Starting Horses the Classical Way

In this day and age, many (if not most) people send off horses to be started by “colt starters” or “cowboys,” feeling that this is the best way to get horses started and prepared for their riding career and that these trainers are tough enough to be prepared for the insanity that young horses can bring to the table. While this is certainly a viable option that does the job for most, it is certainly not the only option, and there are downsides. It can lead to a certain amount of “re-training” to realign a horse from a general western background into a more dressage-y background. There are also an unfortunate number of these kinds of trainers that, in their efforts to desensitize the horse and gain obedience, tend to create more problems, both physical and mental. Not all of them are like that, but there are enough.

Seeing that the classical traditions are extremely old, there of course is a systematic approach to starting young horses, though this even has room for variation depending on eras and goals. This is just a general overview of what happens, not an instruction for how to do it, but it is a fascinating area of study. As the approach I’m most familiar with is that of the Spanish Riding School, some things may be more unique to that tradition than others.

First Steps:

First, young horses averaging 4 years of age, are introduced to their new life, often fresh from the fields where they grew up with their herdmates. Time is given for them to settle in; not all traditions are very hands-on in the raising of the horses, so initial steps to allow the horses to settle are important. As a side note: it is now documented that learning is next to impossible when the nervous system is in “fight or flight,” which makes this particularly important.

Horses are then started on the longe, learning the three gaits as well as responsiveness to the aids. Longeing has been done on the cavesson since its inception, and it is still a superb tool for handling the line without damaging the sensitive mouth. In Iberia, the cavesson may be a stronger “serreta,” which has its drawbacks but is still commonly used (though I do not recommend it personally).

Longeing is not about working the spirit out of the horse; it is about teaching them to go calmly and in balance in the three gaits build strength through transitions, traveling circles, adjusting circle sizes, and to be obedient to the rider’s aids and commands. They learn to go in full tack and therefore start the preparation for ridden work.

Next Steps:

Here’s where there are many variations. At the Spanish Riding School, this is usually when they start backing the horse. However, others add a step of teaching the horse to ground-drive (and even drive) so that steering and stopping aids are taught off the reins and the horse can be worked in more arena figures before the rider sits on them. Sometimes, they’d even ground-drive the horses on the trails or in the fields. Others, particularly in the military traditions, would pony the horses out in the fields off more experienced horses. Personally, I train my young horses to ground drive before sitting on them, as I use that work for training later. I’d love to pony them more, but a good ponying horse is hard to find, so I usually lead on the trails in a group.

Once the horse is balanced on the longe and accustomed to this work, they are backed for the first time. This process is taken slowly and calmly with an assistant to hold the horse and give praise, then they gradually work towards longeing the horse with the rider on board at walk and trot (sometimes canter, but usually walk and trot primarily). They work on steering on the longe by changing directions regularly, then once that is basically established, the rider is released from the longe, and work begins. Some systems pony the horse and rider off the longe in the meadow or on the trail as a part of this process, but this is not commonly seen.

During this process, the horse is gradually exposed to stimuli they’ll experience in their riding career, like dragging ropes, quarter sheets or blankets, or arena obstacles, but it’s done slowly and methodically in order to emphasize the trust-building part of the process as being more important than erasing reactivity. This does mean, however, that some horses will take several months to go from being introduced to the longe to being ridden; some horses just need more of that time to adjust as they go.

The Early Ridden Process:

The early ridden work is often unimpressive. The rider’s job is to flow with the horse as it finds its balance and to basically stay out of the horse’s way. As the horse strengthens, the rider then works on suppleness and increasing the difficulty of the exercises. However, a fair amount of work may still be performed on the longe, and in-hand work is often started at this point. Some classical schools don’t even have the rider using the bit at this point, riding off the cavesson instead (in the California Vaquero tradition, which is perhaps the best example of “classical Western riding”). The approach to riding is also remembering the end goal in mind, so the aids start at the most subtle and gradually escalate until the horse does what is desired (“as little as possible, as much as necessary”). The horse is ridden like a future Grand Prix horse, not as a green horse, and they start learning sensitivity and responsiveness to the lightest of aids at the very beginning. Some horses never have to escalate to the more crude or intense aids; some of my green horses ride lightly off the seat as well as the more upper level horses, just with less strength for more advanced use of their own bodies.

Historically, this is also when “sacking out” would have happened, which historically meant riding sidesaddle while using an empty flour sack to simulate a skirt. This prepared the horse to become a ladies’ sidesaddle horse, but nowadays, the term means to get the horse used to things that might frighten them in a more controlled environment. However, this doesn’t mean that this is done loudly with a panicked response and until they stop panicking; it means that they’re gradually introduced until they are calm, then the intensity is increased until they are calm about the frightening thing even when it is wildly flapping. Mind you, there is no amount of “sacking out” that will make the horse completely bombproof to everything (unless they’re flooded into a shutdown); the goal is to build trust and reduce overall reactivity, not erase it completely. Reactivity has its purpose; I’ve had a trustworthy, practically “bombproof” horse, spook at a dog that came after us, and I’m glad he did!

Results:

The results are that the horse is generally confident and happy in its work from the beginning. The level of dramatics is significantly lower than other approaches; usually, the horse takes each new step carefully but confidently. That’s not to say there isn’t the occasional buck or moment of resistance, but it’s much less dramatic than other approaches. They also have time to develop physically without being worn out, which can have challenges if they’re always worked until they give up fighting out of exhaustion (the fight can end up lasting longer and longer or can escalate in dramatics). It also takes much less time to progress through the levels, as the horses already have an understanding of more tactful aids. While the horses do have a greater understanding of tact, they are still generally kind and understanding of lower level riders, and if anything, they behave something like a schoolmaster trying to understand what their rider is saying.

This is definitely the slower way to go, but for me, it’s very much worth it. Having a horse that is trusting early on and doesn’t need re-education makes the work going up the levels much easier, and having them approach new things with curiosity and trust instead of fear or explosiveness makes the work much safer as well. That’s not to say it is always perfect and smooth sailing, but in my experience, it is easier to get through the hard times.

-Emily Wright

Have a young horse you want to start classically? Contact us about lessons or about training options (available spring of 2026)! Lessons can be at our facility, your farm, or virtual (though these may be the trickiest to do virtually, but we’ll find a way to make it work!).