Tips and advice for a horse amateur?

Hi, my name is Haylea, I'm 15 and I've always loved horses but my only real experience had been a few riding lesson I took and now I've acquired four new horses who all need lots of work and training.

Montana- I was told that she was ridden once or twice, she won't let me touch her hooves or stomach. I'm not sure but I think she may be pregnant, she has an 8 month old colt(Aspen) who I still need to wean from her. She has an an onry stubborn temper and only seems to want to be around me when I have food. Any suggestions to getting her more trained, like letting me lift her hooves?


Spirit- I think she is about 4 years old, she had a filly when she was 2 and just gave birth to a colt a few days ago(Casper). She has not been broken but is sweet tempered and lets me lift her feet. Any suggestions on breaking her?


Aspen- He will be a yearling the first week of September, and needs to be weaned from Montana. He has let me touch him very few times but for the most part won't let me touch him. Any suggestions on weaning and getting him to come close to me?


Casper- Colt born a few days ago. Any suggestions on how to start working with him and the things I should start doing?




As you can see I pretty much need help and suggestions on a wide variety of things and any advice is much appriciated.

How did you manage to acquire all of these animals?
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Please do find a trainer.....You might hurt yourself with these horses if you've never done it before.

Wow you go all in do you know of any trainer that you like in your area that could help? Casper will need a lot of work it sounds like you are doing it right so far but when you start doing something they do not like he could give you trouble good luck keep posting

I agree with SorrelHorse, OP. There's a difference between not knowing and having workable horses and not knowing and having potential danger issues.

You will learn so much from a trainer, more so than we can spell out for you on here.

I hope you understand. I would be very upset if the advice I gave you ended up in you being seriously hurt or even mildly startled.

"An untrained horse is not only a danger to you, but also a danger to himself!" said by Clinton Anderson.
Find a trainer since you aren't very experienced in this type of work.

Well I live in a small town and there arn't many trainers here. We got them from a friend who has 25 horses out in a pasture, he used to be a championship rider. He did almost every thing from barrel racing to english riding and rodeo but he can no longer ride because he had a stroke and is paralized in his right arm.

I have my mom and a friend helping out but this is there real first time with horses too, they're not completly wild though, just havn't been worked with in a long time as far as with Montana and kinda Spirit.

I understand what all of you are saying but I have no way to get a trainers help and even if we could we don't have the money to hire one. Trainers are quite expensive arn't they? We do have the funds to properly take care of the horses though.

I'm just kinda looking for some training tips?

The colts that can be weaned need to be kept away from the mares because they can re-breed them. The newborn is fine but the 8 month old I would move.. pronto. Or get him gelded.

You should find an equine vet and talk to them about what is going. Consider trading your unbroke horses for trained ones. Everyone usually loves a project horse.

Okay in that case you need to be educated before applying any reconditioning the horses need. Purchase the videos from Clinton Andersons 'gaining respect from the ground up' and youtube some while you're waiting for them to arrive or waitng to have the funds to purchase them. I have gained so much from the few steps I've already put my new horse through. He automatically looks to me for balance and confidence. With your case you don't want to skip any steps in his video because you have to make sure you know more than the horse does because when he falls off balance or looks to you, you need to have the answer and not become inconsistent or panic. I have the basic skills so my horse can fall back on me when he needs to. I remind him constantly in little ways that I know what I'm doing and he is the one learning. Its amazing the things you don't know until you learn them and apply them. When you see this start to work on the horse its like you are talking to them and they are talking back to you and you're having a conversation :) Its the most fulfilling thing I've ever felt in my life. Good luck and just perfect the basics. Clinton Anderson covers most everything, even instances where things fall off the wagon. You can also contact him directly when you come to something that's not working, he guarantees his advice :)

Also consider reading this thread:

Any Advice on Anything Please!

See if any of that helps you