Hi Richard, as a kid from Colorado, I know that any unplanned trip to CSU with a horse is not a good trip to take. Hope all went well for you and the horse.

Hi Richard.  We have a nice 3-year-old cow-bred colt. We have started all of our horses over the years and pursue continuing education regularly. We used your colt starting methods and broke him and have been riding him lightly for a year. He has been quiet to mount, walks, trots & lopes fine in both directions. Stops, backs etc. and has been ponied out saddled all around different country. I only rode him out of the big arena once and sent him up to my daughter on the ranch 2 months ago. She rode him in an indoor arena a couple of times to get acquainted with him, and he went fine. The third time she went to ride him out, and he bolted when she tried to step on, 3X! Finally got on and he rode fine. 3 days later he broke out in sores under his armpits & had a fever. We figured, oh, he was already getting sick sore down there, that's why he bolted. He's been sitting and mending for a few weeks and is well healed. She went to step on again and pulled his face around. He was a bit better, but not great. She wants to lay him down. I say she's impatient and needs to do more groundwork and mounting work when she's not in a hurry to gather/push cattle that have to be moved now. Do you think he should be laid down now, or have more work first? We value your input. Thank you.