3 year old mare, how much work is ok?

CobSunshine

CobSunshine

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Hey :)

My 3 year old mare has been broken in and now going on short hacks.

What kind of work frequency can she copy with at this age?

I understand leading her would be fine regardless but riding her as her bones havn't fully developed yet...

eg. 1 hour hack twice a week.

eg. 30 min hack four times a week

Thanks
 
You will probably find a lot on here will say that a 3 year old shouldn't be in work, merely lightly backed and turned away until she is four. You may also find that some have a quite strong opinion of this view - just warning you...

I believe if the mare is physically and mentally mature then short hacks (not an hour, more like 20-30 minute ones) and very basic schooling is acceptable a few times a week. Some 3 year olds though I wouldn't even break as they are too immature...
 
short hacks are OK, I wouldn't do any schooling personally. I like to back at 3, leave for 6 months till rising four then work on the following principle when they return to work:
For the first month 2 -hacks and one schooling session a week. Month 2- three hacks and a schooling session a week, month 3- 4 hacks and a schooling session a week
Month 4- switches to 3 hacks and 2 schooling sessions a week month 5- 2 hacks and 3 schooling sessions a week month six- from this month I start trying a bit of x country etc etc and mixing it up as I feel fit.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I would say that she is now ready for turning away to mature over the winter. She is almost bound to have some more growing to do.
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Have to agree with this. If you don't turn her away then very little work; 20 minutes is plenty twice a week, no more and in long straight lines, no schooling, totally unfair on her bones as they're not developed and mature yet.
 
Agree with all prev poster's to turn away now. Start summer 2011.

Personally I would only do very basics at 4 and in-hand shows and wait til 5 to introduce schooling.
 
This is a very interesting thread, as I was going to ask something similar. There is a girl at our yard, not overweight at all but not mega slim either, who has a 3 year old Welsh x (the lightweight welsh type, I live in Belgium so don't see a lot of welshies to know if type A/B/C etc sorry). Now she rides it what I would call a lot, including hacks of over an hour, schooling it at all paces over an hour, and even doing a prelim dressage on it last month. Obviously not my business, but it does worry me a bit for the poor wee thing!
 
My boy was backed august last year, as soon as we could steer and stop he started hacking about 20 mins 3 times a week. Oct 1st we turned him away til feb 1st.
Tbh as a 4 year old he has been ridden max 4 times a week mainly hacking up to 1 hour altho now have done a couple of slow 1.5 hours with him and still does max 20 mins in school, has done longer group lessons but that's mainly standing around! He will have jan and feb off then we will up the workload a bit as he approaches 5.
We have a girl at yard with a 3 year old she has been jumping and lunging/riding probably 5 days a week :( it's going to a dressge test next week :( completely against rules!
 
I agree with others that now your mare has been backed and has maybe gone out on a few short hacks that she is ready to be turned away for the winter and left to mature a bit, then come back into work in the spring/summer :)
 
my 3 year olds do about 3 twenty minute schooling sessions a week, then two half an hour hacks and then have the whole weekend off. Sometimes the schooling sessions will be lunging or swimming or long reining instead of riding. I don't believe in turning away every horse myself, in fact I rarely do it. It seems to be a predominantly English thing, Europeans would never bother.
 
see, I don't get the point of pushing a youngster what does it achieve?- you have all the time in the world why rush? Why push? why not have a break? So what if its a predominantly an English concept- I think giving a growing horse time to grow is no bad thing.
 
Shadowboy it isn't rushing. 30 minutes a day out of 24 hours living in the field in a herd is hardly a huge ask. They're ridden long and low and with plenty of breaks, with no small circles or big asks. The hacks include walking through the village, across the stream and through the woods and trotting around our grass gallops in straight lines for short distances, and they'll also canter out on a hack maybe once a week if they fancy it, again on the turf or all weather gallops.

What's wrong with this? I work with racehorses, so i'm lightweight and experienced and they're all happy in their work. Why bother chucking them in the field for several months, especially when they are TBs and therefore mature quickly anyway?
 
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My 3½ year old was backed very lightly during summer, done some stopping/turning etc, and was then turned away, she'll do no more now until next summer when she's 4, she's a big strong 16hh WB X but I still think even though they look big and strong they are still maturing mentally and physically and in my opinion your better off taking your time and having a nice horse at the end of it all. Good luck with her.
 
I would agree with Seth, i broke my 3 yr old this June and she is ridden or worked every other day. she too has a weeek off every 6 weeks or so and a couple of days off every couple of weeks if we need to. she has twenty mins to half hr hack one day then day off then schooling, walk trot 20m circles and canter in straight line for few strides. she has jumped small logs, puddles, hacks on her own through busy village now, hacks out with others, she has been cross country schooling too just very little jumps but varierty she does one day lunging too. she is 16.2 well developed and mature for her age. I am leightweight. she has been to a show to look round for an hr and also done a walk trot dressage comp. I think they do more running round in the field than we ask them.
 
I've also found that the more you do with them as youngsters (without overdoing it of course) the better they deal with new things as adults - they already have that trust. Which they won't get if you leave them in the field for 4 years...
 
I backed my 3.5 year old a couple of months ago. Established stand, walk, trot, walk, stand transitions in a massive school (no 20m circles) doing 2 sessions a week in the school and a 20-40 mins hack once a week. Fast forward 6 weeks and I took out the school sessions and just hacked 2-3 times a week, 30-45 mins or so. He's going through a village via 400 yards on the main road, going in front or behind and has a little canter when he offers it in a safe environment and all in all i'm very happy with him. I turned him away a week ago but might hack him couple times a month over the winter or might just leave him totally.
He's come on incredibly well :)
 
Now I've read all the replies this is what im thinking as the nights are drawing in. Visiting after work Monday to Friday and spending time with her grooming, lead around field give a small treat of carrots etc

Saturday tack up and go on thirty minute hack 99% bridleway.

Sunday take out on lead rope/bridle to experience New sites and sounds.
 
I have a 3 year old geldint that has just been broken this summer - we did it ourselves and it was surprisingly good experience.

He hacks out 3-4 times a week wiht my daughter (13) - I always take my 16.3 TBxID and we do a lot of canter and trot work - he is out for abotu 2 hours a time.

He's coping well, and has suddenly muscled up. Still croup high as you'd expect, but he seems to be coping with the level of work and is absolutely eager to do it - he loves his saddle and getting out.

I see no point in turning away - we'll just keep him in this level of work. He's a slightly anxious fellow but is learning quickly. The other three are keeping him on his toes.

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Depends really.
I've got a 3 year old and he's walk, trot and cantered in the school, hacks out. Not loads of work, but enough.

I'd say do as much as you think she's ready for. If that's just hacking so be it, but school work is absolutely fine when they're 4.

ETA: Forgot to say, I only do about 10mins riding with him maximum.
 
I have a 3.3 year old who I have decided to leave until next summer to back. There she is in my avatar.

To me, she still looks very 2yold-ish and hasnt really bulked out as much as I thought she would have done by now. She's not croup high at the moment, so maybe a vertical growth spurt is not on the cards just yet either!.

I am only 8 stone, but the idea of riding her this year seems wrong. If only you could see her, she is still somewhat gangly looking, but well topped for living out this winter, which is the main thing. So hopefully she will come bursting into 2011 bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to be backed over summer!

Once backed, I hope to take her out on short hacks and little walks around in our jumping paddock once/twice a week to be nosey and sniff the coloured poles etc, that is depending on how she is going (you can never make plans with youngsters can you?!).We will continue with our little in-hand explorations of the local bridleways, blackberry picking en-route and meeting walkers and having a chat and helping ourselves through people's gateways to nibble their rose bushes and have a drive through meal on a hanging basket on the way out ( Calli, you will get me into trouble on of these days you little toe rag!!). Oh and maybe ask someone on my yard to take us to a show or two and enter best mane and tail as we have a 14inch mane to show off to the world!.

Then she can be turned away for that winter, living out, getting hairy and maturing those bones ready to begin a little light schooling the following spring with an instructor (who must have a good sense of humour to deal with the two of us!) to teach us the serious stuff!.

Whatever you do, you know your horse as an individual, and they have ways of telling you when you are rushing or asking them to perform something that they done understand, sometimes not very desirable ways, but still!!. You will know when to take a step back with your mare or when she is accepting your hand to move onto a new fresh thing with a happy smile on her face.

As other people have said, there's no need to hurry, it's important that you both enjoy this journey together and have fun. :)
 
I backed my big mare Freckles at 3, and did hacking, but she needed it and was very mature, plus she was getting bored and naughty, didnt do her any harm...but her son Harley..I backed him last year when he was 3, but did nothing with him till this year, as he was inmature, but now ive hacked him out a few times, and hes being really good for a stallion, and going to start lessons next week,
 
i have a 3 year old anglo arab mare, she was backed professionally in the summer. i chose a yard that did minimal work in the school but more focused on hacking, and work in the school was very basic - more common sense work than schooling.
She came home, hacked for a week (20 mins roughly, fairly sedately but with some canters) on the farm and some road work.
She then had 1-2 weeks off for 'half term'.
Then she came back up to hacking 4-5 days a week for half an hour, usually just a walk round the lane.
she was virtually foot perfect, so i waited for a very good week and have since turned her away, she wont come back into work til late spring 2011. She will then begin some light schooling, just the basics - enough to do a few prelims in the summer.

I personally don't like to see youngsters worked too hard, niether do i like seeing them being drummed round a school in an outline in the first few weeks of ridden work. All the work i've done with my 3 yr old is with the view to helping her grow into a nice competition horse, in time, so the focus was stress free hacking and desensitising.
 
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