By Gary Hunt
At the beginning of every training session, I warm up my colt in the round pen both ways. All athletes warm up their muscles before a work out, and this is a very important part of the training.
When colt starting, I first sack out the colt. I use my Easy Start Rope to bring the colt back to me so I can touch him with my hands. The colt is always very nervous about my touching him, but, I bring him back, bring him back and soon, he understands that my touch is nothing to be afraid of and he will let me touch his eyes and face, body and tail and even his legs and feet. That is an important step so very early in the training of the colt.
I believe it is the owner’s responsibility to prepare the horse for the farrier, and I bring this to the table right at the beginning.
Now, I go ahead and use my sack-out blanket and get the colt used to the noise and the feel of this blanket up against his face, legs and body. I always work gently with my colts, but not sneak around them so I throw it gently against his body.
I introduce all the variables I possibly can right at the beginning. By the time he accepts me throwing the blanket on him from all directions, he is ready for the saddling procedure.
Each of the five days in my program, I go over the same procedures of sacking him out and each day it becomes easier and easier. By the fifth day, there are always exceptions, but generally, a colt has no problem accepting my hands on his body and the blanket is no longer a fear either.
Once the horse has been sacked out, you can go ahead and put ground manners on him. If you teach your horse ground manners, he will have them for the rest of his life. To define ground manners, your horse has them when he learns to stand comfortably where you put him while you brush, saddle or work with his feet.
With the Easy Start Rope, I lead my colt to a spot where we will saddle and unsaddle each day. Now I put a little downward pressure on the Easy Start Rope and when he gives to it, he gets immediate reward.
He soon learns that if he gives to the pressure, it will be instantly released. Every day I give this little bit of pressure when we have found the saddling spot, and when he puts his head down, I have put him in “park.” He quickly learns that once he is in “park,” I will saddle him and he must stand still while I do it.
This is the beginning of the essentials that your horse needs for his entire life.
Gary Hunt believes the object to starting colts is not how fast it can be done, or how quickly you can get up on your colt, but rather, to focus on teaching your colt the basics to begin with.
Gary feels they need to have ground manners and know how to stop, turn both ways and back-up, as these are the essentials the colt will need throughout his entire life. By doing this, you are building up the horse’s confidence and gaining his respect.
Gary was raised West of Williams Lake, BC, where he became interested in horses and involved in the sport of rodeo. He chose bull riding as his event and in 1973 he turned pro and competed in the CPRA and RCA until 1984.
He paid his entry fees by breaking colts, and around this time, he was introduced to a great horseman, Dave Manning, who is a six-time Canadian working cow horse champion. He worked with him for several months, improving his skills and developing his own unique style of breaking colts.
A while later, he managed a Thoroughbred farm just outside of Calgary, AB, breaking two-year-old colts for the racetrack. For the following ten years, he continued to train racehorses and mastered his own program for starting colts.
Gary’s most recent project was the product of a three-and-a-half-hour video entitled Gary Hunt’s Easy Start Method of Breaking Colts.
For more information and to view an eight-minute promotional video, please visit Gary’s website at www.BreakingColts.com.
