Breaking a horse aged 7

[Noodlejaffa]

Any opinions on this? Asking for trouble or is it a challenge?!

Friend is considering taking on an unbroken 7 year old, but I'm not so sure it's a great idea.

 

[Lill]

Depends what its done before? Has it just been left or a broodmare or has someone tried to break it in and failed for whatever reason?

 

[AmyMay]

As long as the horse has been well handled I don't see a problem - it will just be an 'old' baby.

 

[squid35]

why not?? my horse was broken at 4 and then did nothing till he was 7 and i have also just recently broken in a 10year old that had done NOTHING! he was a stallion that had covered!

he was absolutly fine! some say its better at they are more developed and are more award of themselves.

 

[samp]

My mare was only broken as 7.5 year old mare. Physically she is mature, mentally she is like a 4.5 year old and very green for her age. We are getting better but it is taking us time and she has stubborn moments

 

[Farm Kat]

It will take more time, and she must remember it is a baby in terms of it's ridden career, even though it is 7, which goes without saying.
My instructor regularily breaks 9/10 year olds that have run on the forest and she has had no problems.
The oldest I have known her to do was a re-break at 17, she was broken at 4 and used as a broodmare from 4-16, and barely handled in between, say once/twice a year, and she was fine, even though by that time it was a case of doing her again, the mare went on to do PC with a nervous novice, but she is an exceptionally quiet mare.

 

[Salcey]

My mare was untouched as a 6yo and shes a mw 15.3 cob x.
She was literally out running in a field for 6 years, the only human contact she had was when she was corralled (sp) to be wormed.
As mentioned above she's just an 'old' 4 yo. It was the most rewarding thing i've ever done.

 

[Tia]

It may be okay - however my experience is that you will have troubles along the way.

Had a few like this and each one had it's own problems - one just never ended up being backed; I broke her, re-broke her and then tried again a 3rd time.....each time she was perfect with all the groundwork, long reined, excellent to handle on the ground....the minute you mounted....OMG! As I say, we tried 3 times over a number of months and then decided that this was not for her so sold her as a broodmare.

At 7 years old they are very set in their ways. Good luck whatever you choose to do.

 

[Tia]

You hit the nail on the head.....your horse was broken at 4. Therefore your horse was not broken for the first time at 7.

 

[Salcey]

I think it really depends on the nature of the individual horse. I was very lucky she was so chilled we were able to more or less just get on. The hardest thing we had to deal with was to get her moving forward nicely. She was very stubborn and just used to stand and shut off. Thankfully thats over now and we have just started going out on our own and softening onto the bit nicely.

 

[samp]

They definitely have their moments and they would not be for a novice. My mare can be set in her ways but we are cracking it. As the guy that sold her to me said, she is quirky and if you can ride should be fine. Several people tried her before me and I know she just napped at the school gate with them

 

[Tia]

The trouble with the "one who got away" was that she just couldn't tolerate me not on the ground with her. She was absolutely excellent whilst I was down there with her but she couldn't deal with someone else on the ground and me up there.

I even brought in emma69 to be my jockey so that I could still be on the ground with the mare.....but it was not to be and after that I just felt it better for her to do as she had always done, make babies with someone else. Some horses have a sole purpose and hers was definitely not being ridden......hey ho she is happy where she is now.

 

[Tia]

Well done for persevering. I think it helps if you only have one horse. At the time I had something like 15 horses and I was finding that I was spending far more time with this one who was never going to make me any money, at the expense of the youngsters who were! Hence my decision to cut my losses and practically giving her away. Well and truly made the right choice as the youngsters made me a packet.

 

[acolvine]

I think it depends on the horses temperament, breeding and background in general. Have the owners ever tried to back it or even started the ground work?

I used to ride an ID x (by Jumbo), 17.2hh gelding, only started working at 7yrs.
He was great to work with because his temperament was so kind. Biggest problem he had was establishing his balance on the flat as dressage was all new to him. His muscles had to learn to adjust and work differently having had 7 years of doing nothing.
He went on to event at an advanced level and qualified for badminton.

I think it just depends on the individual horse.

 

[barkinghorse]

William was broken at 6,
It was hard but having never broken a younger horse i have no comparison
Sorry

Jo

 

[colmio]

My daughter took, on earlier this year, an 8 yr old that had just been broken, maybe 15 rides all up.

She had had minimal handling, in fact when we commented to her breeder that she was hard to catch her response was that one should just catch them by the tail as they went by- NOT the recommended method.

She has acclimatised amazingly well to all that we have asked of her, pony club, gymkhanas, one day events, floating long distances etc, she does have a superb disposition. We now find, 8 months later, lots of people wanting to know where she came from! Are there any more?

So best of luck with your late breaker, in our experience they can be fabulous

 

[Twiglet]

My friend had her 7 year old arab professionally backed, and has done most of the work herself. That was earlier this year and he appears to be taking to it really well.

 

[cariadssogreat]

I've just done it!! It was genuinly a fab experience. I think it all depends on the temperament of the animal and wether anyone has been there and spoilt it before. Ash was literally untouched.

 

[sorona]

7 is not old and sometimes 4 is too young as the horse hasnt grown into itself yet. You can be a little less concerned about asking too much physically, although mentally it will be just the same. Friends pony was taken off forest at 6 and broken and is a fantastic little pony with a very steady disposition.

 

[teapot]

Old pony was broken to drive at 4 ish but wasn't broken to ride until he was 8.

Had it be done properly - he'd have been a cracking ride/drive pony. However, it wasn't done properly (went from not ridden at all to jumping 2ft6/2ft9 courses whithin about 5months) and alas well, such a waste of a good pony

It can be done - pony was so honest, just a shame the starting blocks had been ruined