Our program is called PonyPros because we teach kids to develop horses. We are the “pony professionals.” In this video, you’ll see what an awesome job our students can do starting colts. For this year’s field trip to Mt. Dragon Pony Acres, we brought 8 students ages 9-15 and started colts and broodmares ages 3-11.

Sion is a 3 year old Section B Welsh. He was started by 11 year old Maddie during our 3 day field trip to the Evans breeding farm. Sion had never been ridden or ground trained other than the 3 days we were there last year. The Evans ponies are taught to stand tied as foals and get their feet trimmed but are otherwise unhandled. Sion and Maddie were able to do phenomenal things together. The footage in the video above was taken over our 3 day visit.

Last year, June 2010, PonyPros spent 3 days working with Sion as a 2 year old. At that time, 13 year old Elizabeth did ground work with him, had him carry a saddle, and sat on him. Then a year later, August 2011, Maddie, age 11, gave Sion a colt start, riding him bareback, then saddled. Maddie rode him at a walk, trot, and canter as you see in this video. Sion was handsome, loving, and playful. Maddie also rode Sion through water and trotted a small jump (we don’t jump 3 years olds, but it gave him an object to step over). Isn’t it great what nice ponies and kids can do with proper guidance?

Here is a video of Sion’s interactions last year as a 2 year old:

This field trip was a total experiment. Normally we have the kids do a ton of groundwork first but nowadays they’re pretty good riders and we wanted to see what ridden work we could accomplish. This year, we set the goal of having each kid trot a jump on their pony in full tack by the end of the 2.5 days. In part, we wanted to see if more traditional photos and video would better help the breeder find homes for her ponies in this tough market. In the past we’ve done footage with balls and tarps and bareback riding in more of a NH style.

To start the colts, what we did this year was basically go out there and ride them. We had the kids hop next to them, lay on them like a surf board, then turn them left/right and back up using the reins on the ground, tap lightly with a crop to teach a go forward cue, then hop on. All 8 kids were trotting their ponies by the end of the second 2 hour session. 3 of the 8 kids were cantering their ponies by the 3rd session – proof positive that a natural approach can be successful even when a traditional outcome is needed.

Q: What do you do with your coming 2 year olds?

A: The best thing to do with a young one, I’ve found, is to have a “tidy practice”. Bring them out and stay with them until you have the mental and emotional state that you want. If you get them out once every 2 weeks and you take a 1-3 hour walk where all you do is show them what calm feels like, you’ll have a dream pony in a few months. 1-3 hours every 2 weeks is at least as good, if not better, than an hour every day. If you’re one of those people who really does work with your colts 15 minutes 4 times a day, that’s great, but ONLY if you have the opportunity to get your colt out AND stay with him until you have the right mental state. The thing is, the mental state is the important part, not the training, because a calm, people-oriented, healthy horse has the presence of mind to learn so easily he can learn a new skill in an instant.

The opposite would be a horse who has skill but it’s messy with “ritualistic behaviors” – behaviors the horse learns to think are part of a skill because he learned the skill without “calm.” For example, horses who put their head down and really “huck” to take the canter with a saddle on, but don’t do that at all in the pasture. Hucking is just something they thought was part of what the trainer wanted because the trainer didn’t have a “tidy practice” while teaching the canter.

A lot of people make their youngstock kind of jittery because they get them out, teach them something, and put them away. Soon, every time the colt sees you coming, he starts anticipating the exhilaration of learning. Some of them become “learning high junkies”, where they threaten to make their own fun if you don’t keep them entertained. Others become worriers because they’re always on a little bit shaky ground with what they know but try to keep it together. Still others become “ritualistically hot” because people move on so quickly the colt learns he’s got to be really “on” or else the hour is going to go really badly.

The number one thing we do with our youngstock is just take them on walks. The exercises we do include everything you need for the vet/farrier (pivots, back up, sidepass, jog in hand), “travel together” (our version of longeing where you walk while the pony trots, focusing on long, straight lines, often with obstacles), “get together” (our version of calm “join up” at liberty), and “migrating” together (just walking in hand and seeing the sites). We start out with just a halter, then add a bareback pad, then have them carry a saddle, and do everything bitless. My belief is that a human doesn’t deserve to use a bit until they can’t imagine why they would need one. The key is to think of the exercises and tack as distractors – deliberate distractions you set up so you can “proof” for them. The focus should be on training a balanced mental and emotional state, which makes physical balance possible.

My favorite colts have been ones that I took this “school of balance” approach with right up through their first year and a half carrying a rider. I didn’t worry at all about what they knew, just let that evolve naturally. I kept them in the right mental/emotional state by doing as little as just migrating with them, hand walking for 3 hours, or as much as really getting going to music as they got older. The key, again, was to have them mentally and emotionally balanced, which makes physical balance possible. As soon as you have “whole balance”, you have your dream horse.

PS All the words and phrases in quotation marks are part of a new vocabulary I’m developing to talk about what we do. The vocab is unique to PonyPros. I’m super stoked to have words for some of these ideas!

The PonyPros demonstrate how they caused the 3 year old pony colts to synchronize with them during their second play session. This was Day 1, Evening Session, of their 3 day youngstock training adventure. The kids used toys like tarps, jumps, hulahoops, and a ball to increase the pony’s curiosity and play drive. As the ponies played, the girls were able to blend in cues so the ponies would continue to learn about reading their body language. The PonyPros used natural horsemanship and clicker training to cause their play session to be effective and fun.

The PonyPros give an overview of their 3 day colt starting process with Evans Caron, an 11’2h, 3 year old Sec B Welsh mare. Kali discusses the various exercises that went into the process and how everything came together so Caron could have a great first experience with being ridden.

Featuring Penny learning to rear, Ilo practicing her sit, Blue’s first real ride, and Emma riding Cinnamon

Initially I had Blue out just for for an easy day. However, when we came into the arena, he acted very spooky about the stick and string. Silly man. He’s normally very good with it. So, I did the whippings and got him thinking. Then Kae, one of our 12 year old students, needed more info on how to play Hippity Hop, where you lay on the horse’s back. Since I was working with Blue, I asked him to demonstrate, since he’s usually very good. Blue spun around, protesting like he was scared, then nipped at my side. Aha! One big hint that he was actually feigning fear because he was so bored that he had to make up things to entertain himself!

When a horse nips at my side when I’m jumping next to him, it’s usually time to do the first ride. The nipping is an indication that they’re confident enough in their relationship with me that they feel they can express their opinion about things and I won’t eat them alive. Generally nipping is an indication that the horse feels he holds the cards and that the ball is in his court. So, riding will only take their confidence down to a normal level, rather than making them into a scared prey animal.

So, having been nipped at by Blue, a light went on. Mount up. So, I yielded his forehand a few times to make the point that he was not to nose me while I was getting up, and then hopped up and sat on him bareback. Blue took a big sigh and appeared glad something new and interesting was happening (I love ponies, lol). I called Gina over since Blue was supposed to be her first PonyPros colt. I passed Blue off to Gina telling her to open a rein to give him somewhere to go and ignore him when he backed up.

Of course Blue felt the open rein and backed up several times. That’s what colts do. But Gina was patient and persistent, and soon he walked forward like an old pro. They rode about 15-20 min bareback and called it a day.

The next day Gina warmed Blue up with the 7 games, rode him bareback for about 5 minutes, then longed him in the saddle (something he’s familiar with), and then rode him for about 15 min in tack. Blue was amazing, riding all around the arena with kids and ponies every which way. Fortunately Blue tends to get worked with on the craziest days, so he’s very comfortable with a full arena. He got a little gate sour, but even with 3 new visitors standing there watching, I was proud of the job Gina and Blue Man did together.

So many new things today…

I worked with Ilo on her sit. Something we haven’t done in a long time. I pushed the beanbag up to a barrel and had her leaning back on it. Ilo knows “target back” (where she backs up into a hand signal), so I transferred the hand signal onto the beanbag, using it as the target. Once Ilo could rate on the beanbag backwards, she started backing right into it and would offer leaning back with just a little porcupine or driving at less than 4 ounces. I was so proud of her! It was great to see her lowering her haunches with confidence. The beanbag, of course, is sized for 12h ponies, so I couldn’t have her truly try to sit, but we’ll try it again with a hay bale one of these days. The cool part is she has the idea and is stoked on it!

The other thing Ilo and I worked on is her piaffe. It’s really not a piaffe at this stage – I’m just teaching her better proprioception. I wanted to teach her to lift her hind leg straight under her body with confidence. It’s usually hard for horses not to lift it out to the side. So, I transferred the gentle squeeze of the tendon that I use for hoof picking to a light touch on the hind leg, and then transferred that to reaching for a pool noodle under her belly. When I touch the pool noodle to her hoof, she follows the noodle up into an nice expression of movement with the hind leg. Most horses reach for the noodle. Ilo follows it. Her way is always so unique Anyway, I’m SO excited about what it has done for her confidence and balance. Just a couple short sessions of this and her hind end has really improved. I she’s happier, too, with her increased flexibility, balance, and awareness. Who wouldn’t be?

Then there was Penny learning to rear. What a riot. Gina had been asking me about rearing since Sam and Q are both trained to do levade and pirouettes. Penny showed the same propensity as QuickDraw and when asked to go sideways, wanted to place her hind feet and lift up. Cool. That could be problematic, but only if you let it be So, after observing Penny’s propensity, Gina and I decided to capture it and transfer it onto a pool noodle.

Thankfully Penny had just learned leg targeting earlier that day, so all we had to do was place the pool noodle in the right position, tease Penny a little, and click and treat when she offered a rear. That little one has amazing balance. She could got into a pesade and pump her legs in unison 3 times rapidly like a little ninja! Most horses have to develop the balance. For Penny, it was easy. She never wobbled or had sloppy forelegs. She kept them in tight except for the time striking at the noodle She even took a few steps on her hind. How wild! We got several pictures of Penny with her pool noodle. We used one that is hot pink and matches her halter, just to be extra ridiculous

Later I remarked to one of the moms that Penny was going to have to learn to do some useful things too and Paula happily stated that she couldn’t be more useful if she tried – “She’s really a pet, after all. Entertaining is her job and she’s really good at it!” Paula is right. Penny is still focusing on the 7 games and lots of groundwork, but we couldn’t miss out on this great opportunity. Plus, just earlier that day, we’d spent an hour clipping her up, and she was a perfect angel. What other 9 month old pony with only 1 month of training would stand untied for an hour to have her face and neck shaved, never having been clipped before? Penny’s just a superstar, thanks to clicker, Parelli, and some awesome breeding.

At the end of the day Emma rode Cinnamon walk/trot for a few minutes in the saddle. Emma was super distracted, some CinCin was pretty lazy for her. That said, I’m happy to see a 3 year old pony opting for lazy instead of hot when paired with a new young rider! CinCin is so handsome that it was easy to capture a couple nice trotting pics.

Cinnamon has had about a month of training. He’s now trotting around the arena with confidence, even in a group of 8, ridden bareback by  12-year-old! He LOVES people and is such a good boy.

At PonyPros, we try to give our colts a very good first experience with riding. Here is an example of a 3 year old ranch raised colt’s first time being ridden. We start our colts bareback because they are less likely to get scared and buck. The first ride is just about getting moving and there is very little focus on cues or aids. We do use some obstacles to give the colts somewhere to go, but we use them to create a migratory flow, rather than as events. Cinnamon is learning very quickly and is an especially good boy.

Gina worked with Chloe on her release, working up to landing in a canter after a jump. Sundae got his hooves shaped for improved balance. Cinnamon played with the tarp again, then wore a saddle for the second time, and carried it over jumps. He only wore it for a short time the day before, so today was very impressive! Gina decided to name the mini Penny Lane, and we got some very cute photos of the little miss against the blue sky! Word has it she has some pinto markings under all that fur! Cuuute!