What two-year-old preparation work does Clinton Anderson recommend before the first ride?

Clinton Anderson's two-year-old preparation program before the first ride is one of his most detailed and most documented sequences, and it reflects his core belief that the quality of preparation determines the quality of the first ride — not the horse's innate nature or the rider's skill alone. His two-year-old preparation begins months before the first ride, with what he calls the Fundamentals — the basic yielding, leading, and ground work that should have been started as a foal and yearling but that is now confirmed to a higher standard. By the time the first ride is planned, the two-year-old should yield its hindquarters softly from both sides, yield its forequarters, back from light pressure, move forward from a tap on the hindquarters, and stand tied without pulling. These are prerequisites, not concurrent training. The specific pre-ride preparation unique to the two-year-old phase includes: complete desensitization to the saddle pad and saddle on the back, girthing progressively over multiple sessions, extensive desensitization to the stirrups moving and bumping, rope desensitization including ropes draped over the back and through the stirrups, and full hook-on in the round pen in both directions. Anderson specifically requires that the horse will lope calmly in both directions in the round pen and hook on willingly within two laps before the first ride is attempted. A horse that does not meet this standard in the round pen is not ready for the additional complexity of a rider on its back. He also teaches doing all pre-ride preparation over multiple days rather than in a single marathon session, because the horse's acceptance of each stage needs to be genuine rather than exhaustion-based compliance. A horse that accepts the saddle because it is tired is not the same as a horse that accepts it because it genuinely understands and is not concerned.