The most important tool I use in starting colts and teaching them ground manners, is this easy start rope.

It’s not an ordinary hard twist nylon rope, but it’s 3/8 inch round braided nylon and it has a special coating that enables it to slide easily.

When the colt stops resisting, the rope automatically slides and he is immediately rewarded for coming ahead or putting his head down.

He will quickly learn that the pressure is released when he gives to it, rather than pulling and resisting against it. 

With the Easy Start Rope, I'm able to sack him out. You need an advantage, because you can't out power that horse by your own strength. If the horse knows that he can't get away, he will learn a lot faster that what you're doing isn't going to hurt him, and being near you is much more comfortable than continually struggling to get away.

After a few days, you will find your colt will be following you and wanting to be near you, rather than being off on his own. He quickly learns that his comfort zone is where you are.

I'd like to show you how to properly build your head rope. You hold the Easy Start rope in your right hand, with the honda on the right side of the loop and the coils in your left hand.  Then, you put your left hand through the loop and drop the coils. 

With your right hand, you pick up the part of the rope that has the honda, and with your left hand, you pick up the rope leading to the coils.  In your right hand, you now have the part that goes over the horse's head, and in your left hand, you have the part of the rope that goes over the horse's nose.

When you put the Easy Start Rope on the horse's head, make sure that the honda is on the right side of the head and is locked in behind the horse's cheek bone. This prevents the honda from sliding up near the horse's eye or moving forward.

You should periodically check the honda's position on the horse's head to make sure it hasn't moved during the breaking sessions.