Maple

[katrina]

Breed: Paint
Sire: Cowboys first venture
Dam: Show Boat Willy
Age:2

After traveling to Texas this past April to take part in a 10 day fundamental clinic with Clinton Anderson I was surprised by the amount of people following our trip on face book and supporting us during our travels. So I thought I would start a training log for Maple so people can see the progress that can be made using Clinton's method.
Maple just turned 2 the end of April to this point she is only halter broke. I did her feet a few times but she is not trained for the farrier by any means..good thing I'm her farrier and I'm not paying someone to deal with her, I'm sure they wouldn't be happy.
The plan is to train her 7 days a week for 6 weeks. At the end of the 6 weeks I hope to have a horse that I can ride both in the arena and on the trial with her remaining calm and relaxed on a loose rein. She should be able to maintain any gate that I put her at and keep cadence in her feet, be soft in the face, rate my seat and be moving off my leg.
Long term plan is to show her in the Pink show this October. There will be weekly updates of Maples progress.

[Anstey]

Awesome! So upset that i'm not going to be able to see her go throughout the summer!

[Becca]

Little maple all grown up... Proud grandma moment! Haha. I'm excited to read all about this & see her in the show! You should try and get someone to video tape her progress.

[happilyeverafter]

Looking forward to hearing about her training Katrina.... the pictures from Texas were fantastic!

[blueboy]

Saw her today in the roundpen with her big girl braids turning figure eights like a pro! She's beautiful and smart!

[Rodeo]

I have an honest question. Not bashing CA or anything so don't anyone get their feathers all ruffled up.

Wouldn't working an early two year old be hard on them physically and mentally if they are worked 7 days a week?

Or does the 6 weeks consist of ground work, etc? I'm genuinely curious to how CA works with 2 year olds. Again, not bashing or anything.

[slidingstop]

its not just Clinton, Rodeo, almost all "big name" riders start their horses that young and are doing spins and stops between 2-3. Its the way the business works now, not that I agree with having them doing everything at that age but to each their own.

I would imagine that groundwork is included in her training period, as Katrina said shes just halter broke now and CA does a lot of ground work exercises, but she can confirm that herself.

you must post weekly photos of her progress, Katrina!

[Rodeo]

^ I know that, lol. Thanks though. I know its really a money business for them, and its just the horse industry. My guy was started at two by Katrina because I asked her to start him. And I don't think there is anything wrong with starting a horse at age two. Rodoe is actually doing quite well because of her basic training. I might not like the lunging issues, but I'm not going to deny that she did some great work with him.

Would I start a horse at age two now? Honestly, no. Not under saddle, but I would start the ground work as soon as I could lead them. That's me now.

Again, Katrina this is most definitely not a post bashing you or CA's methods. I might not like the guy but I'm still curious about other people's training methods.

And I do like to incorperate a bit of everything into what i do with my tooios.

[katrina]

whether you start your 2 year old under saddle or not depends on the 2 year old in question. If your dealing with a late foal, a pony, or just a colt that is under developed for its age you may want to wait till its older and stronger before you get on. If the 2 year old is average size and in good health there is no reason why you can't start it under saddle.

Clinton starts working his horses on the ground when they are 3 days old. He imprints them at birth and repeats the process later that day and twice the following day. By the time his foals are 4 weeks old they know all the ground work in the fundamental kit. Once the foals are good with the ground work he leaves them in pasture for a month, he will then bring them in and review the ground work and toss them back out in the Field again. Having said that you do have to keep in mind that you are working with a foal, each training session lasts only 10 minutes.

When you work the horses everyday you don't run into the case of "the Mondays". If you worked your horses Monday - Saturday and gave them Sunday off on Monday you spend the whole ride going over what you did on Saturday so you end up losing 2 days of training, because the day you return to work you don't teach anything new. If you work your horse 7 days a week each day you spend the first 10-15 minutes reviewing the day before but then you can teach them something new. So your never dealing with a fresh horse they are always ready to work.

Right now Maple is only doing ground work, once she has her first ride she will be doing 30 - 45 minutes of ground work followed by 30 - 45 minutes of riding.

[Gertie]

Katrina - I for one am looking very forward to hearing all about the journey that you and Maple will take during her training. I'm sure it will be interesting and positive. You started this thread to document her progress and I encourage you to do just that. The negativity and bashing from the usual suspects should just be ignored and chalked up to ignorance. A few pictures once in a while would also be great:-)

[hjcayus]

Like Gertie I am interested in following the progress you make with Maple, and seeing a few photos here and there as well.

[Enixam]

Id love to see her progress too.

But i couldve swore i saw a video of you riding and doing sliding stops on her back in march

[blueboy]

Enixam that would have been Nacho you saw riding at Rainbow Riders. He was about to turn three and was also started using Clinton Anderson's training method. There were 30 of us riding in Texas in Clinton's clinic and Nacho was a superstar.... Katrina even won $$$ right out of Clinton's own hands! hahaha

[Becca]

I have a video of nacho's second ride doing walk jog lope! I'll have to dig it up somewheres..

[Enixam]

Oh lord, im getting confused in two different horses. My bad :s