Colt Starting vs. Fundamentals

I want to break my colt to ride using the Method, should I get the Colt Starting Series or the Fundamentals Series? That’s a common question we get asked by our customers, and the answer is, if you want to do a thorough job, you’ll need both. If you’re on a tight budget and can only afford one kit at a time, get the Fundamentals Series to start. The series will give you the tools to earn the colt’s trust and respect on the ground. The same groundwork exercises (plus additional exercises) are covered in the Colt Starting Series, just not in as much detail. By the time your horse is ready to start under saddle, you’ll have earned his respect and he’ll be a calm, safe horse. Then you can use the Colt Starting Series to prepare him for his first ride and take him safely through the first three rides and beyond. In the Fundamentals Series, Clinton does not explain how to introduce the saddle to the horse, prepare a horse for feeling a rider’s weight, how to bridle a horse, etc.; the series assumes the horse is broke to ride. The Colt Starting Series goes into great detail about all of those topics and more, such as how to transition the colt from the hackamore to the snaffle bit, handling feet, bathing and riding the colt out on the trail for the first time.

Once you’ve started the colt and have the first three rides under him, then you can pick up the Fundamentals again to teach him the riding exercises that include steering, suppling the five body parts, backing up and the start of vertical flexion.