TRACTABLE - TRAINABLE - TOUGH

STARTED & PROSPECTIVE GUN DOG PUPS / SERVICE & WORKING DOG PUPS
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Kid's Camp
Training
Colt Starting
Performance Horses
Gentle Colt Starting 

We believe that horses want and need confident, capable & compassionate leadership.  While consistency and discipline are necessary to establish a solid leadership role with a horse, abuse is not.  We also don't believe that harsh equipment is the answer to control - behavior modification is.  While the use of some equipment is understandable from time to time, it is never, in our opinion, a suitable replacement for a solid foundation of training.   

 

 

Training Rates: 
30 days - $300 (Iron Spike Colts for Sale)
30 days - $500 (Outside Colts - pre-enrollment assessment required)
Assessment - $50 (Required of every horse prior to acceptance to our training program)

 

Ground Work 

We do a lot of ground work before we start our colts, which is a big part of why the first ride usually goes so smoothly.  Below, I am working with yearling colt Cody Doc's Red Twist.   Twist was a kicker from the start, so our first task was to break him of that.  I will always keep in mind, however, that Twist's default reaction to fear or stress was to kick...    just in case. 

 

 

  Nobody wants a horse that won't stand.  Here Twist learns "stand" and "whoa."

 

 

Next, Twist needs to cooperate when I need his foot.  I start with with the safer front feet.

 

 

As I teach Twist to give me his head, another red roan, Freckles, learns by watching.

 

 

This colt is relaxed and trusts me.  He latches on and follows me, accepting my leadership.

 

 

Twist follows me to the gate as I leave.  Meanwhile, two year old Freckles, who has been

pulled in from the herd for saddle breaking, continues to watch and learn.

Horses learn a lot by watching - not only about the lessons, but about the handlers, as well.

Adding a Rider

Sonny, a two year old gelding, has been taught cues from the ground and is now ready to have someone on his back for the first time.  Contrary to popular belief, most young colts would rather not buck and take the chane of falling.  They feel off balance and are afraid of hitting the ground.  Riding bareback helps both rider and horse feel each other and balance together.

 

 

            

 

We want our horses to be neck reining and working off the seat & leg.  So, before adding a bit, use a pressure halter and ride bareback, so they can feel the rider's movements.

Below, Megan (right) demonstrates that a horse can work off the softest of cues.  

 

  

 

 

Saddle Breaking
Once the horse has gained a fairly good sense of balance and is reading cues, we introduce the saddle.  Below left, Meg does not yet have a bit.  We take baby steps, so we let our horses first adjust to the feel of a saddle and rider before using a bit which can be very distracting. 
 

 

 

Above right, Pep transitions from a pressure halter to a bit.  He is outfitted with both and two sets of reins which will be used to introduce, then reinforce cues which will be new to him.

 

 

After Izzy teaches him all the cues (above left) Pep can confidently be ridden in a hackamore or with a bit, as the young boy in the adjacent picture demonstrates.