Let's look at some of those insights into a colt's or horse's mind. A colt is not born knowing that a bump from your legs means to go or that a pull on the reins means to stop. Those are all things that must be taught to him before you can advance his training. A lot of this can be taught on the ground before you do mount, making it easier for the colt to understand what is expected of him. After a colt has become comfortable carrying a bit, I run the rein through the stirrup and tie it to the back dee ring of the saddle. I always start loosely so the colt doesn't feel trapped by the sudden pressure by using a very small amount of bend.
I walk circles with the colt at first to show him what I want and how he can release the pressure on his mouth. After a few days, he learns it is to his benefit to follow the bend. Tying his head side to side teaches him to give to the bit and to follow his nose. When he pulls against the bit, it creates pressure in his mouth. When he gives to the bit and follows the bend, he immediately rewards himself. There is no room for human error such as not releasing the pressure soon enough. Releasing pressure is the best way we have to communicate to the colt that he performed correctly. When you ride this colt, you continue using the same pressure/reward method and he will turn left and right with ease. The same is true of teaching the cluck, a verbal sound, to trot, and a kiss to lope. The colt learns that these noises mean to go in the round pen and he'll associate those same noises to go under saddle. Prepping the colt in this way leaves him only to learn to balance your weight in the saddle as he learns that your legs in conjunction with the cluck or kiss means to go.
When mounted, be sure that you remain calm and quiet. Do not let your body tense as your colt will feel it. He'll think that because you are afraid, he should be afraid. This is true of the first ride or of the first "scary" bridge. Ride as if you expect him to be as calm as you are. He gains his confidence from you. If you see a truck or dog or bicycle coming at you, act as if it is nothing to fear and he'll remain as calm as you are. Your body language as you ride is perhaps that most important part of starting a colt. Stay calm and quiet so he remains calm and quiet.
Horses learn "spots" or a certain area. They remember these places, whether it is a place to stop, to change gait at, or to spook at. They learn a spot to trot at easier than they learn the cue to trot. They learn the gate is a place to stop if you always dismount at the gate. Vary your stopping place or where you change your gaits and these spots will never become a habit. If your horse has spooked at a particular area before and you tense your body because you are afraid that he will spook again, he'll feel your body and assume that he should be afraid. He will spook again. Remain calm for a few rides past that point, and he'll learn it is nothing to fear. A horse is used to following or obeying the "boss" horse. You must take over that role in his life. He is happier letting you make the decisions. He trusts you to tell him where to go and he relies on you to tell him it is safe to go there. Your body language does all of this. Ride confidently.
As you train, it is what you do last that a colt remembers best. When a colt does well and you dismount which is a big reward for a horse, he assumes he did well and is getting rewarded for what he just did. It got you off his back so he could return to his pasture or stall. This is a large part of my training theory. Never dismount when a colt is acting badly. Remain calm, insist on obedience, and go back to an earlier step if you must. Break each training segment down into smaller parts and slowly, over days if necessary, ease your way back to the step he got flustered at. Training takes time. A horse will willingly give you everything he's got if you train slowly ands methodically. Always end on a good note. Every time that you get off, that is what he remembers best. Remember that you are rewarding him for what he just did. Be sure that it is memory that you want!
Another theory that I use in my training program is "What you teach today, he will learn tomorrow." A horse thinks and absorbs what he was taught over night. He may not grasp the concept today but when you ride tomorrow, you will see that he begun to understand what you want. Use that theory to your advantage. Don't push today for something that he will give you willingly tomorrow. Give him time to think about what you have taught him.
Using that same theory, if you push a horse to perform the same thing over and over, thinking that you can force him farther along than he is, you'll find that the horse begins to change what he is doing. What he started doing so well will soon become something that he does badly. Because you push him to repeat it over and over, he thinks he has done something wrong. He will try to do something different because you keep asking. He is trying to understand what will cause you to stop asking. Ask him to repeat something three times and then go on to something else. Let him think on it tonight and ask again tomorrow. Accept small steps of progress. Give him time to learn that he will get rewarded when he does something right. It will make him try harder to please you, knowing he'll get rewarded for doing so.
Enforce obedience as you ride. When you ask a horse to perform, you must commit yourself to following through. For example, if you ask him to lope and he trots, and you let him trot instead of enforcing that he lope, you have just taught the horse to ignore your cue to lope. When you ask him to go straight and you let him wander sire to side, you have taught him that he doesn't have to go straight. Some things you have to break down into smaller pieces for him to learn, yet you always enforce obedience. He must do it to the best of his ability at that time. Beware of what you just taught the horse. Every time that you ride, think, "What have I just taught this horse?" Did I enforce good habits? Or create bad? The release of pressure is what every horse strives for. Release of pressure, whether it be of your legs, your reins, or of pushing the horse to perform, is what a horse is after. Releasing pressure within three seconds of good behavior tells a horse that he performed correctly. Correcting bad behavior within three seconds is just as important. Time your rewards and corrections. For this reason, you must know what is acceptable and what is not. Think through each and every ride. Plan your ride for tomorrow.
Work both sides of your colt so that he doesn't become right or left handed. A horse's brain does not connect as ours does. What you teach on the right side must also be taught on the left. If a horse spooks at something on the left side and then learns it is safe to pass it, but then spooks again on the right side, he has to relearn it on the right side. He is not being bad, that is how a horse's brain works. You must also condition both sides of his body. He must stretch one side of the muscles on his body and compress the other and visa versa. A horse can become one sided quite easily if you fail to work both sides. He may start out stiff on one side, but it will get better with time. He is not doing it to annoy you.
Ride as often as you can for it is that time together that bonds horse and rider. He learns to trust you and you trust him. You learn each others signals and secrets. When a horse and rider become a team, the lightest signal tells a horse what to do. Often, you can just look where you want to go and the horse obeys without a cue from you. Follow the tips in this article, look at my books on starting colts, and offer suggestions for future articles. Until then, happy training!
Understanding how a horse thinks can give you valuable insight into training techniques. This is especially true as you begin to start a colt under saddle. I give you a lot of insight into a colt's mind as I wrote my book, "10 Steps to Starting your Colt". You can order this book at www.CompleteHorseSource.com, as well as the book, "9 Steps to Preparing your Colt to Ride." Following the steps outlined in these two books gives you my 30 day training routine at Silver Creek Farm, Athens, Texas to get a colt started under saddle
Article written by Laurie Truskauskas-Knott
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