Countless books have been written about "breaking and training" young horses. Most of the methods described require considerable experience and know-how to be successful.

I trained my first horse when I was twelve years old, following a method described in a book written by a cavalry officer whose name I have unfortunately long forgotten.He demonstrated a way of starting horses without bucking, dominance or trauma. This was certainly unfamiliar to me because my riding teacher, Mrs. Metheral who owned Briercrest Stables in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, was a very skillful rider and trainer who put her horses in a small round-pen and bucked them out. After two or three sessions she would tie the horses head to the horn of her saddle and proceed around the riding arena with me aboard. I joke that I am shorter than my two sisters because I was bucked off so many times on my head!

When I found a book that offered the possibility of starting a young horse under saddle without bucking, my ears pricked up immediately. It just happened that a friend of my family was boarding her two-year old Thoroughbred at our farm and gave me permission to try my hand at gentling, rather than breaking, her young mare.

There were a number of drawbacks however. It takes practice to handle the long reins and if a horse gets a little confused, as often happens at some point, he will attempt to evade by bolting. It's a common fault to have a horse drop the head too low and come behind the vertical, or do the opposite and hollow the back and raise the head. It takes considerable experience and skill to deal with these evasions.

When I began giving clinics in Germany in the 1970's I came across horse owners who wanted to learn how to start their own young horses. That's when I began to look for new ways to train so that a person with limited horse experience could successfully teach a horse to carry a rider safely and without stress.

Each summer for the past 16 years I have been teaching a class in starting young horses at the 2000-acre Bitterroot Ranch, high in the snow-capped mountains, bordering the Shoshone National Forest. Most years we work with 6 to 8 four-year old Arabian horses and a couple of three-year olds. As four year olds the horses have been haltered only a few times. However, they were initially handled gently as foals and were born to mares who trust humans. That makes a huge difference in their attitude and confidence with people.

In my week-long training the horses learn to enjoy the circular TTouches over every inch of their bodies; stand quietly to be groomed; pick up their feet; give their heads when asked so that there is no fear or fight when they are tied for the first time; longe in an oval; walk on a hollow-sounding platform so they can cross bridges and load in a trailer with confidence; walk quietly under and between plastic; ground-drive with a saddle at the walk and trot; stand between straw bales to be TTouched from above so they are unafraid of a rider above them; and stand quietly to be mounted. In the following week they are ridden out in groups by the wranglers, and are ready for the guest string the following summer.

This combination of body-work (Tellington TTouch) and Ground Exercises through "The Playground for Higher Learning" develops trust and mental, physical and emotional balance. The Tellington Method turns out horses that carry guests willingly and safely.

We get many levels of riders who attend these weeklong trainings. Most of them have never considered starting a young horse and some are actually beginning riders wanting a special way of relating to horses. They come because they have read that this approach is something they can take home to develop new levels of relationship and performance or to solve behavioral problems with their own horses. For the less experienced horse people we bring in interesting guest horses that have common issues that need solving.

Some of the training methods we use that are not so common include: working the horses in groups rather than alone; and in an arena instead of a round pen. Horses learn much faster and enjoy the herd activity. Instead of ground-driving with a bit, we start with a halter so mouths are not hardened by the weight of long reins.We begin the ground-driving with a person leading the horse to avoid the initial confusion that is common with ground driving. And we spend time grooming, TTouching, and hanging out with the horses loose in the corral where they learn to enjoy our company and learn to love being with people as much as we enjoy their company.