Colt Starting

Rosie being laid on for the first time Our PonyPros are great colt starters! We specialize in ponies so we know how to maximize ground work and minimize ride time on young ponies. When they're ready for more miles, we're light weight enough for most ponies 12 hands and over.

For the first month of training, we are very careful to reward mental and emotional collection and avoid becoming task oriented. Our goal is to increase the horse’s confidence in her self and confidence in her handler so that she increases her attention span, becomes less reactive, learns quicker, and becomes increasingly interested in playing with humans. We work on catching, turning on the forehand/haunches, sidepassing, circling, backing up, lateral flexion, accepting a bareback pad, Cory and Spring Despooking, Week 1 of trainingaccepting a saddle, riding bareback, and riding at a walk and trot with a saddle.

The second month we continue our groundwork but begin adding more exercises that address the shoulders, hips, and topline. We do haunches in/out, shoulder in/out, halfpasses, and transitions. We use trot poles, jumps (if the pony is old enough), bridges, and hills to help the horse learn how to slit her attention between the rider and the environment. We gradually build up the amount of directing we do undersaddle, mostly working by setting up situations where we can blend in with what Kali and Heather bareback, about 40 days undersaddlethe horse offers. By the end of month two, we should have a horse that walks and trots nicely, will regulate the speed of the gaits, is soft and light, and asks questions before reacting.

Video:

Cinnamon's First Time Wearing a Saddle - 3 yo, 12'3h Sec B Welsh
Cinnamon's First Ride
Chavez Ground Work - 5 yo, 15h rescued Kiger Mustang
Chavez's First Ride
Shelby Ground Work - 3 yo, 16h rescued QH mare

Colt Starting Overview:

  • Desensitizing - tarps, balls, flags, etc
  • Jeffery Method - rub all over, lay on back, slide off rump, bareback for 3-5 rides
  • Sensitizing - yield to pressure, back, turn on HQ/FQ, lateral movement, longe/circle
  • Tack - bareback pad, treeless, English, Western, (Snaffle on request only, PonyPros is bitless)
  • Riding - walk with obstacles, trot small jumps, walk with lateral movements, long and low trot, basic collection at walk
  • We introduce canter work as the pony offers it. Normally a pony will land in a canter after a jump and from that point forward, will recognize the rider cantering in her body as a cue for the canter.

*Note- For the pony's sake, we only train horses/ponies in conjunction with lessons unless the pony is for sale. We believe that respect is non-transferrable and that you and your pony need to learn along side each other in order to progress. Our rates include training the pony and teaching the owner at the same time.

Colt Starting Rates

Training $150-$450/month
Plus $195-$250/mo board
Haul-in training $40/session