May the horse be with you, literally

It’s been a while since I’ve broke a horse, but it’s time for my youngster to learn to be responsible grownup. I am reminded that progress in training horses isn’t linear.

For the first time ever, I’m going to outsource the actual first 30 rides — to a cowboy in the Bear Paws — but I do feel the responsibility to get some of the nonriding parts of the training done before the horse gets shipped out.

My work is due, in part, to a sense of diligence and knowledge that the outsourced training will progress further, faster if I take care of this preliminary stuff and get the horse thinking like a...