3yr olds - what do you do/expect with yours?

cob&onion

cob&onion

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 January 2011
Messages
2,744
Visit site
What do you do with your 3 yr olds and, what do you expect of them an what are your future plans? do you turn them away?

Mine: a very physically and mentally mature cob, 14,3hh 3yo
she long reins well
has been sat on
been ridden up the lane
has seen traffic
leads well
ties up whilst being groomed
has manners

She does a few mins every evening of inhand ground work, and i haven't long reined/sat on her for about 3 weeks now, have been on her around 5 times (over a period of about 2 months) for very short periods only in walk and on a lead rein, we walked about 30 metres up the road and back whilst i sat on her and she was being lead.

I am hoping to have her quietly hacking around the lanes by the end of summer max 3 x per week, then will probably turn her away for a while and bring her back into work as a 4YO.
Next autumn 2012 i will be introducing her to cubbing as am hoping she will make a good hunter.
 
As a 3 year old mine was beginning to long rein at 3 and a bit. At 3 and a half years old he was sat one and starting to walk out down the lane with a little trotting under saddle. he'd been walked out in hand quite a few times down to the main road so he could see the traffic.
Once backed at 3.5 he was ridden for 6 weeks walk trot (and a little canter out hacking) in the school and out hacking and then turned away for the whole of winter. Brought back into work just before he turned 4 and he's been going ever since. He's only been ridden since March time and he's just started to pop tiny little cross poles in the arena. by tiny i mean barely off the ground! He's been a star though :-)
 
My youngster is a 3yr old arab filly.

she long reins well. No, I have just started to do lunging. I will introduce long-reining this summer.

has been sat on. Not yet. I'm waiting until she is 4 even though it is tempting.

been ridden up the lane. No, but I have taken her for some long walks in-hand.

has seen traffic. Yes, tractors and cars. I want to introduce her to cyclists too as we haven't met any yet.

leads well. Ditto. :D

ties up whilst being groomed. Yes.

has manners. Yes, but she does need to be reminded every nown and again as she is very pushy.
Click to expand...

My plan is to get her ready for backing next summer, when she's four. :)
 
I have never backed a 3yo purely because I have natives and they are never mature enough. I wait until they are 4 at least. But they do get a fair bit of in-hand work as they are shown from yearlings upwards.
 
Rox turned three at the beginning of April. He is extremely well handled, and has done inhand showing since he was a yearling. I had hoped to introduce him to inhand walks on the road, but due to badly breaking my ankle in 2009, I am not 100% on my feet, and so dare not to risk it just yet.

I have introduced him to long reins in the stable, and have so far done two short walks with them on and my OH leading him. I hope by the end of summer he is long reining successfully unaided.

He is TB x traditional cob, and to look at him, you would not think he has any cob in him whatsoever. He is very TB like, and so I have decided to leave the breaking in until he is 4 years old.

There have been a few people say I ought to, but although he has a belly on him, he is not filled out. He is weak through the shoulder and back just yet, and needs that extra time to mature. I am hoping that the long reining will help strengthen him through his back, and build it up ready for backing. xx
 
Warmblood: I expect well behaved on the ground, ridden in school walk, trot and canter, slow plod down a quiet lane with others then turn away. Never ride for long per session 10-20 mins max. Once got as far as cantering a few times I turn away and wait till they are four. Scared of damaging growing bones.
 
Mine is 2½ at the moment - she ties up, stands to have her feet done, leads well in walk and trot, goes on the truck and travels well. She walks over tarpaulins and around and over other scarey things. She has recently moved from a back section paddock to one along side a main road, her reaction to the vehicles was comical as there is a large hedge between her and the road. She went for a hoon across her new paddock and then pronked to a stop and stood fascinated as the cars went by, following the lights with her head. She doesn't bother about them anymore.

She is happy to where an inhand bit, accepting it nicely and spits it out when it comes off with no panicing.

She will stand to be bathed and plaited, mane pulling we get put in the crush as she is a big girl and can squish well.

At three she will begin to lunge in Walk and short trots, with a mouthing bit, by 3½ she will be in a Fulmer bit and wear a saddle happily at walk and trot and be wearing side reins in trot.

She may get walked out on the road if and when it is quiet enough and by 4 will be backed and ready to ride away.
 
Last edited:
my sec d has just turned 3, he is being long reined around the lanes and i have leant over him. the kids regularly sit on him but being 3 and 5 dont weigh anything! He will be backed over summer and just quietly pootling along the lanes. I will turn him away then until he is 4. He will however still be handled/brought in every day to remind him of his manners as can be quite bargy. He has a huge amount of maturing to do so im in no rush.
 
These sorts of post can get a hugly varied response as each horse is an individual, some mature much faster than others.
I have lightly backed a near 3 yr old before as she had done everything else and was bored out of her mind and being naughtly when the others went out, as soon as back she was turned away for 6 months and was more relaxed and happy brought back into work and then turned away again, now she is a well balanced 4yr old.
Yet i have another 3yr who has done everything, including bing sat on in headcollar and lead rope, tack up with no rider long reined etc etc, but wont be backed till next year as she is slower to mature and is not as well developed as previous described horse.
So i think it is more a case of you decide what is best for each individual horse, rather than a generlisation across the board of this is what a 3yr year old should be doing
 
as each horse is an individual, some mature much faster than others.
Click to expand...

Mentally - yes, that is true.

Skeletally - no, that is not true. All horses' (breed & gender make no difference) skeletons grow and the growth plates fuse at the same rate.
 
Faracat said:
Skeletally - no, that is not true. All horses' (breed & gender make no difference) skeletons grow and the growth plates fuse at the same rate.
Click to expand...


I disagree plus physically its not just about the bones fusing but the way they muscle up and "develop" .
 
It is true (when purely talking about the skeleton) and has been scientifically proven. Dr D Bennett did a very interesting paper on it. The link to it has been posted on here many times before. I have to say that I am surprised that it has not become the accepted normal thinking by now.

The important part is the fact that it's the spine and not the knees that you have to worry about overloading too young.

I do agree that it isn't just the bones that matter, but the connective tissues too (bones and tendons) and also the muscles.
 
Along with the skeletal maturity stuff, there is also 'structures developing according to how they are used'. So if you want your horse to hang about in a field for its adult life, doing that as a youngster is ideal. If you want it to be a robust competition horse, it is probably best to do activities that stimulate the skeleton to develop to cope with these types of activity. This is hypothetical at the moment for me, but if I did have a youngster, I would ideally be 'ponying' or leading it off one of my mature horses, or taking it out in hand for long walks/jogs, so that it got used to working at different speeds over varying terrain which would encourage good skeletal (and hoof) development. I think I would introduce riding very early too, but for short periods only.
 
To be fair, to have a very negative effect on a youngsters development, you would have to really restrict their movement (eg stick them in a veal crate or stable 24/7). Any youngster that lives out or has several hours daily turnout will use their bodies (therefore putting the required forces for development on their bones etc... ) playing and moving around. Take a look at Enfys' video in the picture gallery, it's lovely. :)

I agree with leading out in hand and ponying but I do think that people should be careful with weight on the animals back. I'm not saying 'no, don't ever, ever!' Just be sensible and of course an eight stone rider on a young warmblood for 10 mins is not going to be a problem at all. The same rider on a little LW two year old show pony = not a good idea.
 
Lola is a 12hh exmoor pony 3 years old.
So far she has:
Been to shows in hand
Been led in hand up the lanes and is used to traffic
Been bitted
I have so far lunged her 4 times just for not even 5 mins as she got it straight away
I have sat on her twice.

Plans are to just sit on her twice a week over the next 3 weeks and then begin walking, again only twice a week, if that if I am busy with my other 2. We don't have a saddle so will just be sitting on her with a roller and stirrups lol and will only be riding her walking.
Also will teach her long reining but waiting till we get a school before I do that.

Plan is to turn her away as soon as she does the above and then bring her back earlier in the spring 2012 (march/ april time) if I think she looks ready i.e. not too bum high.
 
Last edited:
Faracat said:
To be fair, to have a very negative effect on a youngsters development, you would have to really restrict their movement (eg stick them in a veal crate or stable 24/7). Any youngster that lives out or has several hours daily turnout will use their bodies (therefore putting the required forces for development on their bones etc... ) playing and moving around.
Click to expand...

Yes, but presumably people want to have a positive effect, not just avoid 'very negative effects', which requires a bit more effort that just turnout. I think 'several hours daily turnout' is far too little, but that would be my view for any horse, not just a youngster. A youngster using its body in the field will develop a body that is very well suited to being used by the horse in the field. If you want to set yourself up well for more than that, you need to put more in. Although I don't agree with the system in place for flat racers, I've seen some evidence that horses from this system have a lower rate of breakdown in future careers than horses that have been allowed to do very little and then started work once their skeletons are fully formed.
 
Faracat said:
Mentally - yes, that is true.

Skeletally - no, that is not true. All horses' (breed & gender make no difference) skeletons grow and the growth plates fuse at the same rate.
Click to expand...

Totally agree - mentally some horses are more able to concentrate earlier than others but skeletally they all mature around the same age - with hocks & spine being the last to finish. Hense the reason sensible horse people don't break till at least 4 and don't jump till older.

You hear of so many horses these days with hock problems, people to impatient to let the horse complete it's growing before jumping and expecting too high a level of work in dressage.

My 4½ is just being broken now, he will now stay in light work and when he has turned five will begin jumping.

My filly is really big so is being backed earlier than I normally wouold have them backed but that is all she will do.
 
Working with one atm who was pretty much unhandled and 3 week ago didn't lead. He now leads, ties, will tolerate being brushed, has started accepting his legs being handled and today has been introduced to the hose. Tomorrow he's having a bridle on for the first time. I would expect quite a bit more from a normal 3 year old though.
 
I have two homebred three year olds atm.

One is 16.2hh IDxTB colt, he is backed and is ridden most days for short periods including hacking or riding in the field, walking over poles, he will walk trot and canter. He will continue to be ridden for a couple of months then turned away until after Christmas.

The other is a 14.3hh CobxTB filly, who is just at the beginning of the backing process and is about to go out and about long-reining. However she will only be long-reined for a couple of months because she a little overweight, hopefully she will then be sat on and ridden away before being turned away for the winter.

They both lead, tie-up, load and travel in trailer, good for farrier, and are being quietly introduced to traffic.

I spend just as much time messing around with them and stopping to talk to people, getting on an off them, opening gates, standing and looking at animals in fields etc etc as I do work them at that age, its all about life experiences.

They are all different, as are owners, as long as their best interests are at heart I don't think there is a right or wrong time to start them x
 
soloequestrian said:
Yes, but presumably people want to have a positive effect, not just avoid 'very negative effects', which requires a bit more effort that just turnout. I think 'several hours daily turnout' is far too little, but that would be my view for any horse, not just a youngster. A youngster using its body in the field will develop a body that is very well suited to being used by the horse in the field. If you want to set yourself up well for more than that, you need to put more in. Although I don't agree with the system in place for flat racers, I've seen some evidence that horses from this system have a lower rate of breakdown in future careers than horses that have been allowed to do very little and then started work once their skeletons are fully formed.
Click to expand...

I think that you are taking a good point but stretching it too far. :)

Many people keep their horses of all ages in at night and out during the day without any negative phyical effects. Also the effect of bones/muscle etc responding to work does not stop when the horse stops growing, it continues throughout the animal's life. So it's not an opportunity missed, if you back at four rather than three. However by doing too much work too young you can cause a permanent problem.

The flat racer comment made me laugh. I've got alot of friends in the racing industry and I've had alot to do with retrained racers myself. You have to remember that some young TB's that breakdown are PTS and are never retrained.

In my experiance (so not a big enough group to be scientifically significant) the horses with the most soundness issues are TB's and warmbloods. The TB's would either be tough as nails or very fragile and re-do old injuries very easily. The warmbloods had generally been loose jumped quite big when they were young and I've always wondered if this was the reason that they had a tendancy to have hock and knee problems. I've known so many that needed hock injections. I'd love to know other people's thoughts on this. :)

Evelyn said:
Totally agree - mentally some horses are more able to concentrate earlier than others but skeletally they all mature around the same age - with hocks & spine being the last to finish. Hense the reason sensible horse people don't break till at least 4 and don't jump till older.

You hear of so many horses these days with hock problems, people to impatient to let the horse complete it's growing before jumping and expecting too high a level of work in dressage.

My 4½ is just being broken now, he will now stay in light work and when he has turned five will begin jumping.

My filly is really big so is being backed earlier than I normally wouold have them backed but that is all she will do.
Click to expand...

Very interesting that you have mentioned hock problems.
 
Faracat said:
Many people keep their horses of all ages in at night and out during the day without any negative phyical effects. Also the effect of bones/muscle etc responding to work does not stop when the horse stops growing, it continues throughout the animal's life. So it's not an opportunity missed, if you back at four rather than three. However by doing too much work too young you can cause a permanent problem.
Click to expand...

But how do you quantify 'negative physical effects' - there are all sorts of problems that people wouldn't relate back to particular management systems, but which may have been caused by them or at least contributed to by them, for instance arthritis in older horses. It's a cumulative thing. The effects don't disappear, but they are greater at a younger age.

Faracat said:
The flat racer comment made me laugh. I've got alot of friends in the racing industry and I've had alot to do with retrained racers myself. You have to remember that some young TB's that breakdown are PTS and are never retrained.
Click to expand...

I did say that I didn't agree with the system, however it is the only sector that I'm aware of where horses are routinely asked to work hard at a young age. Unfortunately I never saw the final outcome, but I saw research in progress several years ago that suggested exactly what I've said - these horses seemed more resiliant in later years. It is too much too soon, but the concept is, I think, a useful one when compared with the tradition of young horses doing pretty much nothing.

Faracat said:
In my experiance (so not a big enough group to be scientifically significant) the horses with the most soundness issues are TB's and warmbloods. The TB's would either be tough as nails or very fragile and re-do old injuries very easily. The warmbloods had generally been loose jumped quite big when they were young and I've always wondered if this was the reason that they had a tendancy to have hock and knee problems. I've known so many that needed hock injections. I'd love to know other people's thoughts on this. :)
Click to expand...

I think the jumping would be the thing to damage growth plates and developing joints - I don't think long periods of moving on different terrains without a rider would do the same thing. Horses in the wild do it! I just think that traditional systems, where horses are taught not to be scared of things but other than that do very little, are very limited. There are lots of conditioning exercises that youngsters could be doing from birth, pretty much, that would help their development.
 
I would love to see statistics from the racing industry compared with non-raced/trained TB's that are backed later.

It would also be interesting to see what proportion of ex-racers have bad injuries/problems and never get to be retrained. I have a suspition that the the 'tough' TB's in the study were essentially the stronger ones because the damaged ones never made it into the study. Therefore the study is skewed from the start.

I fully agree that young horses doing lots of in-hand work or ponying over different terrain is very good for them. I led my own youngster out on walks (once she was trained enough to do so) from a year old. It's been very good for her mind as well as her body, although I do have trouble keeping up with her on the steeper hills! ;)
 
Faracat said:
I would love to see statistics from the racing industry compared with non-raced/trained TB's that are backed later.
Click to expand...

I know - I have looked, but I've never been able to find the finished work. Doesn't help that I can't remember the name of the researcher. Perhaps it never was finished though...

Faracat said:
It would also be interesting to see what proportion of ex-racers have bad injuries/problems and never get to be retrained. I have a suspition that the the 'tough' TB's in the study were essentially the stronger ones because the damaged ones never made it into the study. Therefore the study is skewed from the start.
Click to expand...

Hmm, a very good point. Damn, I wish I had paid more attention so I could find out what happened to the study. One would assume that they had some way of correcting for this 'weeding out'.

Faracat said:
I fully agree that young horses doing lots of in-hand work or ponying over different terrain is very good for them. I led my own youngster out on walks (once she was trained enough to do so) from a year old. It's been very good for her mind as well as her body, although I do have trouble keeping up with her on the steeper hills! ;)
Click to expand...

That's pretty much what I was meaning. I think it's particularly important for foot development, and brain development, as well as the general skeleton.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top