Training Tip: Colt Starting Without a Helper

Question: I am starting a few young horses and I am following the Colt Starting Series. If I don’t have a flag person, how do you recommend I do the first ride? I don’t have anyone to teach to flag. It’s just me doing it. – Cassy

Clinton’s Answer: I strongly recommend having an assistant for the first three rides because it makes the whole process less stressful and move more smoothly for the colt and you. If you can’t find a helper, you can certainly put the first rides on your horses yourself. People do it every day, and I had to do it when I competed in Road to the Horse. It’s not the end of the world, it’s just not ideal in my opinion.

I’d recommend following the same steps outlined in the Colt Starting Series, as far as what you do with the colt – flexing, getting his feet to move out, etc. The only difference is you won’t have someone on the ground helping you to get the colt moving or turning. You’ll need to be the gas pedal, the steering wheel and the brakes all at the same time. Because of that, you’ll want to make sure your colt is responsive to you on the ground and gives you a “Yes, ma’am!” response when you ask him to move his feet. If he’s got sticky feet when you’re working with him on the ground, it’ll only get worse when you get in the saddle.

It’s a bit of a different situation since it was a competition, but you can watch how I handled putting the first ride on my colt at Road to the Horse in the video series Road to the Horse. You can watch the series on the No Worries Club website or on the Downunder Horsemanship app.