is rising 6 too old to be re-broken?

[elizabeth8]

hi, i have brought a connemara gelding 2 weeks ago he will be 6 in june. he was sold from field due to no riding facilites, but i was told he was ridden 5-6 months ago and was going well (hacking and jumping). i was old he needs slowly bringing back into work.
i have been lunging and long reining without any probs. when i came to mount him he bolted straight away and i came off. i now know he needs completely re braking but am concerned because of his age and also exactly what ridden work he has done.
i dont know whether to send him off to be prof broken, or have someone come to me. i need 100% safe pony that my children will be able to ride eventually and am worried he is going to be too much for me to handle
any suggestions?

 

[Spreebok]

If you want something 100% safe for you and your kids, I'd be tempted to say you're better off getting something older, more experienced, already backed and been there done that. You say yourself he may be too much for you to handle, and as we all know, a horse can easily cause serious injury or even death in the blink of an eye. Better safe than sorry personally :s

 

[Dry Rot]

No experience personally but I had a long and interesting correspondence with an American lady whose job it was to break wild caught mustangs almost exclusively. She confirmed that it is not so much the age but what has been done with them previously and their experiences.

So an untouched 6yo might be not much different to an untouched 2yo. But a screwed up 6yo would still be screwed up compared with any other screwed up horse! If all has gone well up to backing, isn't it a fair bet that this part of the training wasn't completed successfully or was done in such a way that the horse now has a problem? Because of the time factor, the problem could be engrained and difficult to fix.

Edited to say he doesn't sound like something that could be made safe for kids to ride, though! Often cheaper to start again with new.

 

[be positive]

2 weeks is not really long enough to have reestablished the groundwork, unless you are very experienced, let alone to get on an unknown quantity, I would not write him off at this stage just because he has over reacted when you got on.
I have started and restarted many, some after long breaks, I currently have a rising 7 year old in that has had a break, the first time we tried to get on we gave up as he was set to run, experience is crucial when making your judgement as to what you do, having left him on a good note he was fine to get on the following day and has got more relaxed each day.

If you required a 100% safe pony buying a pony that you could not try and had no idea what it had done previously was a big mistake, give the pony a chance and get a pro involved, it may cost you to do so but if he gets passed on to the wrong home he could end up having a dreadful time through no fault of his own, if he does not prove suitable for you then he will at least have a chance of finding somewhere that will bring him on properly but he may well be a really nice pony once he gets going.

 

[Welly]

I would check out his previous history via his passport I think You have been told a pack of lies I also think this pony has done this before and they have not told you, what you then do is up to you but I would be sending it back. Sorry to be so blunt on your first post but people who sell horses like this make me mad!!

 

[be positive]

I would check out his previous history via his passport I think You have been told a pack of lies I also think this pony has done this before and they have not told you, what you then do is up to you but I would be sending it back. Sorry to be so blunt on your first post but people who sell horses like this make me mad!!

While I agree it may be a pack of lies there are no grounds to return the pony, it was sold from the field totally untried, the OP has been incredibly naive but I cannot see returning is an option, unless the sellers are dealers, there may be nothing wrong with it, many ponies that have not been ridden for 6 months would panic if they are unsure, the saddle may not fit, the OP may have got on and landed with a thump, bolting is a misused term it probably just ran off and unseated the OP, yes if it had been well started it should not have done anything but the pony deserves a chance, in my view the OP is as much to blame as the seller for not doing at least some homework before buying.

To the OP you cannot receive or send pms until you have posted a few more times, if you put your location in your next post someone may be able to make a suggestion of where you could get the right help and advice, I do appreciate that you are in a difficult situation, I have picked up the pieces many times when people have purchased the wrong pony, it may well be possible to have a good ending to what is a sad situation for you and the pony.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I would check out his previous history via his passport I think You have been told a pack of lies I also think this pony has done this before and they have not told you, what you then do is up to you but I would be sending it back. Sorry to be so blunt on your first post but people who sell horses like this make me mad!!

I was thinking along similar lines, phone them up and ask them to take him back as your circumstances have changed, play down anything, you have done. I am 95% sure they won't want to know.

 

[Dizzle]

I've got a New Forest mare, she wasn't backed and broken until she was 6. She's lovely, safe and sparky but can have a wobble about being on her own but totally understandable for a herd animal

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I think the problem is not the age of the pony, it is more likely to be the background.
Although people should ideally have an assistant and some suitable facilities to break a pony, they also need considerable skill and experience. If there has been "history" this pony may have already been previously broken but the outcome was not satisfactory, the pony may have been put out in a field till OP came along with cash, and was spun a story about it.
OP would probably be better spending her efforts on getting the pony back to the vendors. So she needs to find out if they are dealers, in which case trading standards may help.
She should keep a diary of costs and contacts etc, both before purchase and after. Sometimes googling name and phone numbers can help identify dealers.
If she can find a good BHSII instructor to visit her and check the pony, tack etc, this might help her to know what she has bought, and do some long reining.
There is no reason why she can't ask them to take it back, though they may not want to.

 

[Pinkvboots]

While I agree it may be a pack of lies there are no grounds to return the pony, it was sold from the field totally untried, the OP has been incredibly naive but I cannot see returning is an option, unless the sellers are dealers, there may be nothing wrong with it, many ponies that have not been ridden for 6 months would panic if they are unsure, the saddle may not fit, the OP may have got on and landed with a thump, bolting is a misused term it probably just ran off and unseated the OP, yes if it had been well started it should not have done anything but the pony deserves a chance, in my view the OP is as much to blame as the seller for not doing at least some homework before buying.

To the OP you cannot receive or send pms until you have posted a few more times, if you put your location in your next post someone may be able to make a suggestion of where you could get the right help and advice, I do appreciate that you are in a difficult situation, I have picked up the pieces many times when people have purchased the wrong pony, it may well be possible to have a good ending to what is a sad situation for you and the pony.

I agree with this if you buy something from a field without seeing it ridden its a chance you take, and to be honest anything that is advertised as sold from field I would half expect that it has issues, this is where the op has unfortunately come unstuck as people do tell lies its wrong but it happens, buyer beware!

 

[EstherYoung]

At best the pony has massive holes in its education. At worst any previous attempts at training were bodged and there will be bad experiences to undo before you start again properly.

Even the best behaved young pony will have its moments, and it would be several years of hard work before any young, green pony is reliable enough for what you want. A green pony sold from the field without a proper trial was always going to be an enormous gamble. In an ideal world you need a pro who can work with both of you and give you an honest opinion about whether it is going to work.