Powder and I took part in the first day of a Colt Start clinic today. She is in colt start training with Jenny, but this is a Colt Start clinic with Tony Vaught. I love Colt Start Clinics. You can learn just about everything you should know about horses when you participate in or watch a Colt Start Clinic with Tony Vaught.
Tony was in the Pat Parelli professional program for many a year and he took two Young Horse Development courses from Pat Parelli and Pat’s mentor, Ronnie Willus. You can’t get much better education than that.
Well, back to Powder. Our big excitement today was Powder getting to be ponied with JR. It was so wonderful to watch my former wonderful horse, perform the critical task of pony horse.
What does that mean… The pony horse has to be a finished horse. The pony horse has to go at any speed the rider dictates, stop on a dime, sidepass, and turn on the hindquarters…immediately!
The young horse is attached to the pony horse. The young horse has to learn where the best deal is. The best deal is to go alongside the pony horse exactly where the foal positions itself with the mom. The young horse’s head should stay about even with the pony horse’s shoulder.
(I tried to pony Velvet once with Sage. I ended up with Velvet snubbed on the wrong side of Sage, with the lead rope under the saddle. The rider of a pony horse needs to be skilled at this too.)
Being ponied is a big part of the development of the young horse. The young horse gets used to a rider without being rode. The young horse has to maintain gait and learn that it’s better to do what the lead rope sez. The young horse develops confidence when being ponied. It’s a must do young horse development task!
I’m so glad that Powder got this experience today!