Colt Starting III - First Ride

Dennis Reis takes his first ride on 3 year old Prince - bridleless, using his energy and relaxation for "go" and "whoa." Click on Annotations on top right. No Dust Tour Stop in Albany Oregon July 2008

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• natural
• horsemanship
• universal
• colt_starting
• Paso
• Fino
• saddling
• round
• pen
• arena
• First
• Ride
• Dennis
• Reis
• bridleless
• Premiere_Elements_7

[Baskovia]

While I don't really think anything about riding a horse is "natural", I don't think anyone could argue that this isn't a good, gentle way to start a young horse's riding career. What a nice first ride. You did well by him.

[mysticpasos]

@Baskovia Thanks Baskovia. I think the horse expresses his opinion about his experience with people, being handled and being ridden. If they ask you to ride them, you are doing something right. Prince almost always comes to the gate and begs to be taken out by me. If I walk out in the pasture, he will leave grazing to follow me around. If you would like to see him as a five year old, take a look at the video of Prince playing follow the ball. He is a nice minded horse.

[WBRSledding]

WOW!!!  =-P

[mysticpasos]

@WBRSledding Thanks for commenting! Dennis is a great horseman and he makes this look easy. Part of it was the foundation we gave Prince, but so much of it was Dennis' clear body language and leadership. Wouldn't it be wonderful if every colt got first rides like this?

[Baskovia]

@mysticpasos, I completely agree. Thanks, I'll take a look at that other video!

[iridedolly]

@mysticpasos Couldn't agree more.

[mysticpasos]

@iridedolly No question, Prince had a good foundation: imprinted as a foal and taught to follow a feel at liberty in the pasture. During the ground session in the round pen, Prince demonstrated to Dennis that he would go to energy and slow to relaxation and wanted to stay with him. I don't think Dennis would have taken a first ride bridle-less in the arena otherwise. Thing is, first rides will make more sense to the horse if you build that in first before you get on, whenever you get the horse.

[iridedolly]

@mysticpasos I agree I record all of his shows on RFDTV and love watching him work with horses.

But as you've had the colt since birth from what I remember about watching the video, making it a lot easier to work with the colt now than it would be with say a horse you bought at 4 yo to train. You've already built that trust with the colt since day 1 so the colt knows to trust your decisons for him and make it a lot easier for other people to handle him.

[mysticpasos]

@iridedolly Dennis is an amazing horseman and Prince had a really nice foundation. I had never seen Dennis do a first ride bridle-less before this and typically Dennis will do first rides in the round pen, not the arena. Dennis must have had a lot of confidence that the colt was mentally and emotionally with him and he was right. When Prince was worried and needed to move, Dennis asked him to go and when Prince relaxed, Dennis stopped riding him & Prince stopped. That is great leadership.

[iridedolly]

Love the vid. Wish my colt would be that easy lol. Although I didnt have her as a foal, which wouldve made it a lot easier. Very nicely done :)))))