The Colt Journal, Day 1

June 1, 2008

Today was Smooch's first ride. We (Smooch and I) had attended a Parelli clinic all weekend taught by Gretchen Thompson. Gretchen is a first class person and an outstanding horse woman. Along with her husband, Dan, and family of I think 6 children, the Thompsons spend summers in Montana, Winters in Georgia, and travel around teaching Parelli clinics full time. I don't know how they do it. Honestly.

Anyway, I had intended to only attend the beginning level 1, partnership class on Friday because Saturday and Sunday were the advanced class and would involve riding. By the end of Friday, Gretchen was so impressed with Smooch that she had convinced me to come back for the advanced class and was confident that she would have me riding by the end of the clinic.

Friday was all ground work. We learned the 7 Parelli games, which are the foundation for all future training. Smooch had a lesson in "who is the boss", as I found out that he is a confident and controlling type personality. Gretchen had to take him for a while and somewhere along the way of Smooch rearing and pitching fits (at one point he reared up, threw himself on the ground, and pitched a classic temper tantrum just like a two year old child, honest to God), a carrot stick (an orange fiberglass stick with a rope attached to the end) found his left eye and gave him a pretty sore eye the rest of the weekend. Didn't seem to phase him.

Saturday was more ground work, and to the disappointment of several of us, we never got in the saddle because there were so many problem horses that hadn't attended the previous day's beginner course. We did have an excellent lesson in saddle fit, and at the end of the day Gretchen took the time to help me figure out which saddle to use. As it turns out, the new Costagno I got for Amigo works just fine and is a perfect colt breaking saddle. Gretchen also helped me do a little pre check to make sure Smooch was ready. All lights green and we got a go for Sunday.

So Sunday saw a lot more ground work and more work with problem horses. A few of us were fuming by now. Finally on Sunday afternoon we saddled, went through our pre flight, and were off and riding. Parelli is unique in that the process is very thought out and controlled. The process of saddling and preparing the horses to ride lasted longer than the ride itself. But it was worth it. In level 1, there is no bridle, there is no bit. Everything is done with a rope halter and a lead rope. When ride, you use the lead rope to steer. There are no reins. You just have a 12 foot lead rope attached to the halter, and if you need it on the other side of the horse, you just flip it over his head. Very difficult to master, but I recon one you do you are at a big advantage.

The ride went well. Smooch is not a bucker. It's one advantage of breaking a colt when he is young and too small to physically buck you...he never learns that he can. We wandered around the arena, him getting used to 200 pounds on his back, me fumbling with flip flopping a lead rope back and forth trying to get him to go where I wanted. Very frustrating. But at the end of the day I was rewarded when it occurred to me that I had ridden my colt, myself, for the first time.