26/05/2026
The other dark side of C**t Starting
We all know about the futurity and racing industries driving the “need” to start horses young. The younger you start them, the more training you can get on them, the more likely they are to win the big prizes offered for young horse events.
But what about your ‘average punter’. I see call outs to do c**t starting clinics where the terms are the horses need to be 18 months to 3 years old, 3 years old being the ‘maximum’.
Why ?
Because young horses are easy to dominate
Easy to push around, both physically and mentally.
A 3 year old hasn’t finished growing yet, an 18 month old is still finding its feet - literally. They are, to be put simply, pretty easy to dominate into submission by mentally overwhelming them and physically manhandling them around.
Pepper in the photo is 24 months old. She is still finding her way in the herd, still finds herself in situations where they are rousing on her, still does ‘baby mouth’ when they push her around.
Pepper is around 14hh and under 400kg. Phil is 6 foot 1 and 100 kilos. He weights 25 percent of her body weight. He literally could pull her off balance with the halter and lead if he wanted to. He doesn’t want to! And if you think its about size, its not, I (Tanja) am 65 kilos and I could also pull her off balance (I don't want to either).
The thing we have to understand is that horses are intrinsically wired to protect their ability to run, so when you take an 18 month old still developing mentally and physically young horse, prove to it that it can’t get away by tying it up, teach it that you can take its balance and flight away by pulling it around with a halter and lead, it submits pretty quickly. It’s quite easy to push it to a state of overwhelm and then submission, and then you can do whatever the heck you like with it.
Basically what Im saying is that your skill level can be very low when you are dealing with young horses (kind of like how self described “Alpha males” tell men to date young women - they far easier to manipulate).
So when you see an add for a c**t starting clinic or intake, that asks for a maximum age of 3. Ask yourself why ? Why can’t this person start a 4 / 5 / 6 year old horse ?
Stockmen used to say “3 on the flat, 5 in the hills” meaning, that a horse coming into work on flat ground could be 3 years old to go to light work, but if they were going to heavy work ‘on the hills’ they needed to be 5. Competitions have removed this wisdom.
In fact when you see someone who has a minimum age of 3 years old, that will tell you they are not only happy to take an older horse, their desire is to work with a horse that is more physically and mentally capable and prepared to be confident and happy in the starting process,
Always ask why, and let your young horse develop mentally and physically before putting them into the starting process.
We have just run 2 baby horse clinics, and there are so many things you can do with them to develop their learning ability, their emotional stability and their physical skills before having to start them under saddle.
Train with me at a live clinic to preserve you and your horses confidence
June
4 free webinar - the difference between horse and human brains
5,6,7 3 day building bravery in horse and rider Gold Coast hinterland. Collaboration with Linda Sawrey Nurtured by Nature Psychotherapy
13 & 14 soft feel cowboy dressage clinic collaboration with Phil Monaghan, Jaquima a Freno, Classical Horsemanship.
20 & 21 hosting Emma Young MMCP- Masterson Method AU
27 & 28 dressage Winter gathering Coffs Coast Cowboy Dressage world Australia.
