After 40 years of breeding horses and trying to remain loyal to gifted individuals who know how to actually start a two year old, it is nice to find an individual that can use his gift without aspirations of becoming the next world champion. 

Young horses are not hard to start if their minds are fresh and they have never been mishandled.  A person who has the gift to add to and make training interesting to young horses, teaches them to receive new information every day and build on the daily training.  How quickly development occurs depends on the ability of the horse, but as a trainer,

Dan Keen, in my opinion, is excellent in keeping the horse’s mind moving forward and still letting them have fun.  Like a teenager, 2 year olds need to have fun in order to learn.  Dan does this well and it pays off.  We have far too many round pen cowboys and very few good 2 year old starters like Dan.

Mike and Jerry McLennan

Mike is a Combined Driving Judge, Former USET International Pairs Driver, Current 4-in-hand driver and quarter horse breeder for 40 years.