Starting young horses under saddle is something that gives me much pleasure.

It never ceases to amaze me how horses with all of their innate survival instincts of flight and fight to protect themselves from perceived danger, ever allow us to sit on their backs let alone be willingly guided and to look to us for security.

In the past few years I have started horses in different parts of the world and no matter where I go they all understand the same language that is common to all good Horsemen.

Some years ago I went to a course in Colorado in the US where I had the good fortune to spend some time with a man named Ronnie Willis. The words of wisdom that he shared with us all during that course stick in my mind more than anything else. It was that horses have the capacity to learn faster than most people can teach them. His words stay with me each time I start a new horse. It seems that they can pick things up as quick as I can present it to them. In fact they are much easier than horses that come for restarting as many have already learned to work against people instead of with them. I believe the start is the most important part of their lives.

Young horses are like a blank canvas. This is the perfect opportunity to start on the right foot and begin a life long partnership.

Many people have the romantic idea of buying a young horse and starting it themselves. Unless you have a lot of experience and are very confident about riding horses I would recommend you find a good Natural horse starter in your area. I am more than happy to start horses and teach their owners how to bring them on and will be conducting courses in the future to help more experienced people start their own horses.