You’ve learned how to mount your colt for the first time, flex his neck, and move both his ends to complete a small circle. In this last segment of our series, you’ll learn how to trot and lope safely during that first ride. An assistant on the ground will help keep the colt calm and focused, plus encourage him on or help stop him where necessary.

You’ll start by moving your colt in a small circle as you learned last month, then encouraging him to trot off out of that circle for a few strides. After several repetitions of that you’ll trot him out continuously for a bit, then move into a lope. You’ll lope a good while, staying relaxed and moving around on top of your colt to teach him he has nothing to fear. You’ll walk at the end to cool him off.