breaking in my 1 yr old horse

Question
hi there, i am thinking of getting a on year old horse and it will need breaking in but i don't know fully how to do it can you please tell me some things to do it i have been working with horses for about 3 years thanks.

Answer
Jack-
A one year old horse is a great learning possibility.  Since you won't be able to ride the horse until it is at least two, it forces you to go slow and really work on the basics of ground work.  Unfortunately I can't, without knowing what the young horse can do already, give you a lot of training advice.  I can make some recomendations however:
1.  Don't start doing a lot of round pen work until the horse is at least 1 1/2.  The repetitive circling can damage thier bones.  You can do light round pen work as long as the horse stays at a walk.
2.  If you can get up to the horse and handle it with little difficulty, you can work on putting the saddle on him for short periods and rubbing him down with ropes, blankets, and plastic bags to get him used to wierd objects.
3.  Buy some horse training books.  I have one available through my web site www.kickingbearmustangs.com  but it deals with training adult horses to ride and may not be the best one for you.  Try to find books that focus on colt training.  Get a few different ones if you can to give you a lot of ideas.  
4.  If you get a young colt - my experience is they like to rear and strike out at first.  Fillies seem more prone to turn and kick.

I think a young horse is a great way to learn and I wish you the best of luck.  Let me know if there is any more I can try to help you with.

Michael Hockemeyer
Kicking Bear Mustangs