Help! Throwing youngsters away for the winter

Tifferss

Tifferss

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My mare has just turned four - she was broke by her breeders at three - she has been schooled, hacked and popped the odd small pole. Now i am thinking of giving her the winter off for her to mature in her head and body.

What do people think?

Are there real benefits?

If people have dont this before do they completely stop lunging too?
 
Depends how level headed she is. I know of one who was born broke, level headed and mature beyond his years. Broken at 4 and never turned away. Another was backed at 2 (not us) turned away by us, re backed at almost 4, turned away for winter and has been back in for 4 months now. He's Fab, never been a problem but i think it did do him good to have his breaks.
 
How long does everyone turn away for?
I was going to turn away for christmas till Feb/march time.....
Some people say not too others are for it, very divided opinion TBH.
 
ive had split opinions too! my dad has broke thousands of horses and thinks its good for them but others think its a waste of time
 
haha! Sorry... just had to have a giggle at your title. I'd love to be able to throw my youngster away for the winter... and perhaps pick him up fully recycled as a well behaved adult in the spring! lol! 'turning away' is the most common term.

As for your question... I think it is really up to you. If you think it will benefit your youngster to chill out for a bit then do it.

I was adament that I would do it with my boy (just turned four) and am still toying with the idea, though probably won't do it until the weather gets really crap - mid december, january and february.
 
I think it depends on what the horse is like mentally and physically and how much time you have to invest over the winter. If it's the sort of horse that needs riding regularly - maybe best to chuck it out as we are forecast crap weather for the winter! I have 2 4yr olds. I have kept one in and he is hunting and will probably stay in until after xmas and the other I have pulled the shoes off and chucked out. Chose to chuck that one out as he isn't as chilled as the other so needs more time spent on him and really needs alot of schooling. The one I kept in is easy going and is happy to hack around, ride and lead etc (I don't have a school).
 
CBFan said:
haha! Sorry... just had to have a giggle at your title. I'd love to be able to throw my youngster away for the winter... and perhaps pick him up fully recycled as a well behaved adult in the spring! lol! 'turning away' is the most common term.

As for your question... I think it is really up to you. If you think it will benefit your youngster to chill out for a bit then do it.

I was adament that I would do it with my boy (just turned four) and am still toying with the idea, though probably won't do it until the weather gets really crap - mid december, january and february.
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LOL must be a colloquial miss match - we've always known it as throwing a youngster away for the winter
 
I personally think turning away can me for any of the following reasons (and more)... I'm not sure that feistiness comes into it... a lot depends on the reason for the 'feistiness'

1) youngster is physically imature
2) youngster has struggled with the concept of 'work'
3) You can see it being a problem to keep youngster in consistent work due to his / her temperament, shortened days and adverse weather.

Interesting what you say about terminology - I'd never heard it called 'throwing away' before today.
 
yes, always. All young animals need a break and for feisty ones winter is an even better time- its cold- they get silly in winds and bitter cold when clipped. The inconsitency of winter through snow.ice etc. Why not scrap winter off and start in spring.
 
I'm hoping that ben won't need a break once he's backed and coming on, but if he does, so be it, where is the rush? Its the end product and the wellbeing of the horse that is important. With Eb's she was physically mature at 7yrs when I got her but mentally she was not up to it, she was backed but unused to schooling, jumping, regular riding. We never 'turned away' for long periods of time but there were many times when she got herself flustered and 'couldn't process' things. I would then pop her in the field for a week or two to 'digest' what she had learnt, the next time I got on her back she would have to show me what she'd learnt! To the point that when I was teaching her 'leading leg' in canter in the sand school, I had no sense out of her until she had struck off on the right leg in canter, done a few strides and had a big pat!! Then we could continue until the next sticky moment! I really think its about reading the horse, its physical level and its mental level and making a judgement to turn away or not, from there.
 
I'm all for it - I hate anaologies between horses and children, but you wouldn't send a child to school full time straight off the bat.

I've done WB youngsters in the past which have really 'come on' physically for being in work, and I think some time off just allows them to catch up with themselves and mature mentally as well.

And I love 'throwing away', I'm going to use it from now on!
 
I think all horses of whatever age benefit from a decent break, in years gone by before the 'never ending competition season' started hunters got all summer off and eveners got all winter off. This usually meant removing the shoes too - I do wonder how many of the problems we deal with navicular, back problems, tendon issues... are made worse by keeping horses in work without a break. I know of a couple of horses that are hunted all winter and for the last couple of years neither of them have had a break in the summer and they've gone steadily downhill, one looks poor and lacks the sparkle she used to have and the other looks like he's on the edge heading for a serious explosion.
As for the original question, I think its a good for youngsters to be turned away, it goes them some time to chill mentally and physically and winter's a great time - surely no one 'really' enjoys mucking out lol
 
Thank you all for all your comments x

I really wanted to "throw" ( ;-) )her away for this main reason - during the winter i would hate to sicken her by constant schooling. I usually alternate between schooling and odd dressage test and hacking out. This isnt really an option where we are through th winter so i would be 100% schooling for 4 or 5 months. not sure she'd be happy with that at the moment - shes bright and intelligent but can become sour and stroppy.
 
Might be stroppy cos its too much to cope with?, it is a good thing to turn them away for a time, but depends on them, at four, rising five, I would be handling them once or twice a week, just little poles and grids and exposure to traffic, playing and stuff, if they have no fitness when you bring them in, you have to work through all that anyway for four weeks to get up to any fitness level.
you know her best so go with gut feeling, I would not lunge at that age anyway.
 
Tifferss said:
Thank you all for all your comments x

I really wanted to "throw" ( ;-) )her away for this main reason - during the winter i would hate to sicken her by constant schooling. I usually alternate between schooling and odd dressage test and hacking out. This isnt really an option where we are through th winter so i would be 100% schooling for 4 or 5 months. not sure she'd be happy with that at the moment - shes bright and intelligent but can become sour and stroppy.
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You are bang on with this. IME, youngsters do get fed up with schooling and if you work full time then it is best to turn out. The real reason I do it though is regularity of work is so important (10 mins 7 x week is better than 1 hour twice a week) and in winter I just can't do that. You can get out in the spring and do loads, variety, rides, jumps etc etc and she will be all the better for it :):):)
 
My welsh D was backed in June, came 6th in dressage very first time out , hasn't sold and is gonna be 'thrown out' over winter and started again in Spring.

No reason at all from his POV just suits me better.
 
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