Jeff Griffith offers suggestions for starting colts
Bill Brewster , The Big Sky Sun
Published 04/03/2008 – 8:40 a.m. MST
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During the recent “colt camp” at Copper Spring Ranch in Bozeman, clinician Jeff Griffith helped a dozen horsemen and women get the right start on their young horses.
The first steps in the process, at the beginning, started with basic ground work and handling and then moved into the saddling process and the many other classic techniques required to get them started on a sound footing. By the final day, the people were safely beginning to ride them in the indoor arena at the ranch.
The horse owners were successful because of Griffith’s instructions that come from 30 years of experience starting colts and working hundreds of horses.
When he isn’t starting colts at clinics around the country, he teaches horsemanship classes at the University of Montana Dillon and manages the horse operation at the nearby LaCense Ranch.
Griffith has recently completed a “Fundamentals of Horsemanship book and DVD for the American Quarter Horse Association that was shot at the LaCense Ranch.
For the past four years, or so, Griffith has started 300 to 350 colts a year and before that he was starting 200 to 250 animals
“I get exposed to some really good information because I have put six days on 350 colts in a year and this has allowed me to become very specialized,” he said. “There
are a lot of critical and subtle points that need to be included to correctly start these colts,” he said.
“In the process of this work, I have stuck to my guns and continued to work with them in a solid and realistic manner because I am a fifth generation ranch cowboy.” Griffith grew up on the sprawling Flying D Ranch that is now owned by Ted Turner. “To me, horses always had a job to do and I haven’t gone off on fads but instead treat them in a solid, kind, and realistic manner,” he said.
His years of experience have provided volume of information that helps people to start young horses in the right way.
After the clinic at Copper Spring Ranch, Griffith has provided a few suggestions for horsemen who are thinking about starting a youngster.
“The first thing to remind people is that it can get dangerous in a hurry and it is nothing to take lightly, Griffith said. “You can easily get hurt even though we try to keep getting bucked off to a minimum or try to prevent bad wrecks before they happen.”
“I’ve spent 30 years of my life doing something that a lot of people turn over to a high school kid to do because they don’t realize that is a lot more to starting young animals correctly with the right foundation.
“It’s probably the most important sequence of days in a horse’s life and it is the most important time you will spend with your horse as the owner.”
It’s a concept to take seriously for both the safety of the horse and the person starting the colt.
“Even if you started several colts in the past, it wouldn’t hurt to seek help,” Griffith noted. “You may have been using cutting edge techniques at the time, but it has evolved so much that starting colts has been researched so much that it has become a science.”
Even for persons who have started hundreds of them, there is more help available because it is an evolving and dynamic science.
Later this month, Griffith is going to Kirkwood College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to conduct a six-day Colt and horsemanship class. On June 24-29, he will be holding a colt camp in Miles City.
Information on other upcoming clinics is available at www.jeffgriffith.com.