8/ DECEMBER 2020 THE RIDER MY SPIN: The First Rides In My Colt Starting Program


sensitize the horse at every age to prepare them for this job or life around humans as an adult horse. The


training never stops.


Weanling Year - 2019


Here in


this photo you see my reining filly, a weanling in this picture,


being


By Susan Dahl. It’s fall time and the next stage of my


colt starting program has commenced. I thought you’d like to follow along and see where I’m at with the progress of my rein- ing filly. As I’m writing this column, I’m


watching the 2020 NRHA Reining Futu- rity in OKC. Very fitting.


Where It All Started I’d like to take you back to April


2019 when my reining filly was born. (I have an article about the event in TheRider.com titled: Midwife Duties and on my website www.reinersuehorseman- ship.com if you’re curious.) As you can see in this photo, it shows how tiny she was. It’s easy to forget that when I see her now.


My No-Buck Colt Starting Program My colt starting program can start


with foal imprinting as in this case. Dr. Robert Miller popu- larized this technique in his book titled: Imprint Training Of The Newborn Foal. I am a big fan of this philosophy and I’ve used it for decades. I be- lieve that it is more humane to teach a foal to be used to the things that the horse is going to be around in their life. So basically my philoso-


phy and training program has always been to constantly de-


trained to accept a blanket and sad- dle pad. It’s all part of the desen- sitizing program. I am so used to thinking about taking any situa- tion I can and use it as a training session. In fact, I have an article ti- tled: “A Little Bit Every


Day” where I describe


how I take the long approach to training. Little bits of training but over a long period of time. That’s what I’m doing with this filly.


My weanling had learned


to be tied, to be blanketed, to be loaded onto a trailer, to be groomed and of course, have her feet done. All the ground manners! I used to joke and say that


I’m too short to have horses misbehave on the ground. I


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Yearling Year - 2020 2020 has been a crazy


year but I can proudly say that I got my horse started under saddle. When I used to colt start horses for customers way back, I would desensitize the horse to all the equipment, teach ground manners, get the horse used to a rider, getting on and off the saddle, teach all the voice, rein and leg cues before I got on the horse. My training program has always been heavy on the groundwork. This would hap- pen in the first week of a cus- tomer’s horse in training. Sometimes it would take a horse 10 days to be used to everything. For more informa- tion on my program, please see my website: www.reinersue- horsemanship.com. Customers used to won-


der why I didn’t do the Wahoo- cowboy style of colt starting where I lassoed the horse, hog- tied, blind-folded them, jump on and hope for a short 8-sec- ond bucking session. Are you kidding!? That only happens in the movies! When I told cus- tomers that my first ride on their horse was ‘uneventful’


never tolerated it. And since I’m going to be 60 in Feb/2021, I can say that I’m too old not to have horses behave properly. LOL I believe it gives the horse a better chance at a great life around people.


and calm, because the horse would be SO desensitized to everything by then, that they thought I was kidding. I would have to video the event sometimes. I even thought that perhaps a few cus- tomers were disap- pointed that I didn’t get bucked off at least once. Geesh! The only times I did get bucked off horses and was sent to emergency was when customers lied on their training con- tract and didn’t tell me that their horse in for other training had ‘issues’. I di- gress.


Long-Yearling -


November 2020 So bringing


you up to the present time, I had already spent 2020 getting SusieQ used to being saddled and me getting on her. On. Off. On. Off. I never get bored of it though I imagine that this will be my last colt-starting. She’s used to the bit and


she knows her voice cues and leg cues. For more information on how to do that from the ground, please see the articles


on my website.


Pony-Up One thing that I did de-


cide to do this year was to pony SusieQ in preparation for riding her on the trails in my back bush. I look forward to doing that next year. As you can see in this last


photo, I have been on her, just sitting, in my round pen. This is the 4th time I’ve done that. I have also walked her around about a total of 50 feet over a few stops and walks. I get on. We walk a few feet. We stop and sit for a while and then I get off. She’s only a long year- ling after all. That’s the advan- tage I’ve always had being a short, petite person - being able to get on a long yearling. So I have plenty of time.


I have signed her up for the ORHA 2 year old reining futu- rity and that is not until next Sep/2021! Lots of time. :)


Two Year Old Year - 2021 So I look forward to con-


tinuing SusieQ’s training next year where we ride the trails and start her in my reining fun- damentals training. I hope you enjoyed this


article. Merry Christmas Everyone! And a Happy New Year!


Putting My Spin on Colt Start- ing!


Reinersue @KISS Reiners


Foundation Reining Training Centre “Better trained horses to western riders.”


Susan Dahl B.Sc. Computer, Math


Visit our Website for More Info. & Pricing maxwellgardencenter.com


453897 Grey Road 2 Maxwell, Ont. 519 922-1479 / 1 844 564-0224


Retired Certified Professional Horse Trainer Myler Bit Certified,


judge, clinics, horse sales, writer 315538 Highway 6, RR1


Williamsford, ON N0H 2V0. 519-369-4631, reinersue@hotmail.com www.reinersuehorsemanship.com


About Susan Dahl Susan Dahl, ORHA/NRHA past multiple champion, writer, blogger, author and clinician, retired certified professional horse trainer. Owner of Foun- dation Reining Training Centre in Durham, ON. She special- izes in effective horsemanship, and reining. For more informa- tion on her services: judging, clinics or resale horses, please contact her on facebook, her website: www.reinersuehorse- manship.com


or reinersue@hotmail.com


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