Novices and Young Horses?

With plenty of determination, experienced advice and support, and so long as your friend goes into owning a 3 year old with their eyes wide open, it shouldn't be disregarded. As other poster's have said, owning and producing a young horse can be incredibly rewarding, especially in the long term. However, I would encourage your friend to give it a great deal of thought. Write a list of what they really want out of a partnership and what they want to achieve, being honest. On paper, the answer might well become apparent.
 
When we originally bought H, as relative novices, he was a 4yo unbroken neglected Arab stallion. He wasn't the easiest, but he was always brave and confident which helped (too brave and confident if anything). He was the horse of a lifetime and I lost him when he was 27. So it can work, but it depends on the horse and it depends on the rider.

I think I'm more wibbley now, aged (ahem), bringing on my youngster than I ever was with H. I think when you're younger you have that naive confidence that comes when you don't realise what could happen. I've got much more risk adverse as I've got older.

So my answer would be, it depends on the horse, it depends on the novice, and it depends on the support network and facilities available.
 
I would advise strongly against it. Any youngster, even a calm one, needs someone with a wealth of experience to help bring it on correctly. All too often I see inexperienced people buying young horses because they think that bringing on a horse is easy. How wrong they are!
I have a 3 year old who I will be breaking in later on this year and I know it is going to be a very long and slow process but I am experienced enough and have brought on and broken in multiple horses.
Sorry, but I think it would be very irresponsible advise a novice to by a young horse, let alone an unbroken one!!
 
As the horse is not backed and proven I would most strongly not let her buy a young horse.
What your friend needs is a totally patent safe horse. They are about.
 
Illusion100 said:
I think that if horse is calm, sensible and pretty unfazed by new experiences then I can't see too much to be concerned about provided they have it Professionally backed.
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It is an unbacked three year old - you don't know what kind of character he will grow into - youngsters need direction from experienced handlers, otherwise you're running the risk of having one hellish five year old.
 
I have been riding and owning horses for 15 years, a couple of years back I bought an 11 month old filly feeling that I was experienced enough to bring her on and get professional help when it came to backing.

Young horses can be completely different to grown up horses they come with their own health problems locking stifle, growth spurts, teething etc. Then there are things like grass sickness which I wasn't aware of until another young horse on our farm had to be put to sleep and I was advised to move my filly off the yard. The costs of buying rugs, saddles, bridles, headcollers etc as they change size and shape, feed, as well as the costs of getting someone professional to back and train them could buy you an amazing schoolmaster thats been trained and knows it all. I know your looking at a 3 year old but my filly is 3 and no way is she finished growing, she can be quiet as a lamb but she still has challenging moments.

I would say that as your friend has already said they're concerned about getting a young unbacked horse you definitely shouldn't push them to go for one. I know it's annoying when finding the right horse takes a while but you'll find an amazing school master out there somewhere and never look back.
 
alysia said:
So I adopted a horse from the animal shelter I volunteer at weekly that was rescued from a hoarder about eight months ago. She was at the shelter six months and got great care there but no exercise or training. I adopted her without being given the opportunity to ride her as that is their policy. I have had two other horses that went to heaven in their old age. My first horse was about 25 when I got her and my second was eighteen, both mares. This new mare is sixteen so I didn't expect her react like everything here is new to her. I did manage a few rides on her at first but now she doesn't want to let me mount her and doesn't want to even have her front hooves cleaned since she arrived. I can lead her fine now without her spooking but she still doesn't want even a saddle pad put on her nor me to even try to get on her. She loves to be groomed and fussed over. But I wanted a horse I could ride leisurely. Please give me suggestions. I am just plain afraid of her right now since she doesn't seem to want me to ride her. My mom and I lead her every day so she is getting exercise and we even take her to the local horse arena weekly so she can be free to run and play. Yesterday she bucked and even reared getting her frustrations out. How do I get her to calm down and be a pleasant horse for me to ride? My mom feels she has been trained in her earlier life but has to regain her skills. Do you think we need a trainer for her? She is great as a big dog to take for walks but I want a horse to ride again!
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Welcome to the forum. You need to start your own thread for this, but in the meantime you should ask advice from your farrier/trimmer and vet in case the behaviour is due to a physical issue. An instructor is also a good idea.
 
No. Just because some posters have done this and ended up with an OK horse, doesn't make it a good choice. Some people have fallen out of airplanes and survived but it's still something anyone with a brain would avoid at all costs!!!
 
It's a mad idea. A 3 year old is a baby they are going to change over the next 2 years a lot... Why do so many people seem determined to set themselves up to fail??

It's a recipe for disaster, just coz it works occasionally doesn't make it a good plan...
 
No. Too many nice youngsters ruined from this. What starts as a lovely well mannered horse, soon learns the gaps within no time.
 
I wouldn't reccomend it normally but having said that I did it, not once but three times. Lol. I did, however, buy them from my friend who breeds welsh cobs. One was a partbred, three years old, one was an 18 month section d and the third was a 12 year old ex broodmare. I doubt I would have done it without the back up of said friend and excellent supportive trainer. It's been a long journey but they are all now ridden and the youngest is an absolute dream to ride. The plus side is that you end up with what you want and not what other owners have done or not done with them. It has been a steep learning curve for me . So long as Op is prepared to take things slowly, has support and time then yes it can work. But you must be able to ask for help when needed as soon as possible. Good luck. It's been a fabulous few years for me with even more to come.
 
SpringArising said:
No three year old or newly-backed horse isn't going to have some sort of ridden issue - even if temporary.

Yes obviously! But she hasn't viewed a an unbacked horse to date. However, she is sick and tired of viewing the 'not as described' older been there/done that horses.

That doesn't sound like a good match to me at all. Don't presume that just because it's good looking and alright on the ground that's going to transfer to ridden work.

I don't presume such.

Anything other than completely experienced is not suitable for backing and bringing on a youngster.

Disagree.

Sounds like a terrible idea all round. Your friend needs an old been-there-done-it type from the sounds of things. If she's scared of a couple of bucks and a bit of micky taking then she'd definitely not going to enjoy a youngster.
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Previous horse didn't throw a 'couple of bucks' and do a 'bit of micky taking'. Now you are presuming.
 
If she is a true novice then please please don't consider it.

when breaking & producing youngsters correctly you need a hell of a lot of experience, time & patients. This horse is only 3 so break it this year then give it 6-8 months off re break then do a few weeks work interspaced with a few weeks holidays for its 4 year old year then can start to compete etc at 5

Unless she is willing to spend thousands on sending it away to be professionally broken & then professionally schooled & a lot of lessons in between it will not turn out well. we have far too many badly broken & badly produced horses in the country.

sorry i feel very strongly about breaking & producing correctly. I have worked with too many horses with too many problems which stem from bad breaking & producing

Also worth considering, they get spookier as they get oldwr! As a 3 & 4 year old 1 of mine didn't bat an eyelid at anything, now as a 6 year old everything is out to get her!
 
Illusion100 said:
Previous horse didn't throw a 'couple of bucks' and do a 'bit of micky taking'. Now you are presuming.
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Ok. Then I will word it differently: if your friend is scared of a horse who bucks, no matter how big they are or how frequent, then buying an unbacked three year old is madness.
 
Really depends on the horse to be honest. I'm not a novice by any means (have a very quirky arab type) but my youngster has thrown a whole bunch of issues my way that I've never had to face before. It's been a big learning curve and there have been times where I've lost some confidence in him and I would hate to see a novice go through that. That said, until he got to 4 he was absolutely foot perfect so I think its just a few teething issues now that he's broken in. Either way it's wonderful to own an animal that places so much trust in you.
 
Green on green = black and blue.

If I was the owner of said horse I wouldn't even consider it. Young horses need experienced riders. I back, bring on and sell a few youngsters each year and I have turned away inexperienced people that have come to try them (and loved them!) as its not worth the risk to the horse.

Plus lots of horses are good and quiet when they are 3 and not started, then they grow up, get stronger and learn about the world and that can make a big change to their personality.

The wheels can always come off very quickly with a young horse and normally it will be the horse who pays for it. So it would be a no from me.
 
If the friend you want the horse for has already said no, why are you trying to persuade her otherwise.

I had a youngster that was very quiet. Turned out it was only that way inclined due to a whole stack of veterinary issues
 
If the friend you want the horse for has already said no, why are you trying to persuade her otherwise.

I had a youngster that was very quiet. Turned out it was only that way inclined due to a whole stack of veterinary issues
 
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