Training

Rates

Training rates - $600 per month plus board. Horses are trained 5 - 6 days per week, with daily turnouts included. Partial training is also available.

Lessons at Leap of Faith Stable are $75/hour. To trailer in for a lesson, there is an additional $20 fee for using Leap of Faith facilities.

I also have lesson horses available if you do not have your own horse and wish to learn more about gaited horses.

If you would like to put on a clinic at your facility or would like to trailer in with your gaited friends to Leap of Faith Stable, please contact me for rates.

I board at Leap of Faith Stable in Walnut Creek, CA, one of the best barns in the area. Your horse will be exposed to 3 different arenas- outdoor, outdoor covered and indoor with mirrors and very busy trails. All horses are started with ground work, then ridden in the arenas and then onto the trail alone and with other horses. Horses will learn one rein stops, how to move their hindquarters and shoulders, bend, patterns, backing, going on the bit, stop with whoa and sidepassing. On trail they will learn to open gates, and get use to bikes, hikers, coyotes, water, joggers etc

Horses usually need only 1-2 months to put on the foundation and then I will teach the owner how to handle and ride the horse. I do not believe in training a horse and just sending it home, training only works, when the owner and the horse work together. I will not accept any horses if the owner will not come and learn how to handle the horse.

To correct gaiting problems the horse must build up muscle to be able to gait correctly and this can take up to 3 months. I believe the best training is when the horse and the owner learn together. I do not saddle break horses anymore. If interested please send an email or call 925-768-7537.

Training

I have several horses in training, please contact me a couple months ahead if you wish to schedule training.

Martini just arrived. She is a 5 year old Paint mare, who rears, won't open gates, doesn't tie, you name it. Nothing like a challenge.

These videos are after 1 day of groundwork training, but she is already much better, of course i had no one to video the first day.

Update- Stardust is doing very well, we hope to get some new video soon. he is now learning to neck rein, and has all the groundwork and arena work done. He is also doing great on trails.

Ebony is also doing well, gaits are more consistant, lovely canter, putting on trail miles, he is quite a character. His mom is determined to keep him at leap of faith and we love having them there. He is doing well with her undersaddle, now she wants more speed out of him.

Strider is going back on the trails and doing great. His fox trot is just lovely.

Fancy is now working as one of the therapeutic riding horses and is being leased. I keep her tuned up and she has become invaluable to all who have come in contact with her. Just a wonderful mare, never moody, always tries to please.

Stardust 6 year old quarter horse/pony,

Before

After

Dusty Missouri Fox Trotter, groundwork and desensitizing.

Ebony an unbroke 6 year old Tennessee Walking Horse, has been in for several weeks, his owner previously did lots of groundwork, so he is coming along very fast. We can now ride him in all the arenas in a snaffle, we have also started on some short trail rides and have taken him through water as well as over logs. He has been through our crazy park and did wonderful. He can already flat walk and canter.

Update, Ebony is now being ridden by his owner, and they are progressing well together. He continues in training.

Squirrel, rocky mountain horse, also 6 years old, recently arrived, getting desensitized to scary objects and trail mileage so he can compete in endurance competitions in the future. Update, Squirrel, has finished his training and has now gone back home!

Baylee came back for his winter tune up and did so much better with his gaits, that we have now started to work on his canter in the arena, at age 13, he has only cantered on the trail, so much fun to teach them new things. He is getting more relaxed in his gait that his stride is now longer and smoother, the owner has done a great job, keeping his training up and to think only a year ago, this horse almost passed away with some neurological issue. The vets thought she wouldnt ride him again and to think we are teaching him new things, if he can do it, think of what your horse is capable of.

In continous training is Fancy, her owner is now posting at the trot, making serpentines and circles, turn on the haunches, going over cavaletti's and going on trail rides, she hopes to jump her in the future. They have come along way, so rewarding to see.

See info and video below of previous horses, please don't give up, horses are very willing if you just present the information correctly, it is harder to teach people then it is the horses. So please try before you give up and sell your horse, they are not born with bad habits they learn them from us, so make the effort and you may be surprised just how good your horse really is.

Tess has now gone home to Truckee.

Date: May 29, 2011

I have a 10-year-old Missouri Foxtrotter mare that had been ridden progressively infrequently over the past few years. While the horse had obtained numerous blue ribbons as a 2-year-old, my lazy riding skills plus inconsistent and infrequent training resulted in a horse without matters, that wouldn’t load, couldn’t canter, was frightened all the time, and frightened me.

I brought her to Gaye for one month of training. At the end of that time, she is a completely different horse. She has ground matters, can hold all of her gaits including canter with minimal verbal and body queues, responds with respect, and can load without any difficulty at all. Everything I asked Gaye to accomplish was done, plus so much more.

Gaye’s job was to not only train the horse, but to train me. I can say with absolute security that the horse has been perfectly trained. As far as myself is concerned though, I expect to be e-mailing her regularly for advice and guidance, as we live 200 miles from her. Otherwise, we would be boarding her wherever Gaye was.

I can recommend Gaye deRusso with complete confidence for any horse issue one might ever encounter.

Tess gets a winter tuneup and learns how to canter.

Whinny gets a tune up below. Whinny was throwing his head after a mouth injury and was changing speeds in his gaits. After his tune up, he is now keeping his head down and staying the same speed, see his flat walk and saddle gait. His canter is getting slower, but it takes time to build up muscles to hold a slow canter, so this will continue to improve over time. See his gaits in slow motion and see if you can see his foot fall. Whinny is only 5 years old and is barefoot. He is a lovely calm gelding, who acts much older then his age, but he does occasionally act his age of 5 years old, he is very well behaved for 5 and very surefooted on the trail.

A ride on Gulliver for his owner, Gulliver was pulling on the bit and getting too fast in his canter. Gulliver is barefoot and previously had some training by Anita Howe, he is a lovely sweet horse and still has a big motor at age 15 and yes all horses can benefit from a tune up, especially if you don't take lessons or have a trainer helping, even the ones trained by great trainers.

Below Fancy- American Paint Horse with beautiful markings and blue eyes, shows what she has learned, after 1 month, she keeps her head down, bends, still learning to sidepass, has her canter leads almost down. When I started with her, she just leaned in, didn't bend, head was up in the air and she couldn't canter on her right lead. She is doing great and such a sweet mare.

Aires- A Gypsy Vanner Cross, learns how to bow, camel bow and park. That's right even non gaited horses can park. He and his owner are doing great and progressing well. Aires is a young horse and his owner is working very hard to guide him through his learning. He was alittle stubborn and pushy, in the beginning but now he gets sweeter every day.

His proud owner Renee above who has now jumped on the natural horsemanship band wagon!!

Client who is new to fox trotters, working on gait with her new horse, and yes he is one of my sold horses. He is a missouri fox trotter- previously called Striking Fire, now renamed Strider, he flat walks, fox trots and canters. They are doing great together and she has already got the feel of the flat walk and fox trot. See for yourself in the video. They are doing great together and now that's she comfortable, his gaits are getting much faster, then shown here.

Hi Gaye,

Just a note to say how thrilled I am with Scotty’s training! He is doing great at home, and as soon as the rain gives us a break, he will be out on the trail getting long slow miles for this year.

Thanx for the wonderful lesson, I feel well informed of your training methods and will continue in the same. I’ll let you know when he does his first 25 mile ride

Thanx again, and I may have another horse to send you in the spring!

Scotty a spotted saddle horse has recently come in to training and is doing very well. Hopefully I will get some videos up soon, so you can see his nice gaits and canter.

Glory has finished her training, she did so well, her owner decided not to sell her.

Putting on a solid foundation

Baylee had a 2 Week Winter tuneup

Baylee gait is improving and he is starting to get head shake

the last part of the video is his best gait, he is now back home with his mom.

A fool and his horse will soon be departed

Training horses with problems takes experience, timing and being able to read the horse to know how much to do in each training session. It is not for the green rider.

How do you know if your horse is trained well or maybe you just dont know how to tell him what to do?

A horse that has been trained well to start even if it is green should be able to walk behind or next to you on a loose lead, lunge, have rope or reins around its legs and remain calm, have things over its head and remain calm, stand still when tied, stand for grooming, pick up all its feet, have its ears handled, stand still for mounting, be mounted from either side, as well as dismounted from either side, back up easily from light pressure, move sideways with a light touch, put its head down for the bridle. If your horse cannot do these how can you expect it to do high level dressage, western showing or trail riding when it doesn't even know how to act. It is like an undisciplined child and will only get worse as time goes on.

If your horse pins its ears, bites, kicks, rears, walks over you, won't back up, jigs on the trail, won't leave the barn, won't go in the trailer or wash rack, someone didn't train it or something happen and no one showed the horse how to handle the situation. This can easily become a dangerous horse to you or others around you. Does your horse runaway with you? Even the strongest bit wont fix this, because when you have over a 1000 lbs pulling against your two arms its an unfair battle and I think you can guess who will win.

Some horses can be fixed in weeks, some take months depending on the problem. What cannot be fixed is their temperament, just like people some are calm others are nervous or pushy. I can give your horse the foundation and show you how to ride and handle it, but then you must decide, can you continue the learning process with your horse. The more consistent you are the better the horse becomes, the less consistent the horse will begin to go back the way he was.

Sometimes it is mostly the owner that needs the training, if you have a horse that is acting up and you have never taken lessons, maybe its time for you to get some instruction, learn how to have a balanced seat, quiet hands, learn how to use your legs and seat correctly, how to steer correctly, how to ask your horse to go sideways, how to open a gate etc. You can't always blame the horse, sometimes they are just trying to protect themselves. Does your horse run away in the paddock when you try to get him? He just might be trying to tell you something, maybe your riding him too hard every time you take him out, do you give him a break or get off on the trail and loosen the girth for a bit. If your boss worked you every day you went to work as hard as he could I bet you wouldn't like your job anymore either.

If you are interested in having your horse in training or maybe just some advice please feel free to contact me for more information.

Missouri FoxTrotter-This was one of my sale horses. I restart them all to make sure there are no holes in their training, from the ground up, it gives you an idea of what the ground work is about.

Teaching Tennessee Walker Tricks

Tennessee Walking Horse- previously had no ground manners and could not canter at the age of 10. He ended up with a nice canter and very respectful.

There are more videos of horses trained or sold on you tube, just search gderusso and it will pull up all the videos.

I can only train at the stable I am located at due to my time constraints ( Leap of Faith Farm-leapoffaithfarms.com) and would require a training fee as well as board for the facility. I charge $600/month for training.

I can occasionally come to your stable but not for full time training. Here is a link to a great John Lyons certified trainer Ivonne Gutierrez that will come to your facility for training, don't miss your chance to have her help make your horse safer and more respectful www.easystephorsemanship.com

Horses must be taught to have respect. In nature they bite, kick, rear etc to inform the other horses of their intentions. It should not be allowed with humans and it should not be considered cute. As you see on the videos, you can get extremely hurt if you do allow these behaviors or do not know what you are doing. All training should start from the ground, and when the horse is solid, then go to the undersaddle training, other wise behaviors, like lack of respect will come out undersaddle. Also it doesn't matter if the kids below irritated the horses or not, the horses should be desensitized to everything before they are around children, so no matter what the kids do, the horses should not respond aggressively back, otherwise the children should never be allowed around the horses. You cannot accept that horses just do these things, teach the horse how to behave, as they are too large to react the way they did in the videos below. Both the kids below could of been killed due to poor training of the horses and the owners allowing the kids to be around unsafe horses.

The videos below show you how the ground work really makes a difference.