STARTING

STARTING SYSTEM

Jason’s main love is working with and starting young horses. Treating each horse as an individual but working to the same system and ‘checklist’, he starts the Grand Prix dressage horse, to the racehorse, to the happy hacker in the same calm, firm way, ensuring the horse and rider have the best possible chance to go on to be a success in their chosen discipline.

Please see our testimonials from happy clients.

Our starting system generally takes 4-6 weeks, and follows this approximate timescale.

Days 1-3 Groundwork

  • Tying up
  • Leading
  • General handling & Manners
  • Foot & Leg handling
  • Round pen work
  • Introduction of the saddle and bridle
  • Mouthing
  • Long Reining
  • Work with ‘Lead Pony’

Days 4-6 First Rides

  • 5-10mins in the round pen (maybe with a lead pony, depending on the horse’s disposition)
  • ‘Floating’ in the sandschool
  • Walk, Trot and Canter on both reins in the sandschool

During these first few rides, we are looking for forward motion and positive responses to the aids to change direction and to stop.

The horses are left tied on the yard whilst other horses are worked. This teaches them a valuable lesson in patience and also gets them used to all the comings and goings in the yard, such as tractors, other horses, dogs etc!

Week 2

  • Introduced to riding outside the arena
  • Ridden around farm (open fields, woods etc) alone and in company.
  • Opening and closing gates (an excellent way of developing control of the horse and is a big part of our starting process!)

Week 3

  • Rides become longer
  • Elements of the discipline the horse is destined for may be introduced (for example, the racehorse will go for longer, straight canters, the polo pony will be stick and balled).
  • Encounter natural obstacles such as logs, small shallow ditches and water, which will be crossed/ jumped with minimum fuss, becoming a positive experience for the horse.
  • Hacked out on (quiet!) roads in company and alone.

Weeks 4 - 6

  • Work is consolidated and we would expect the horse to be going in a settled, forward manner by this stage.
  • Manners and ground handling are also worked on so the horse is a willing loader and safe for the farrier, vet and dentist to work with.

Before the horse goes home, the owner would ideally have had a few rides on the horse, but at the very least, they must have seen the horse being ridden and be happy with the way he is going.

We recommend that the horse is turned away for a while after he has been ridden at home a few times. It is a very intense time for the horse to cope with and he will deserve a break!

When your horse goes home, you will be given a Training Summary Sheet of your horse on how he has coped with his training and our recommendations for his future training.