Don and Katie McCaslan
At the Shining M Ranch in Raisin City, Calif., the husband and wife team of Don and Katie McCaslan work hard to make sure their colts get the best start possible. They train and compete in roping and barrel racing on the prospects they raise, and they know what it takes to make a winner.
“Foundation is everything,” Katie says. “You need a solid foundation of trust, confidence, strong work ethic and knowledge for your colt to excel. You have to be patient, but expect great things because most colts will rise to the challenge.”
Normally, the McCaslan’s start their bigger colts in October or November when they are long yearlings, but they wait on their smaller colts until the following April or May, making sure they are physically mature enough to be ridden. Preparation and consistency are keys to their success.
“We will start in the small 50-foot round pen and use a flag to sack them out,” Katie says. “They need to learn early on that we expect 100 percent of their attention.
“Once they stand still and stay relaxed while we touch them all over with the flag, we will sack them out with the pad, then the saddle. This may all happen within their first training session, or it might take a week or more. Each colt dictates how quickly we move forward.”
For the first few saddlings, the colts are lunged, then introduced to the snaffle, without reins, learning to carry it in their mouth. They are taught from the ground to give to rein pressure, left and right.
“We want them to react to the slightest touch of the rein,” Katie says, “so we will ask very gently and release as soon as they respond favorably.”
From there, the McCaslans drive their colts using long, 25-foot driving reins and teach them to move forward when asked, stop, change directions with slight rein pressure and even begin to back up and drop their head. Once confident with this phase, the next step is to check their heads around to each side for 5-10 minutes per side.
“We will ask them to move forward and give to the bit simultaneously,” Katie says. “It’s only after all of this is accomplished that we climb on. We will stand in the stirrup and lay across the saddle to let them get used to the new location and added weight of the rider. The first few rides usually reinforce what they already learned from the ground — give laterally both ways to the bit and be soft and light in doing so.”
The McCaslans typically ride their colts in the 50-foot round pen for about the first 30 days, or at least until they walk, trot, lope, stop, turn on the fence and back up. Then, it’s on to the 130-foot round pen for the next 15-30 rides.
“When they can lope all different sized circles with balance and shape in the big round pen, we’ll head out to the arena,” Katie says. “The next couple of months are usually spent out in the arena, learning how to lift their shoulders, bend in the ribcage, move off of leg pressure, etc. At this time, my husband will hand the reins over to me, and I’ll begin slow work on the barrel pattern. I might walk and/or trot them around the pattern once or twice a week in the summer and fall of their 2-year-old year. Then, in the winter, they usually get a break from the arena and are ridden outside gathering cattle, sorting and branding.
“Young horses are so simple minded. They only know what we teach them. If there’s never a choice to do wrong, they won’t know it’s an option, so for us, perfect practice makes perfect.”
This article was originally published in the August 2011 issue of Barrel Horse News.
