by Roxanne Sapergia
Young horses are just like children and putting the right start on a two-year-old horse is just as important as finding the right school for your child.
What a colt learns in the first 30 to 60 days will stick with them throughout their lives. So to help make sure your colt has a good start, we sought out the expert advice of Jesse Thomson of 7P Ranch Horses in High River, Alberta.
Philosophy
This month, we will discuss a few of the important points Thomson believes are essential when starting colts. First of all, keep in mind that all colts will test you as they begin to learn and gain more confidence though the first 30 days.
Thomson’s philosophy is to make sure he doesn’t pick a fight with the young horses when it is not necessary. “A horse’s instinct is flight or fight, so if I have a colt that is hard to bridle or wants to scoot away when I try to saddle it, I will not make a big deal out of it,” he said. “I just take things slowly and let them figure it out.
“The same thing goes when I try the first ride. I don’t get in a fight with them and spur them into being scared or wanting to fight me, I just let them react to me in one of the several ways they might try: run, buck, or sulk.”
Thomson does add that he hopes that the young horse won’t pick “sulk” because this is the most dangerous time while riding, as the horse can flip over backwards instead of using its forward motion in a more positive reaction.
Assessment
The first day of work consists of a trip to the small round pen where Thomson watches the colt and studies the colt’s body language to determine what type of youngster he is dealing with. As he trots the colt around the round pen, Thomson explains what he looks for.
“I watch to see what type of mover the colt is. This is really important if the colt is expected to have a future in the show pen. I watch to see if he is a quick learner and is willing to show me some respect when I step in front of him.
“If he doesn’t run over me and will turn away from me as I step into him that is a good sign. Sometimes getting a colt to do this takes as little as two to five minutes or it can take as long as two weeks.” With a quick chuckle, he suggests that if it takes two weeks that is not necessarily the most positive reaction he is looking for.
Small Round Pen Work
“It’s all about ropes!” That is how Thomson describes his training methods in the round pen. “I will ask the colt to move away from me with a rope, rope the ground in front of them and throw the rope over their hips and let them run around with it hanging over their hips.
“I will rope their feet and drop the loop over their heads to encourage them to face up when stopped. When I say ‘whoa’ I can control them and stop them with the rope.”
Once Thomson has spent the time he feels the colt requires in the small round pen and it has learned some respect and is confident being handled, he introduces the saddle pad.
The Saddle
As he sacks out the colt he will rub the saddle pad over its back, down its neck, under its belly and in between and down its legs.
“Once I have them sacked out, I saddle them and sack them out with the stirrups. I will let them run around the round pen saddled and mess around with my rope as they move around.
“I will step in front of them to make sure they stop and turn both ways to allow them to feel the cinches and let them see the saddle out of both eyes.
“Most of the horses I start, probably 90 per cent, won’t buck when they are first saddled. I think this is because we are breeding better horses these days that have better minds and are more willing to learn.”
The Bit
The next step is to drop a bit into the colt’s mouth. “After the colt has accepted the saddle and is quiet, as I rope him and work him within the small round pen, I will put a snaffle bit – without reins – on him and let him pack the bit around as I work him.
“At this point if things have been going good I will move him into the big round pen. This gives the colt the opportunity to run fast and gives him the exposure he needs to fast action.
“I don’t tie my colts around anymore. I used to, but I believe this creates a fight where you really don’t need one. I might tie an older horse or a rehab horse around, but I always tie them around laterally, never vertically.”
In The Saddle
As he prepares to step on for the first time, Thomson will pull the colt’s head around on each side, and will reward immediately by releasing if the colt shows him even the slightest try.
“If they give me anything at all, I will reward them with release. This is the make or break point where your timing is really important.
“If you hang on too long the colt can’t decide what he did right and can’t determine the difference between right or wrong. A good horseman knows when to give the reward or put more pressure on the colt.
“If the colt fights, I will take him back to the small round pen and pull him around with his shank on his halter until he is willing to give to pressure.”
Once back to business in the big round pen, Thomson goes on to explain what can happen as you step up on the colt. “I will loop the halter shank around the horn and tip the colt’s nose slightly to the inside, keeping in mind that I have to read the colt to determine how much I will bend him around.
“I know some colts are going to be fairly flighty so I may even grab the side of their headstall. This will take some of the fast forward motion out of them as it disengages the back end. I will get up and down a number of times until the colt is comfortable, before getting all the way on. Once the colt is relaxed I will swing my leg over.”
What Can Go Wrong
Once Thomson is in the saddle this is where the unknown happens and the fun begins. Describing what can go wrong or right at this point, Thomson reminds us that the colt has never seen anyone up on their back with the right eye and it may spook at this point.
“By this point I usually have a fairly good idea of what the colt is going to do. Flighty, feely colts usually run. If they have bucked with just the saddle on, they are probably going to buck and if they are sulky and don’t want to move, they will stand still and lock up.
“As I mentioned before, a colt that locks up and sulks can be very dangerous so I will pull his head around to try and disengage the back end. This will free him up and let him move out.
“When things go right, the colt will lick his lips and walk away. When I find a colt that is willing to move out and be pulled around a little bit, I will get off and get back on a couple of times and then put him away for the day.”
The First Ride
On the first ride, Thomson is not looking for much. He will ask the colt to go both ways and trot. “I will ask the colt to trot but if he wants to break into a lope I will just let him get it all out of the way on that first ride. I will turn him into the fence at a trot and ask him to stop if he is really willing I might ask him to back.
“Again I am just looking for try, not necessarily a step, even if he just lifts a foot or shifts his weight back that is enough. I just want him to think about it.”
Sticking to his philosophy, Thomson explains how he handles the first ride. “If they buck, I don’t pull, I just sit in the middle like a dummy up there. If they want to run, I let them, again I don’t pull; I don’t want to scare them into a fight when it is not necessary.
“If you watch the great trainers, they all possess one thing in common: they have amazing timing and can really read a horse.
“As I feel out the colt, I try to get them into the big round pen as soon as possible. Sometimes we go through the same bucking or running routine in the big pen and I handle it the same way.”
The Great Outdoors
Step three is going outdoors into the great big, scary world where there are no walls. Smiling, Thomson says, “This is where I find out how good of a job I have done and it gives the colt a purpose and some excitement.
“They are tired of the arena and are getting bored and might start to be pushy or numb. By this point, I am looking for tons of ‘guides’ out of my colts and hope they follow wherever I point their nose.
“If they guide, they are totally in control, if once outside I loose my guide, I am out of control and we move back to the big pen to work on my guide.
“As I work on my guide I will ride with one hand a lot. I am looking for my horse to stay between my reins and keep every part of their body under me. If you watch the really good cutters, you will see that they always keep their horses straight.
“When you can lope a circle without walls and then lope out of the circle across the field in a straight line, you know they are between your reins.”
The Next 30 Days
From the start, the colt has learned to have a good work ethic and hopefully has developed a willingness to work. As the colt’s training progresses over the next 30 days Thomson will work to develop the simple basics and begin to teach the colt to stop as he melts into the saddle and give to leg pressure.
“I want my colts to want to stop, not be forced and scared into stopping. I also work on bending the colt around my inside leg and when I ride outside I will bend them around a round bale or bushes – anything to give them a purpose and something to focus on.
“I use my calf a lot instead of my spur. I want the colt to think about giving to my leg as I apply pressure; I don’t want to have to use my spur. As I lope them, I let them pick the speed, I don’t force them to slow down. I let them slow down on their own and even let them change their gait as they drop from a lope to a trot, to a walk, and finally I let them stop if they want to.
“I won’t pull on them or jerk them around; I don’t force them into slowing down. Just because the colt speeds up, my training doesn’t have to.”
Discussing some of the exercises he introduces in the first 30 days Thomson explains, “I will ask the colt to begin to give his shoulders as I move around the circle I will move the shoulders out a step.
“I will work this exercise on both sides and will also work on hip control as I ask him to move his hip to the outside for a step again I am looking for try maybe even only one step at the start.”
At the end of the first 30 days Thomson now has a colt that is relaxed and willing to learn. He should have a nice soft stop and the colt should be willing to step back. He should have control of both his shoulders and his hips and should be willing to guide easily.
Thomson finishes up explaining the first 30 days by emphasizing that he starts all colts the same way whatever their future is, be it on the ranch, in the show pen, used for team roping or as a calf horse.
“They all get the same foundation. I want my horses to be soft and trusting, looking to do the right thing and understanding when they are correct.
“I want to see my horses be happy and want to please their rider and to move away from pressure, whether it is from my leg, the bit, or halter. I am ultimately looking for them to move away from the pressure willingly and smoothly without resistance.”
Respect & Confidence
Reminding us that it should be seen as a privilege to have the opportunity to work with horses, Thomson continues, “Having a person riding a horse is not a natural thing. A horse’s natural instinct is to get rid of us, so it is our responsibility to teach the horse to respect the rider, trainer, or owner and allow us to become the boss.
As they learn to trust us and respect us, they begin to look to us for guidance and to show them the right thing through training, not by beating them into submission or by jerking and spurring them.”
Continual contact with the young horse is also a top priority in Thomson’s barn. As he explains the importance of touching his horses Thomson says, “I always have a lot of contact with the colts. Right from the start I am always rubbing and petting them, just lots and lots of hands on.
“If I have a spooky colt I tie them in the alley of our barn and ask all of my help to stop and touch them and pet them every time they walk by. This is a very strong confidence builder in a young horse and having confident young horses makes my job a lot more fun!”
Jesse Thomson shares his love of horses with his wife Elyse and their two children. The couple raise home-bred Quarter Horses on their ranch 7P Ranch Horses west of High River, Alberta, where they stand at stud their award-winning stallion Haidas Genuine Peppy. Jesse focuses on training colts and training and showing working cow horses.
