.

If your horse is 2 years of age or older, we can continue with our program as detailed in the FAQ below - "What will a regular day of training look like for my horse?"

We DO NOT have a restriction on any breeds of horses! We have experience working with over 30 different breeds in a large variety of disciplines regardless of the seat (Western, English, Saddle Seat, etc.). We've handled hundreds of imported horses for the show ring as well of thousands of recreational and hobby-use only horses. It's normal for us to have 15 different breeds in the barn at any time.

We are well-equipped to set you and your horse up for success, no matter the goal!

We do not advertise that we take Mules, Zebras, Zorses, or any exotic breed, but we may make an exception on a case-by-case scenario or for returning clients. Please contact us to discuss. 

All training horses must have current negative Coggins and proof of UTD vaccinations for Strangles, Equine Influenza, Rhino (EHV 1 & 4), West Nile, EEE/WEE, and Tetanus. For the safety of your horse and all other training horses, we will be checking this prior to the arrival of your horse.

We also suggest making sure your horse has a great body condition score and has been reset or trimmed by the farrier prior to coming to make sure that we can start straight into training without any setbacks.

Our training is all-inclusive, including our onsite nutritionist. You do not have to send any feed, hay, grooming supplies, or tack...we have everything that we need to keep your horse looking and feeling their best during their time with us. When your horse arrives, we will also make sure to give you back your halter so that it can stay with you until the exit appointment. If you're shipping your horse to us, we ask that you make sure your horse is wearing a halter that you don't mind losing as this happens often with hauling companies and we do not want to be responsible for it going missing.

Yes, we offer horse trailer parking for $100/trailer during your horse's training session. We also have designated manure dumping areas if you wish to clean it out before leaving it as well. 

Absolutely! We get horses sent from all over the country and internationally. You are welcome to find your own hauler or use one of our recommended haulers. Our personal favorite is Equine Express out of Texas.

When getting quotes, cheaper isn't usually better. We want to make sure your horse arrives safe and sound!

Make sure to ask questions such as "Will my horse be hauled in its own stall or slant?", "Will my horse receive water on the trip?", Will my horse have free choice hay kept in front of him/her 24/7 while hauling?", "Will you keep me updated along the trip for estimated delivery?", and "Do you require all horses have a negative Coggins?". The answer to all of these should be YES.

As well as questions like "Are you hauling any horses from the kill pen or sale barns?" and "Are you planning to drive more than 12-15 hours (less in the heat) without unloading my horse?". The answer to both of these should be NO. 

Please take a picture of your horse before loading into the hauler's trailer so we can make sure there was nothing that happened during travel.

Yes, we can board your horse until he/she can be picked up after training. The boarding cost is $500 per week per horse

Here at Gascon Horsemanship, we have a 40 horse stall barn complete with an office, 3 tack rooms, indoor/outdoor wash pit, feed room, shavings room, and hay room. We also have an apartment above the barn where barn staff/Academy students live year-round.

The stalls are 10x12 and 12x14 depending on the size of the horse and are cleaned 6 days per week and bedded heavily with pine shavings. Automatic waterers are cleaned daily to ensure a fresh, clean water source at all times. Free-choice salt and mineral blocks are available during turn-out times. We also have "baby-proof" stalls for our mouthy and playful breeds, like warmbloods and draft crosses, who like to play in their waters and try to reach the ceiling for fun. We use fly predators and facility control as well as daily fly spray on each horse during grooming. We want your horse to look and feel their best while in for training. 

Around the outside of the barn, we have a covered round pen with seating above, outdoor round pen, covered arena, and an outdoor arena for working training horses. On the property we also have an extreme obstacle course, 1,000 acres of trails to ride on with creeks, ponds, and puddles, a fenced road with traffic and farm machinery exposure, and occasionally bicycles, roller blading, and skateboarding going on.

During daily tie time to work on patience, we have a variety of areas that the training horses will get exposure to including the wash pit, high lines, arena fence, round pen deck, and large trees around the barn. 

For turn-out, we have turn-out paddocks with electric as an additional barrier on the inside. If your horse is a taller breed, has a history of jumping fences, or is harder to catch, we have turn-outs available with 8 foot fences to ensure your horse has a positive experience and doesn't take a joy ride around the farm. 

Every horse is different and will advance on varied levels. However, the following is our typical basic standard for a horse that leaves here after 30 days as a colt starting horse.

Of course, this will vary for horses that come here with no human exposure and no handling experience. Please have realistic expectations for horses that have to learn how to trust humans, being handled, and the pressure and release system.

-Walk, Trot (Or Gait), Canter Under Saddle And Over Obstacles
-Stop
​-Back
-Trail Ride (Cross Water, Logs, Etc.)
-Obstacle Course
-Desensitizing
-Arena Work
-Ride In A Halter
-Started In A Snaffle Bit
-Direct Rein
-Intro To Neck Reining (Depending On How Quick They Advance)
-"Come Get Me" Trick
-Intro To Spinning/Pivots
-Intro To Side Passing
-Leading
-Tying
-Respecting Personal Space
-Overall Handling

If your horse has already been started under saddle and has any issues with the above, we can work through those issues as well as work on anything you want. We will do as much as we can in the time that we have your horse to reach your goals.

Other Things That Your Horse Can Learn & Or Be Started On During Training:

-Problem Solving (Loading, Bucking, Biting, Rearing, Refusing, Etc.)
-More Advanced Riding Skills (Spins, Stops, Two-Tracking, Etc.)
-Trailer Loading/Unloading
-Neck Reining
-Parade Prep
-Mounted Shooting
-Lay Down
-Sit
-Gait Work (Trotting/Pacing)
-Spooky Horses
-Liberty
-And Anything Else You May Want Or Request!

***Please Be Sure To List In The Contract Anything That You Would Like Worked On!***

All horses start through our program with Michael. After he evaluates and begins training on your horse, he will start giving opportunities for others within our facility to work with them.

For some horses, they will not leave Michael's hands the entire time they are in for training...these are typically very dangerous problem horses. The goal, however, is once the horse has learned to answer all of the questions within the grade levels for Michael, then the horse will get the opportunity to move down the totem pole to riders with different confidence and ability levels.

Therefore, your horse will be ridden and worked by other members of the team such as hired trainers and/or our Gascon Horsemanship Academy students. This helps to make your horse as forgiving as possible and used to a change of hands to prevent the dreaded "trainer syndrome." This happens in many other training programs where the horse was only ridden by a trainer with total confidence and advanced ability level so the horse was never given an opportunity to make mistakes that could be fixed. We want your horse to know that the answer is the same whether Michael asks for it, one of our students asks for it, or you do. That's part of what has made our program so successful and with lasting results!

Whether it’s Michael riding your horse or one of our team members, all training follows our Gascon Horsemanship methods and is supervised by Michael personally to ensure top quality.

For example a training month may look like this: Week 1 & 2 with Michael riding, Week 3 with Kelsey (Michael's wife) riding, and Week 4 with an assistant trainer riding...at any point the horse will bounce back and forth between Michael and the rider to make sure everything is on point for training progress. A horse that is more forgiving may move through the cycle more quickly and have an Academy student riding them that isn't as confident or asking perfectly. That's great news because that means that the horse is becoming more forgiving and will have a higher chance of success with the transition back to the owner, especially if their confidence had been hurt by that horse. During this time, all of the sessions are still with Michael with the rider under his direction to complete different challenges and maneuvers. All horses are held to our standard of training!

We understand your horse is your pride and joy. Although not guaranteed, we regularly post videos and highlights from training horses and colt starting on our Facebook page (The Horse Guru - Michael Gascon).

Due to liability of people selling horses under our name, we are no longer sending update videos outside of what is posted on our Facebook page.

Please understand that although horses are going through the training process with us, it doesn't immediately mean that they are beginner-ready/forgiving yet. Every horse will be different and we will do everything we can to make sure that you are accurately updated on our suggestions for continued training or rider type, if needed. We provide weekly updates via email, typically on Wednesdays. 

Please have patience with our response time as it may take a couple of hours for us to get back in the office after training horses all day.

Depending on the time of year, your horse may be ridden at any point throughout the day. During Summer hours, we ride horses in the early morning, overnight, and/or late evening so that horses are not ridden in the heat of the day.

Ride time for each horse will vary depending on the goals for that horse, what they are working on for the day, and how far along they are in training.

Normal Daily Training Schedule:
-Remove From Stall
-Tie In Saddling Area
-Groom (Brush, Shine Spray, Saddle, Fly Spray)
-Tie & Stand Patiently For Their Turn
-Grade School Prep (Avg. 5 Minutes After Initial Session) -- *Can Be Seen In The Horse Help Course*
-Training Session (Avg. 45 Minutes - 1.5 Hours -- Could Include: Round Pen, Arena, Obstacle Course, Park, Trails, Trails Next To Roadway, Etc.)
-Turn Out Or Extra Tie Time (With Water Access) Depending On Weather And Needs
-Full Bath (Shampoo, Conditioner, Detangler, Shine Spray, Fly Spray)
-Tie Time Under Fans To Dry
-Return To Stall
*Extra Activities May Be Added Based On Needs/Goals For The Horse

While your horse is in training, our primary focus is your horse. Since our facility is considered very high liability due to the nature of the training horses we get in, in order to have the general public on site we must shut the barn down. We charge a lesson rate of $497/hour (the same as our 1 hour clinic spots) for Michael to work with you and your horse, even if you are just wanting to visit. This is meant to cover not only Michael's time, but also to make up for the time it will take us and our staff to stay later or come in earlier to the barn to make up for the training time lost during those appointments. We are riding training horses Monday - Saturday from typically 7am-7pm CST each day so we are pretty flexible on appointment times if you wish to schedule one with your training horse. These lessons will be in our arenas or park area. If you wish to be able to do the trails and obstacle course with your horse, we suggest signing up for the next retreat after your training ends so that you can get the full experience and spend 5 days here at the ranch learning about your horse and what they've been through in their training so you can put it into action that week. Trails and obstacles are not covered under lesson liability, unfortunately. 

We never want anything to happen where a horse goes lame or hurts themselves during training, but inevitably, horses will be horses. If we notice anything that may be affecting your horse, our protocol is to notify you via the contact number listed on the training contract to discuss the best plan of action. This also goes for anything that we think may be causing issues such as an abnormal soreness, sensitivity, or unexplained pain (farrier issues, chiropractic, dental work, maintenance, etc) so that we can make sure to resolve it and make sure they are feeling their best so they can learn the best while they are here. We are used to working with problem horses and do our best to set these horses up for success by limiting any injury to themselves or others. If we feel that a vet is needed, we will contact you as well, but we will not wait to get a vet enroute to our facility. We have amazing vets that we work with and trust their abilities to take the best care of your horse until you can be reached. Any vet expenses will be the responsibility of the owner. 

If needed, we do not charge anything additional for vet care and doctoring, and we will work with the owner to pro-rate the training to accommodate for boarding-only days until the horse is able to safely resume training again. 

Please let us know if you believe there is anything that we should be aware of with your horse's health prior to your horse arriving for training so that we can best accommodate or give suggestions to set your horse up for success. 

Every horse gets 1 FREE exit appointment at the end of their training. This will be scheduled on or close to your horse's last day of training. Additional days of training after your last training date will be billed at $167/day (Pro-Rated Training Rate). Additional lesson sessions during the time of your horse's training will be $497/hour and must be scheduled in advance since we have to shut down the barn for outside appointments due to the liability with some of the dangerous training horses we get at the ranch.

During your exit appointment, you will spend approximately 1 hour going through all of the steps with Michael. You’ll get to see what your horse has learned/worked on, and then ride your horse yourself. At that time, you can either take your horse home as planned or you can decide if you'd like your horse to stay another month to learn more. Either way works perfect for us—we are flexible!

Our best and FAVORITE recommendation is to plan and schedule your horse's training for 30, 60, or 90 days prior to one of our All-Inclusive Horse Retreats

This allows you to spend 5 days with Michael and our staff while you work your newly trained horse through the Horse Help Course - Respect Series (the main steps of our training program), the Thunder Dome, extreme obstacle course, horse soccer, pool noodle jousting, trail ride, cattle work, and finish up with anything else you need or want to know about your horse.

Combining training with a retreat is a sure way to make sure you feel comfortable and confident taking your horse home and knowing that all of your questions have been answered. 

You also have the option to add additional hours to your exit appointment at the hourly rate or schedule a private retreat day with Michael.

Every horse who comes through our training program has been through the Horse Help Course. This is the Pre-K through 12th Grade steps that every horse must pass before moving on to more advanced work within our program. We've made it super affordable to get lifetime access to these downloadable videos so you can take them with you to the barn and beyond.

If your horse passed all of the grades of the Horse Help Course and moved on to the next level, they then went through some of the grades of the Horse Help College which includes Freshman year through Doctorate Degree Year 2. 

If you're on the fence about whether to send your horse for training or not, check out the Horse Help Course and see if you feel comfortable working your horse through the grade levels. If not, we are happy to help do it for you! 

Yes! We always have Available Horses that have been trained through our program using our methods. Most of these horses are born and raised here at the ranch, but we also purchase horses of different breeds for us to colt start when they are 2 or 3 years old so they can get our foundation from the beginning.