Ever since the Rocking Heart Ranch colt starting challenge, it's been really busy at Chipman Horsemanship. We have taken on an assistant to help with the workload, we have moved to a bigger place to accommodate the numbers, it's been really fun! A question that I receive often from potential or current clients is what will their horse be able to do after 30, 60 or 90 days. I thought I would just take some time to address this as best I can.
1. What can your horse do?
Before you even send your horse to the trainer, take into account what they can currently do. Do they have good ground manners? Are they respectful of your personal space? Can they be caught easily in any space? Are they good with their feet being handled? Can they stand tied without pulling back?
Ideally, horses that come to be started to ride, are able to be caught, led, tied, feet handled and have good ground manners before they arrive. This allows me (the trainer) to move directly into lunging, desensitising and preparing your horse to be ridden.
2. Basic manners are important, everything else sort of isn't.
So say you have a colt that is very proficient in all of the areas mentioned above. Not only that but your colt can also lunge, has been sacked out, tacked up and already desensitised. So does this put your colt ahead of the others? The answer is maybe, sometimes. But the majority of the time your colt still has some elements that were skipped or not done properly. This is absolutely not a reflection of bad horsemanship, and I commend everyone for working with their horses. But as you can imagine when your horse comes, we will still train it from the ground up to ensure everything is done properly. If your horse soars through, Great! If not, that's OK. But for your safety and mine, I need to make sure.
3. Say everything goes according to plan.
Yeah right,
when does that ever happen?? But really. Some horses are easy. Some horses are really fast learners, have absolutely no buck or fight in them and take everything with ease. If this is how your horse is, at the end of 60 days they should be able to walk/trot/lope in both directions, stop easily, back up, turn with ease and be moving off the leg. Weather permitting your horse will also be hauled to an arena & ridden down the road. Your horse will also be able to lunge easily, without pulling & have good ground manners.
4. SO what if it doesn't go according to plan.
Building a solid foundation is everything. There are some things that we can mix up in order but whats most important is that step 3,1,2, 1,3,2 or 2,3.1 come before step 4. AKA your horse needs to have good ground manners, be calm and focused while being lunged, sacked out, and tacked up BEFORE any riding will occur.
There are some trainers who use the "Buck them out" method, Meaning they cinch up and hold on tight while the horse bucks and bucks until it finally stops. I on the other hand am more aware of my safety and the safety of future riders which means slow and steady wins the race!
So If we do have a setback during training, it is absolutely OK to take it back a step and try again when the horse is ready.
Hopefully & Usually they will end up the same place by the time they come home.
5. What if my horse just isn't ready.
Well, sometimes your horse just needs more time to learn, or needs to be taught the things mentioned in #1. There are even some horses who will not be ridden at all in 30 or 60 days because I feel it wouldn't be safe for me or for the horse.
Trust me when I say, It's better to move slowly and correctly, rather than move quickly and cause damage to your horse's mental state. It is
REALLY challenging to repair damage, a lot easier to make sure it is done correctly in the first place even if it takes more time.
All these things considered, when you bring your horse for training we have an end goal. as mentioned in #3. HOWEVER, if your horse doesn't make it to that point in that amount of time, it is because they needed to be trained in other areas before they could be ready for the end.
The best advice I can give anyone looking to send their horse for training, is be upfront and clear about your expectations with your trainer. I will always try my best to get your horse where it needs to go in the amount of time given. In the event that your horse is not progressing at the speed you expected, have an open mind. There IS a reason your horse hasn't been ridden yet. That reason being because I am putting your horse's best interest as my first priority. If you are really disappointed with how things are going, talk to me. I understand that it costs money to keep your horse here and like any service, if you are not happy with what you are getting you have the right to take your horse back.
Finding a trainer is hard! Training horses is hard too. Trust that your trainer knows what's best and knows how to keep you and horse horse safe and progressing in a manner that is correct and positive.
I hope this made sense and some of my thoughts came clear! If you want to talk more about it get in touch and we can try to dissect my thoughts together!
PS, I AM PREGNANT!!
