Oh my, my, so you want a riding steer. Since we started this series on riding steers and wagon steers, we've had many calls. The callers state that they already have very gentle steers, and ask if we think the steers are trainable. The only way to find out if a steer is trainable or not is to jump right in and give it a try.

The trainability of a steer greatly depends on the environment and early experiences in which that animal was raised. Positive early experiences for the potential riding steer enhance its learning and trainability in later stages of its training. So start handling and preparing your potential riding steer and build a good social relationship between the two of you as early as possible. TLBT youth will tell you that a Longhorn calf is much more easily trained at an early age than at a later one. Halter breaking and leading can begin before weaning.

If your potential riding steer is already gentle and halter-trained, you're half-way there. Almost every one of the gentle, halter-trained steers can be taught to ride if you are willing to spend the time and effort to train it. It's generally the human who gives up before the animal. Like my dear mother used to say, "If at first, you don't succeed, try, try again." Perhaps you'll try harder to train your steer to ride since the value of your steer will be greatly increased with that type of training. Now, let's pick up where we left off in Part II with the details of training a Texas Longhorn steer to ride.

We ended with the concept of "practice makes perfect." For the start of Part III, we'll expound on that concept with the idea that "perfect practice makes perfect." If you are not practicing perfectly or precisely with your steer, you may not be getting anywhere with your training. Steer training, as with any other animal, deals with the modification of behavior of that animal. You, the trainer, have to progressively modify the behavior of the steer and his environment in such a way as to achieve the desired end result of a riding steer or performance steer. You will need to use stimuli or cues and positive reinforcement in the steer's environment to obtain the correct responses you desire from your "S'NT" (Steer in Training).

Responses are specific acts of behavior or movements of the steer which combine together to make a major maneuver such as walking forward or backward, turning right or left, and stopping. The goal of training a steer to ride is to teach it to make the correct set of responses for each of the maneuvers while having a rider on its back. You must learn to identify and distinguish the desired responses you want from your steer. When you do, your training sessions will be more productive.

To get the desired responses from your steer, you need to give him stimuli or basic cues to which he learns to respond. Start with the basic cues that are closest to being natural and practically show the steer what to do. The steer receives the stimuli or cues through its sensory systems, but your most effective means of communication with the steer will be through its sense of sight, touch and hearing.

You can use any type of cue, but your best ones will be voice commands, pressure cues, and body language to train riding steers. A halter-trained steer has already learned to respond to several basic cues for walking or leading, turning, and stopping. If you have been using voice commands with your steer in its earlier training, the steer already knows, for example, that the voice command cue "whoa" means stop. He has already learned to watch your body language for a cue to slow down and stop. The standard set of voice commands used with riding steers and wagon steers for walking forward, turning right, turning left, walking backward, and stopping is "Get up, Gee, Haw, Back, and Whoa."

It is important to remember that steers must be taught to respond to cues. Start with the basic cues and work with them until you get the desired responses. Next, present a new cue to be taught to the steer just after an old cue is learned. Be very specific and consistent in presenting a new cue and careful not to confuse the steer with mixed cues. The steer will learn and respond to specific (perfect) cues that he can identify and separate from other things that are happening to him at the same time that the new cues are presented. Try to practice as perfectly as you can since "perfect practice makes perfect."

Your objective all through the training of your steer is to reinforce what the steer has already learned, to teach new cues, and to strengthen the steer's responses to specific cues until he has learned and mastered entire maneuvers. Reinforcement is an act or reward by the trainer that strengthens the steer's responses to certain stimuli or cues. Your steer cannot and will not learn without positive reinforcement or "reward training." We humans don't learn very well either without positive reinforcement. Feed and water are natural reinforcers or rewards that can be used to strengthen desired responses and behaviors from your steer. General acts of kindness to the steer are also reinforcers, but they must be learned by the steer. Learning that the training period will end if the steer performs well and learning that fresh buckets of feed and water await the steer at the end of the training time are rewards for the steer.

Negative reinforcement is another tool that is used to train riding steers. Negative reinforcement is aversive stimuli or cues that the steer will work to avoid or get rid of if given a choice. It must cause the steer to select a desirable alternate response that leads to a reward for him. When you began to halter break and train your steer, you probably used a show stick or quirt to tap your steer on; the rump to get him to walk forward. Hopefully, he quickly learned to avoid that negative reinforcement by moving forward. You will need to use some negative reinforcement to properly train your riding steer. But don't over do it since too much of it will sour your steer. As Mother used to say, "You get more flies with honey than vinegar." An example of negative reinforcement is when a spur (you can use spurs on riding steers) is pushed into a steer's sides to get it to move, the steer makes a desired response that will result in the spur being removed. Another example is when a rein is slightly pulled on the right side of the steer's nose ring or bit or chain bridle, the steer turns to the right to avoid the harder pull on the right rein. The threat of negative reinforcement is what keeps your steer alert and learning. Stopping when light pressure is applied by both reins simultaneously to the nose ring, bit, or chain bridle is avoidance conditioning of your steer because the threat of hard pressure to his nose or mouth or muzzle is always there. A well-trained steer will require very little negative reinforcement because he has learned to make the correct, desired responses on cue.

When you work and train your steer, try to do a lot of short walks or training sessions rather than long, drawn-out sessions. If the animal gets tired or saddle sore, he may sour on the idea of being ridden. God created the Texas Longhorn to be a working animal with heartiness and stamina. We believe that Texas Longhorn steers like to work and will work their hearts out for you if you don't mistreat them. Prolonged practices or training sessions have proven to be inefficient methods of training for both man and beast.

You remember how inefficient you were when you crammed all night for your final exams. A long distance sprinter who trains 12 hours one day and then does not train again for a week will be inefficient to run the race. Fatigue is related to inefficient learning. Steers that have been overworked in practice to the point of fatigue will learn, but at an inefficient rate. You can enhance your steer's learning by using shorter training periods. This is not to say that your steer cannot be ridden for longer periods of time (after all we are talking about the hearty Texas Longhorn here), but rather that the time devoted to practicing certain maneuvers should be shortened. For example, the steer may be ridden for an hour, but practice a specific maneuver for only a few minutes. To make this experience more enjoyable to all involved, have one or more short practice sessions with your steer during each training period, broken by time out for some relaxation and rewards.

Training a Texas Longhorn steer to be ridden is something out of the ordinary. It's simply not natural! That's why you're such a big hit when you ride a Texas Longhorn steer in a parade. Many of the maneuvers and tasks that riding steers are asked to do are far removed from their natural behavior in the wild. You don't see untrained Texas Longhorns in the pastures wearing saddles and carrying riders. But you do see them walking, running, turning, and stopping which is a part of their natural behavior. Consequently, it will not be hard to teach the steer to do these things; however, the trick will be teaching them to do those things on your command while you are riding the steer. A summary of the training concept presented above is: "You present a cue to your steer to signal a desired response from him which you strengthen by giving the steer positive or negative reinforcement and rewards. Remember "perfect practice makes perfect," and "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, again!" Go for it! You can do it and so can your steer!

We welcome your calls with training tips and questions.