Colt Starting I - Liberty

Dennis Reis does liberty colt starting with 3 year old Paso Fino colt, Prince. Click on annotations on top right for explanations of what Dennis is doing at Albany, Oregon No Dust Tour Stop in July 2008.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• natural_horsemanship
• universal
• colt_starting
• Paso_Fino
• Dennis_Reis
• upward
• downward
• transitions
• draw
• Premiere_Elements_7
• Liberty
• round_pen
• No
• Dust
• Tour
• Stop

[lauranicole83]

How is the horse at "liberty" when its in a round pen?

[mysticpasos]

@lauranicole83 Its not, of course. Still, when the horse isn't connected to you by a rope, it has more options. When it is allowed (even encouraged) to move when it is concerned, you are asking it to do what nature tells it to do. When it relaxes and you take the pressure off, you reward relaxation and build trust in the horse. Harmony comes when energy & relaxation equate to "go" and "slow" first on the ground, then on the horse's back. Dennis' first ride was in the arena without reins.

[doggieram]

this is pointless. i cant hear anything dennis is saying because of the music!

[mysticpasos]

Yes, I hated when youtube zapped the original sound. Best I can offer you is that I posted annotations to indicate what Dennis was doing and at least Dennis' body language is crystal clear so you can see his "ask", the colt's "try" and Dennis release upon that try. Horses communicate through body language , not words and Dennis is a master at communicating with body language to a horse. Without sound, that is what you are left with so turn on the annotations and see what you can see.

[GALLERO888]

interesting,,, thanx for the advice, i will keep it in mind when im Riding or Working with any horse.... thanx

[mysticpasos]

This works best if you can feel what happens before the buck (the horse's back tighening up) and ask for more effort or forward then, keep yourself relaxed (legs & seat) and keep the forward going by spanking or energy behind, then when the horse softens that back, sigh and stop riding the horse. The wrong thing (tightness) became difficult. The right thing (relaxation & forward) gets rewarded. If you wait until the horse is committed to the buck, you had better be a good rider!

[GALLERO888]

That makes sence!!!! Im just starting this horse.. i have been riding it for a week, and it buck yesterday for some reason.... I didnt get off or get buck off, i just kept goin and when i got to the round pen i worked it twice as much... but im not sure if that was a bad idea because it started to give me an attitude by wanting to buck more and not walk or trot, but i dindt let her stop when she wanted instead i worked her five xtra minutes and then stop her my self.

[mysticpasos]

If the saddle doesn't cut into the horse's back at the canter, bucking may be learned behavior. If a horse bucks and the human gets off (voluntarily or by being bucked off), that release of pressure teaches the horse that bucking works. Once the horse will pick up a canter without bucking multiple times at liberty, you can try riding the horse at the canter in the round pen. Keep your weight back & the horse going forward. If the back tightens, ask for more forward until the horse relaxes.

[GALLERO888]

thank you.. i will try a diff saddle....

[mysticpasos]

Some saddles cut into the horse's back at the canter and trigger a buck. You'll have to change saddles for that. My colt in this video had never had a Western saddle on and you'll see him hump backed a bit at the canter while he got used to it. For that, Dennis just had him move out long enough to get over his concern and that eliminated the bucking. If you teach your horse (on the ground) to go when you bring your energy up and stop when you do, you can transfer that over to when you ride.