Kindergarten is important!

Kindergarten is important, but it seems to get skipped far too often in the colt starting process. This is the stage that they learn how to learn. You can skip it, and go right to 1st grade and get them to learn the curriculum and do all the different things and maneuvers we want them to do, but there will be a piece of the puzzle missing. There have been times my first month with a colt is just teaching them how to learn. How to pay attention to the teacher and know there is always an answer to the the questions being asked. If they know there’s always an answer without punishment for getting it wrong they start to think more about solving the problem rather than reacting and using the flight or fight instinct. The process takes precious time and can be boring but the benefits are huge. Someday they might go on to a performance trainer that will ask for some hard challenging things in high pressure situations, and if they know there’s always an answer it makes the trainers job so much easier. There’s nothing I love more than riding a colt that tries hard and confidently searches for answers even if they aren’t sure what the answer is yet. Taking a moment to reward that effort doesn’t go unnoticed by them. — Nicole Edland