bit of a rant....... backing youngsters

the most recent horse I backed was 6, before that he was a little *****, too clever too strong minded, too good to risk ruining, so I waited, I now have a wonderful horse, a horse that feels like the horse of a lifetime, we are bonded body and soul, he trusts me and I am so proud of his confidence in me.

I believe I train a horse`s mind and condition its body, that the strength of the horse has absolutely nothing to do with it being too strong and well grown so I must break it in now and overpower it, I believe I must use communication, intelligence correct aids and schooling to get the horse to do what I require and I never need strength, in fact kindness and dedication to the process is essential, I think having a plan of work for a horse combined with discipline is the way to go, and the ability to ride with total finesse and teach the horse from soft aids from day one is the very least horses deserve.
 
Faracat said:
Oh poops MM, you win. Although someone may come along and say how they once broke in a 37 yo shetland... ;) :D
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I see you and raise you 12 years old (horse in my sig!). Now 22 and mostly retired to lawnmower duties :D

I'm also currently *very* slowly (re) backing my 14 year old companion pony. She's a rescue from a local charity and has been from pillar to post through her life until they got her.
 
Faracat said:
My chestnut mare wasn't backed until she was eight, when I bought her.

(Do I win a prize? ;) :p)
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I was just gong to say mine turns seven next week and he was only backed in March :D no problems and a chilled horse. Brought him from fild last July so spent the winter learning about livery yards, rugs etc For me it depends on the horse.
 
I'm waiting until six to start ridden work with mine. He goes through phases of looking ready and then another growth spurt hits and suddenly he's all legs and eyelashes, and looks to be made out of glass! I do lots of in hand stuff though, and he's been bitted and walked/trotted around the lanes in long reins. So far I have a young horse who is utterly unafraid of life. His default response to new/strange is to have a very serious stare at it until told to walk on, which frankly I am more than happy with.
 
I have always broken at 3 then turned away.

Tbf my mare who I event was bombproof when I broke her at 3 & hacked but now she is 6 she's bloody worse !

a lot of young horses are chilled then they grow into themselves & get fit & all of a sudden are no longer donkey like

I have two 3 year olds. 1 I broke in April. She was rode away for 3 weeks & is now sat in the field & will be till October time when she will do 2 weeks of 3 days per week then 2 weeks off etc youngsters learn best by having time off.

My other 3 year old just wasn't mature enough to break in spring so is going to be done in September as now looks like a different horse ! She will then have a couple of months off & start work the same as the other.

Although I break at 3 I don't do "proper" work until summer of their 4th year. I think as a 4 year old time off is so so important
 
Arizahn said:
:D Seriously; he looks like Bambi!
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Hopefully there's no ice about for him to slip about on with a naughty bunny rabbit at this time of year! :p

I'll be backing my boy this year. Last year he wasn't ready. :)

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MagicMelon said:
I also don't really get why people still turn horses away
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Why not? I don't see the problem with some initial education then a holiday when they are still young? As long as the initial education is done well. It's all a matter of confidence and strength building initially on top of learning to carry and accept aids. Once they've been established, I can't see why spending the winter with the rest of the herd roaming around is so wrong? In fact, what is wrong with giving horses whatever age a much needed rest?

Personally, starting later and carrying on forever can have its drawbacks... each to their own. This is increasingly what people do nowadays anyway with horses never really having a break from work, shoes, rugs, strict routines etc. Not that I'm saying anyone here does that.
 
Faracat said:
Hopefully there's no ice about for him to slip about on with a naughty bunny rabbit at this time of year! :p

I'll be backing my boy this year. Last year he wasn't ready. :)

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Stunning horse :)

<we don't talk about the rabbit chasing incident ;P>
 
Sorry, I will not mention ze bunny again. *zips lips up* :redface3:

Thanks. :) I should take some new decent photos really (I have lots of awful ones ;)). He finally looks like an adult, rather than the gangly beast in that photo from last year. If anyone's wondering, he was four in that photo.
 
I just answered above. :p He was four in that photo, he's now five. I don't have any recent, decent full body shot photos of him. Seriously, this is the best I have and it's mainly my grey's copious behind (no-one laugh at CM's mane, we had a mane catastrophe when she rubbed loads of it out and dreadlocked the rest). I will endevour to get a good photo.

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