Five weeks backed, two hour ride?

popsdosh said:
Its so lovely seeing new posters trying so hard to stir up an argument.
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That's a little unkind - I don't believe a certain number of posts is a prerequisite to having an opinion. Not everyone needs to agree! Fwiw, I have a just turned 4yo, who is 17.1 and weighs about 750kg. He has been backed three weeks and goes out for about 40-50 minutes at a time. I am sure he is physically strong enough to go out for 2 hours, and I'm sure it wouldn't harm him at all but personally I would give any animal a little longer after backing just to build themselves up. 4 weeks isn't long, and the bigger horses in particular can often have the most physical issues in the long term.
 
although i would never do it in a million years, i think as much as the physical stress would worry me, what about the mental tiring?

once you are a few miles in you HAVE to ride home and if the horse starts to get over tired and upset and mentally cant cope what do you do? if you are closer to home you can return pdq, i just wouldnt like being in unfamiliar territory with an over tired baby horse and no way of stopping the situation escalating.
 
That was something which was on my mind but I hadn't written as I am sure as many people will disagree as agree. I have always found that mentally an hour is more than enough for the first few months - mine falls fast asleep after his 40 minute outings. Over-tiredness is definitely a safety issue imo.
 
So? said:
If it was true, which I know it was, what would your feeling about it be? The horse was four, for people asking about the age. That wouldn't make any difference to me, I wouldn't ask any horse which has only been in regular work for five weeks to carry a rider of that weight for two hours.
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Then you ought to have raised your concerns at the time with the owner. I'm not responsible for the actions or inactions of others, and my personal feelings are not your business.
 
Crikey, you lot would have kittens over here! Most young horses are out and about doing stuff after a week or two of not actively bucking rider off! To take two hours to cover 10 miles means it would have been mostly in walk; did the horse seem distressed by this OP?
 
I wouldn't choose to do this with my own youngsters - however in the grand scheme of things a fairly slow two hour hack is not that terrible a thing. In theory it could have been long reined for some time prior to backing.
 
I think common sense dictates that there may be some doubt whether this is good for the horse, in this case, where there is doubt the horse should be given the benefit of the doubt.

I think they should buy a bike and ride that for two hours.
 
I think common sense dictates that there may be some doubt whether this is good for the horse, in this case, where there is doubt the horse should be given the benefit of the doubt.

I think they should buy a bike and ride that for two hours.
 
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