Im a natural horsemanship and liberty trainer, as well as trick trainer, but i need some advice. I am going to start training this stunning 11 month old chestnut and white paint colt but im not sure what his training sessions should include. He seems like a gentle natured horse but is still young and not gelded yet as hes too young. He wears a halter and is able to be rugged, but i dont think he has basic ground manners and skills such as leading, picking up feet, etc. Does anyone have any ideas what i could do in his sessions to make it fun and enjoyable but at the same time educational and teaching him ground manners? it would greatly be appreciated! :)
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The only thing you really need to teach this baby at this point is leading, standing still, loading and picking up his feet. All this can be done with a dually you could also add desensitizing activities like tarps and plastic bags, etc... I wouldn't spend more than about 30 minutes a session a few days a week. Sorry I don't have a specific routine for you to follow but be creative when it comes to desensitizing him to objects, sounds and other animals.
11 months is not too young to be gelded, is there a particular reason you want to keep him entire for longer?
Since you are a liberty trainer, I would suggest you start some basic training like leading and standing still, picking up feet etc and proceed to start liberty work.
Did you watch Florian Oberparleiter's lessons on this Uni? They could really give you a great idea of how to build up a young horse. What a young colt at this age needs is short sessions and fun with his leader. What could be real fun is playing with a huge ball.....
Please keep us posted on your progress!
Miriam
I too have an 11 month old paint colt. He is scheduled to be gelded next week. As long as his testicles are down it's ok. I have spent alot of time with my colt and handle him daily working on his ground manners. With the help of Monty's videos he picks up his feet on command, loves the water, is rugged, accepts a bridle and bit, easy to worm, loads himself onto a float, adores to be brushed. I am so wanting to do a joinup - not to saddle and ride but to explain to him that I am the leader and not him. He tries to exert leadership some times and becomes pushy. The problem is I do not have access to a round yard. He is in a very large rectangular shaped paddock and it would be futile trying to do joinup there. All in all he is a wonderful, kind and responsive colt. I am thinking after he is gelded I should put him with other horses to learn the language of equus. At the moment he is in a paddock of his own. In answer to your question, I would carry on with what your doing and also do a joinup and follow up. As for starting him to ride, he is way too young but there is nothing wrong with starting him with a saddle pad and bridle to get him used to it. You could also try some light lunging in a round pen. He will not forget what he learns. Have fun both of you!
Hi qid, seems like you are doing a great job with him. Being gelded will probably make a difference to his pushiness too; we had a little section A colt and you'd think he was 17hands high the way he could push people around ;-) Six weeks after his castration he was and still is a very affectionate little guy bless him and only needs a gentle reminder every now and again. I agree with you, the faster he gets in with the other horses the better but if its been a while since he mixed with horses maybe just bring one of the group into his paddock first so he someone to bond with - not your herd leader, one of the 'middle ranks' is better - then put them both back in with the group. If you throw him in with a group he could (might not of course) get bullied while he is "learning his lesson".
Today I went down to the paddock and there was Monty trying to push me around - not aggressively, so I spent half an hour teaching him to stand still. It took quite a few tries but he mastered it marvelously and stood still for me for a good 2 minutes. I repeated it several times to make sure he got it. That fixed the bossiness and we both had fun.
I have started training him, hes going beautifully, turns out the owner wants to keep him un gelded now as she wants to breed him as hes so stunning. I started the first day with just join up and using the dually on him (the small red one fits him at some of the smallest holes) and he was awesome. It took a while to catch him and to get him used to everything as he was spooking at everything and he kept pulling back from the lead when leading out of the paddock and taking off. It took the owner an hour to put his rug on before training him and now it takes less than a minute. second session he was easy to catch, didnt pull back in the paddock, he was still spooking occasionally but thats normal in the younguns :) he was doing joinup perfectly and he was very good with the dually! we are slowly progressing awesomely! thanks everyone for the suggestions, this weekend im doing the river and the stream exercise and the plastic bags and the stick :) keep the suggestions coming!