How to Start a Horse: Bridling to 1st Ride (Horse Training How-To)

Ground Training Exercises

"Today we’ll go over the proper way to train your horse to accept the bit, bridle and reins and in tomorrow’s installment we’ll use those tools to develop hip and shoulder control from the ground (also introducing our horses to the concept of “backing up on rein pressure” for the first time)."

~An excerpt from Day One: Bridling

Starting a Horse

"Today we began showing your horse what the snaffle bit and reins are about. We made the association 'I apply pressure to the bit; you find relief when you do something.' We learned basic—yet hugely important—concepts like 'turn your hips,' 'move your shoulders,' 'back up,' and 'always think forward.' Think of the collective exercises as a box of coloring pencils holding a basic array of colors. As your training progresses, you’ll begin mixing and matching these same basic moves, combining your ability to move the shoulders sideways, for instance, with your ability to move the hips... to create a leg yield, side pass or half pass, to set your horse up for a lead departure, to move him toward the mounting block or to close a gate. You’ll blend these abilities into as many colors as you have time and imagination."

~An excerpt from "Day Two: Bridle Work from the Ground"

The ABCs of Training Young Horses

"If you want your horse to react safely to a situation, whether it’s to being saddled or to trotting calmly next to a loud and busy freeway, then you work to instill that ability one small step at a time. If we imagine that the freeway exerts 100 pounds of pressure on your horse’s nerves, we need to first train the horse to accept just 1 pound. We get that 1 pound, then build to 2 then 3 and so on. We do this by introducing something to the horse that would startle it, getting a rise (wider eyes, snorts, head going up, etc.), then removing the stimulus before the horse moves off, specifically before he moves his feet."

~An excerpt from Day Three: Sacking Out and Saddling

Your Author and Guide: Keith Hosman

Keith Hosman lives in the Hill Country outside San Antonio, Texas and divides his time between writing how-to training materials and conducting training clinics in most of these United States as well as in Germany and the Czech Republic. He is the author of "What I'd Teach Your Horse," "Your Foal," "There's More to Training Horses," and 9 more horse training books.