I love the saying, “First Class Foundations equal First Place Finishes”.The foundation we put on our colt determines how they will succeed in their future career. We want to set them up for success in any career we choose for them. We want them to understand  their role in our relationship and what expectations we have of them. Like Ray Hunt said, “Make the Wrong thing Difficult and the Right thing easy.” 

A client mentioned how much her two year old would benefit from my Confidence Course Clinic. While I had welcomed a few colts into the clinic over the years, I found having folks riding with people also working colts on the ground clogged up the flow through the obstacles. Thus, the Confident Colt Clinic was born! 

This clinic is a Groundwork ONLY clinic. It is designed for the weanling to the unstarted adult horse.  This clinic helps set your colt up to follow a feel, pick up their feet, send over and through obstacles, gain exposure to sensory and auditory obstacles.  It teaches them to trust in you as you introduce various experiences to them and encourages them to bring their mind and focus back to you rather than embrace their natural fight or flight instinct. Sara follows Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt’s philosophies about communicating with the horse, and embraces working with the mind, body and spirit. 

When we control the horse’s feet we control the mind. This clinic focuses on moving individual body parts like the hip, ribs and shoulders. We work on our timing and feel, and practice offering up the best deal possible. There is a lot of focus on how we ask for different tasks. We focus on consistency in our approach, and allow for plenty of soak time so that their brains can process the experience.