Training Your First Colt
Training young colts is at the very least an interesting time. I’m Jeff Keane; I’ll be right back to talk about a different aspect of starting colts.
Riding young horses can be time-consuming and frustrating, yet is so rewarding when everything comes together and your efforts lead to the desired response from the future ranch or performance horse. The first colt I started was a smart filly that always tried to do everything right despite the mistakes I made. That filly went on to become a good team roping and nice ranch horse. Others that I have started have been everything from good saddle horses to absolute failures. Some of the failures were my fault and some were totally because of the horse. But the sense of accomplishment in developing that first filly into a solid rope and ranch horse will always be special. My son, Eric, never rode his first one until he was out of college and had a job. He decided then he had time to start his colt. The only trouble was he was in Colorado at the time, but we met him part way and he gave that Washington colt his first ride in Colorado. Young nephew, Clint, more or less got tricked into his first colt ride by a sneaky uncle. I took his colt with us when he helped corral some very expectant heifers. When we got the heifers captured, I told him to put the reins up on his horse and get on the colt I was leading. He never had time to think about getting nervous, so when he crawled on the young horse his calmness helped the colt. There, he’s ridden his first one; I think Clint and colt will do just fine. I’m sneaky Uncle Jeff.
