Training Colts, Richard Winters Horsemanship

Q: Why is running fast a training milestone?

Per Richard Winters: a horse who can only canter quietly hasn't been tested under real performance pressure. Cow horses, reiners, and ranch horses all need to accelerate, stop, turn, and accelerate again. Speed exposes any gaps in foundation work that slow ride-arounds will hide.

Q: Should I take my young horse to other trainers' barns?

Per Richard Winters: yes—both for the horse's exposure and for your own perspective. New environments season the horse for shows; new instructors catch gaps your eyes miss. Even confident trainers benefit from outside feedback every few months.

Q: How often should young horses travel?

Per Richard Winters: a few times a season is usually enough. The point isn't constant travel—it's that the colt experiences the rhythm of loading, hauling, settling in a new place, and working there. By show time the routine should be familiar instead of novel.

Q: What if I don't have access to other professional trainers?

Per Richard Winters: clinic auditing, video reviews of your own riding, and working with a regular instructor all provide outside eyes. Even untrained but observant horse-friends can catch patterns you've stopped seeing.

Q: Is training a horse really a lifelong skill exchange?

Per Richard Winters: yes. Richard mentored his daughter Sarah for years; now she catches things in his colts that he can't see. The best trainers stay students throughout their careers because horses keep teaching them new lessons.

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Colt Training

We spend a tremendous amount of time teaching our horses to lope quiet slow and relaxed. Yet there comes a time when they also need to know how to run fast and still be in control! With Richard Winters

This month Rocky, our 2 year old futurity prospect is back at his owners enjoying a little R&R. While he’s away I decided to take a little trip myself. I loaded up a few of my other 2 year olds and hit the highway. Taking the youngsters to new places from time to time will add valuable experience to their training and will hopefully better prepare them for when they’ll be shown in a new environment next year.

To be completely honest with you, this trip is for my own benefit as well. Generally I ride my colts by myself without much feedback or input from anyone else. From time to time it’s good to get a fresh perspective of where my horses are at in their training from another set of eyes. So I’m here in Buellton, California, at Sandy Collier’s training stables. However, Sandy is away in Texas on a colt buying expedition. Her assistant trainer, Sarah Winters is here and says she’d be happy to watch my horses and share her opinion. (No, the last name is no coincidence, Sarah is my 17 hear old daughter who rode with me for years and is now training reined cow horses full time with Sandy!)

Sarah has been dedicated to the art of developing and training young horses her entire life. For years I have been instructing her and mentoring her in horsemanship and it has been a pleasure to watch her develop her skills. However, I don’t instruct her much anymore . Now when we ride together we discuss and share ideas. We communicate more as peers rather than as instructor and pupil. Needless to say, I’m a proud dad! The following is what Sarah and I discussed that day in relation to the colts I was riding.

“Sarah, watch this colt turn around. It seems like he’s bound up to the right and not stepping very clean.” I turned the colt around a couple times to the left and then to the right. “It looks like he might be rocked back a little too much.” Sarah suggested. “What would he look like if you put your hands forward and didn’t attempt to collect him so much? He looks a little like those old fashioned cow horses that rock back on their hind end during the spin and kind of hop around.”

Sarah is right. A proper modern spin is a forward momentum maneuver. In order for a horse to step clean with cadence, there must be forward motion. I start the turn around again. This time with more float in my reins. I’ll use my direct rein with a light neck rein and start him with my outside leg. After one or two revolutions each way the colt starts to free up and step cleaner, freer, and smoother. “I like that a lot better,” says Sarah. It feels better to me to. Another set of eyes and an objective opinion can make all the difference sometimes.

We also talked about how young horses lope and run. We spend a tremendous amount of time teaching our horses to lope quiet slow and relaxed. Yet there comes a time when they also need to know how to run fast and still be in control. “Dad, why not allow and even ask these colts to stretch out and run early on? If that is part of their development from the beginning then maybe it wouldn’t be such a big deal when it’s introduced at a later date.” Sarah then described a particular training exercise that they were currently implementing with all their 2 year olds.

Out on the sliding track, they’ll come around the corner and encourage the colts to stretch out and run down the long side of the track. Before getting to the corner, they’ll ask the horse to come back into their hands and slow down. Now they’ll turn the corner collected. Not a rounding turn, but a straight right-angle turn. The two right-angle turns at the end are to be made slow, collected and shoulders very straight. This teaches the horse to not drop their shoulder in the turn and to keep their hip underneath themselves so as not to swap leads when turning or changing speeds. Then the rider will speed up again down the long side and collect up before the turn at the far end.

I give that a try on one of my other colts. As I head down the long side, I can hear Sarah, “Faster dad! You need to go faster!” When I get towards the end and draw my colt back into my hands to slow down, he swaps leads. “You need to anticipate that and keep his shoulders straight and his hip in” Sarah shouts. O.K., I’ll try to do that. Run a little faster. Keep him balanced a little better on the ends . A couple more times around. Now it’s starting to feel better. Yes, that time he came back into my hands, stayed soft and maintained the correct lead. I think I like this exercise!

Going somewhere new and getting new ideas is a great thing. I’ve done it for years, but I don’t do it enough. Sometimes you can get in a rut when you’re all by yourself with no objective input. This has been a good day.

Maybe next time Sarah will come back home and ride with me. I might have an idea or two I can share with her!

For more information about Richard Winters Horsemanship please go to wintersranch.com.

Key Article Takeaways

Per Richard Winters: a finished horse must run fast and stay in control—not just lope quietly.
Take young horses to new locations regularly to season them before competition.
Outside eyes catch what daily-handler eyes miss—Sarah Winters at Sandy Collier's confirmed Rocky's gaps.
Speed work follows foundation work; a horse who can't run controlled isn't really finished.
Mentorship across generations builds both horseman and trainer—Richard taught Sarah, who now teaches him.

Questions readers commonly ask:

Why is running fast a training milestone?

Per Richard Winters: a horse who can only canter quietly hasn't been tested under real performance pressure. Cow horses, reiners, and ranch horses all need to accelerate, stop, turn, and accelerate again. Speed exposes any gaps in foundation work that slow ride-arounds will hide.

Should I take my young horse to other trainers' barns?

Per Richard Winters: yes—both for the horse's exposure and for your own perspective. New environments season the horse for shows; new instructors catch gaps your eyes miss. Even confident trainers benefit from outside feedback every few months.

How often should young horses travel?

Per Richard Winters: a few times a season is usually enough. The point isn't constant travel—it's that the colt experiences the rhythm of loading, hauling, settling in a new place, and working there. By show time the routine should be familiar instead of novel.

What if I don't have access to other professional trainers?

Per Richard Winters: clinic auditing, video reviews of your own riding, and working with a regular instructor all provide outside eyes. Even untrained but observant horse-friends can catch patterns you've stopped seeing.

Is training a horse really a lifelong skill exchange?

Per Richard Winters: yes. Richard mentored his daughter Sarah for years; now she catches things in his colts that he can't see. The best trainers stay students throughout their careers because horses keep teaching them new lessons.