2 year old filly training

B

Becca_Daisy

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 March 2016
Messages
53
Visit site
Hi everyone
I have a trekahner filly who turned two in April, we take her out for walks and get her used to 'spooky' things such as plastic bags and bicycles etc. Jakes recently had her first bit in and a roller on and isn't bothered by any of it
What age do people recommend for putting a saddle on? No riding just saddle on and walking in hand
Also if you have any other ideas of things I could do with her it would be much appreciated ☺️
 
Honestly. I'd chuck her out in a big field with a bunch of other babies, and let her be a horse for a year or two. She's got the basics - so she doesn't need to be faffed around with at her age. Anything you do with her now is for your benefit, not hers.
 
Ditto Auslander - if she is calm and unworried now then I'd just chuck her out and leave her out for 18 months. Pleanty of time to teach her that stuff later on :)
 
At two if I had my older mare in, I would sometimes take my now 4 year old in and place a saddle on her back with no girth to get her used to the feeling. Just for a couple of minutes. Also, when my older mare was getting clipped, I had breagha tied up near her to get used to the clipper noise and now I can clip her face with the big clippers no problem.

Occasionally, I would take her for a small walk in hand, I introduced breagha to long reining in winter the year she turned 2 and then reintroduced it in spring when she was 3. I never did it often but she still got better each time.

I have never had a youngster before and was going of what I felt was right at that point. Good luck with her.
 
Unfortunately that's not available to us! She gets very naughty and can be bargey if she's just left with my other horse, unless we do something with her most days she gets quite bored and starts to climb out of the field
 
Becca_Daisy said:
Unfortunately that's not available to us! She gets very naughty and can be bargey if she's just left with my other horse, unless we do something with her most days she gets quite bored and starts to climb out of the field
Click to expand...

Youngsters do better with other youngsters for company. By essentially putting her to work at 2, you're taking away her chance to be a baby. You'll have 20 years of work out of her once she's 4 - at least give her a few more years on youngstock livery somewhere to grow up with a gang of mates.
 
She enjoys spending time with us and doing things, she's not being put into work, we do little bits with her that's fun for her to do. Where we are we don't have a big field full of youngsters for her to go out with
 
Becca_Daisy said:
She enjoys spending time with us and doing things, she's not being put into work, we do little bits with her that's fun for her to do. Where we are we don't have a big field full of youngsters for her to go out with
Click to expand...

Just let her be a baby! She doesn't *need* the work and you don't want to turn her sour.

Having worked on a stud I can tell you right now they do alot better amongst their own "crowd" than being overly humanised and handled. Ours were handled every day until 6 months old, then turned out until 3. They were caught for jabs, worming and feet. Thats it.

Broken at 3, turned away for 1 year, brought back in at 4 for re-backing - if a big youngster could possibly be turned away again.

Chuck her out, leave her alone, let her be a baby. Find a stud with a herd that can take her.
 
In my original post I've asked for things to do with her, and as I've already stated turning her out with a group is not an option for me. So as you have no useful advice for me regard my question, please stop replying onto my post.
 
And you have been given the best option for your youngster, let her be a youngster with other horses.

If you are not prepared to take advice, do not ask for it.
 
Things you can do with her - move her to somewhere more suitable for youngsters. There is no need to do anything other than the absolute basics with a 2yo and definitely no need for daily handling.

Experience - currently have 7 horses between 2 and 7 and the eldest I have owned from 3 weeks. All have had youngsters to play with plus one nanny horse to keep them in check. None were naughty, none tried to climb out of the field. If your horse is doing this you need to reassess how it is kept.
 
I asked for advice for things to do with her, not the best lifestyle option. If I was given advice on what I actually asked for I would be more than willing to take it.
 
Becca_Daisy said:
I asked for advice for things to do with her, not the best lifestyle option. If I was given advice on what I actually asked for I would be more than willing to take it.
Click to expand...

What you need to do with her - nothing. She is 2 - she should be out being a horse and learning from her peers. If you wanted a horse to do things with you should have bought a 4yo?
 
Becca_Daisy said:
In my original post I've asked for things to do with her, and as I've already stated turning her out with a group is not an option for me. So as you have no useful advice for me regard my question, please stop replying onto my post.
Click to expand...

There's really no need to be rude. Most of the experienced people on this forum will concur that the best thing for babies is other babies, and just enough human intervention to make them pleasant to handle. If you can't provide this at her current yard, it would be better fro her to go to a stud and live with other babies.
Youngsters that get messed about with when they are still learning the mot important thing of all-how to be a horse, have a tendency to end up difficult to handle as they get older.
 
She spends 90% of the time out with my gelding being a horse, however as I have already mentioned, she gets bored, which has been kept under control by bringing her in a few times a week to be groomed, or walked out or something to keep her occupied. She enjoys it, and she enjoys having human company.
If people on horse and hound are going to continue to be incapable of actually answering my question I'll remove my post to somewhere where I might actually get a decent answer.
 
I've politely asked for no replies that aren't relevant, not being rude just want something actually useful to me.
Yes I know there are experienced people here which is why I thought it would be a good place to ask, starting to think that was a bad idea!
The only local stud to me does not have a 'young stock livery', so as I keep saying, that's not an option.
 
I have nothing more to ad - I think you have a bad set up to keep a youngster. You shouldn't need to do anything to 'keep her under control' - other youngsters will do that. Living out with one gelding must be sending her insane - she needs to be allowed to play and be a baby.
 
Becca_Daisy said:
She spends 90% of the time out with my gelding being a horse, however as I have already mentioned, she gets bored, which has been kept under control by bringing her in a few times a week to be groomed, or walked out or something to keep her occupied. She enjoys it, and she enjoys having human company.
If people on horse and hound are going to continue to be incapable of actually answering my question I'll remove my post to somewhere where I might actually get a decent answer.
Click to expand...

What you are getting is people identifying and commenting on the issue - I'm sorry you don't like the answers. An adult horse isn't really the answer - it's her peers she needs to be with. Her behaviour in the field isn't because she's bored and needs to come in and be played with, it's because she needs other youngsters to play with. Horses don't get bored in the same way we do.

You could try the Parelli forums - they might offer the sort of answers you're prepared to accept...
 
If you're not prepared to answer the originally posted question then why bother to reply?
The problem isn't me not liking the answers, it's people not giving my answers related to my question.
I don't normally post on these types of forums and now I remember why, people are incapable of being helpful!
 
I dont think it would do any harm to get her used to a roller- a saddle might go too far back on her as shes only 2 and hasnt lengthened in the barrel yet. But a roller would prepare her for a rug, and get her used to a girth. It wouldnt hurt to practice loading/unloading, you never know when it might be necessary.
 
Becca_Daisy said:
If you're not prepared to answer the originally posted question then why bother to reply?
The problem isn't me not liking the answers, it's people not giving my answers related to my question.
I don't normally post on these types of forums and now I remember why, people are incapable of being helpful!
Click to expand...

No. You are incapable of taking on board advice from the likes of Auslander who is very experienced. I agree with everything both she and EQUIDAE has said. Have you ever owned or worked with youngsters OP?
 
Becca_Daisy said:
The problem isn't me not liking the answers, it's people not giving my answers related to my question.
I don't normally post on these types of forums and now I remember why, people are incapable of being helpful!
Click to expand...

The answers are very relevant and helpful. The issues you are having are due to your setup being unsuitable. If you cannot move, could you move another youngster on?

ETA - if you're having problems with a two year old I dread to think how you are going to cope when she turns 5...
 
I've said multiple times that young stock livery isn't an option, yet that's all you seem to be able to keep saying. Maybe if you actually read my original post and realised you don't agree with me doing stuff with a two year old, or don't actually have anything useful to say, you shouldn't comment, because you're not being helpful in the slightest.
And yes I have worked with youngsters, I used to work and a stud farm, and (shock) they didn't just leave them in a field all the time.
 
If you want to do things, go get a book and sit and read in the field with her - it's how I spent must of my evenings with my youngster. If she comes over to investigate make a bit of a fuss of her, but mainly just observe her being a young horse.

I agree with the others though - a single older gelding us probably not the mist stimulating of company for her - she needs someone to play with, someone to instigate a mad gallop around the field, someone to have a bit of rough and tumble with.
 
I did bits and bobs with my boy at 2. Short walks in hand. Walking over tarpaulins, meeting umbrellas, learning to be nice about lifting feet and generally being a pleasant boy. He also had a roller on a few times at 2 and I'd groom him from the mounting block so he got used to me being up high. He did, and still does, however also live out in a large herd of mixed ages.
 
I don't actually have any issues with her UNLESS I just leave her in the field. When she does stuff with me she is perfect.
I can't move another youngster on as the only other one on the yard is a colt who hasn't been gelded
 
Thank you I'll definitely do that!
They play ALOT and definitely do the mad gallop around the field, although she's normally the one to fall over first!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top