Getting My First Colt

Question
Hi! My names is Amber, and I'm 14 years old. I have been around horses all my life, but I have never handled a colt before, and now I'm getting my first one. He is 3 months old right now, so I won't be getting him home until around October. Where he is at right now, he is with about 14 other horses, and has never really been handled by people. The people who have him right now say that he is shy, and he's never had a halter on him before, or any real big amount of human contact. It also takes about 2 hours to get to where he is at, and we don't go up there a whole lot. What can I do about getting him less shy around me and getting him halter broken?

Answer
Hi Amber!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!  What great fun for you!  Just a thought here to get you going on the right path...please don't "break" your horse.  Start him, train him, educate him...just don't break him.  Do you see what I'm saying.  This may seem like a fussy little thing, but attitude is everything.  I don't want a broken horse.  I want them alive, and very well educated.  

What I want you to do between now and October is LOTS of homework, and I mean TONS!  I want you to read all of my past answers on colt starting, hooking on, haltering and there have been a lot of them.  If you read them all, it will really help you.  Also, I want you to watch the Colt Starting, and Ground Work DVD By Buck Brannaman and get his little red Ground work book as well.  This clearly shows the ground work, what it is and how to get it done with quality.  Every last thing in the Ground Work book is what you will do with your colt in order to halter him with quality, load him in the trailer, and get him started on his path to being a top notch saddle horse.  

There is no easy, one line answer in starting a horse.  YOU, Amber have to educate yourself in order to offer your HORSE a great education.  So, do your homework, every last bit of it.  Then give me a shout and we can talk about your specific issues as they come up.  Much of this homework will answer a lot of your questions and really give you much better questions to ask.  Get busy!  Lucky for you it is still summer and you can focus on learning so you can really help your horse when you go to pick him up.

By the way, I really NOT impressed with the people you are buying him from.  At 3 months old, he should still be with the mare and it seems that the owners do NOT have a good relationship with the dam.  If they did, the colt would not be shy and untouched at this age.  I don't do much with my colts and I do believe less is more, but all of them could always be brushed, groomed, haltered, lead, loaded, all with the mare looking on and helping out.  I want you to also read my answers on weaning and how to get this done trouble free.  Keep me posted.  I'm a little worried about the current owners.  It does not sound like the best place to me...???

Smiles and Congratulations!  Denise