Q for thoses bought on or bringing on young horses....

E

EmmaJ

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 January 2008
Messages
101
Visit site
How often do you school them for and how much do you do when them thoughout the week? Lunge/hack/ride/long rein etc?

Just curious to what others do.
Thanks in advance
 
just working my just 3yr old stalllion. Started lunge work in jan just 15 mins for 3 days then 2 days off then 3 days.
introduced trot poles during this time but at first no canter on the lunge.
Did this for 3 months then gradually started to build up work to half an hour and do a little canter , same 3day /2day routine.
also started sitting on him.
Now he is lunging with a rider on in walk and trot.
i will continue like this until he he confident with his growing body and his baby brain !!! may take some time!!!
 
I think a good routine is supposed to be - Ride, Lunge, Lead, Rest etc etc...so some weeks their ridden twice, others only once...
 
My filly has just turned 3 and hasn't really started work properly as she's still growing. She's had a good education to date via showing and will start lunge work 2 - 3 times per week across the summer. The plan is to have her lightly backed by the end of it, then have her broken properly in the spring as a 4 year old. I think you need to be careful as depending on the type of horse they may still have a lot of growing to do.
 
my mares just turned 4 and she has been in 'proper' work for the past 6 weeks. She is worked for about 45 mins 6 days a week - she gets sundays off

she is longlined for about 20-25 mins and then rode in walk with lots of turns, circles, school figures etc. have introduced trot last week - just for 3/4 mins at a time at the moment. Have also done lots of trailor loading with her and she is going to a friends this week to hack out on their land - we are a bit limited with hacking at the mo - got to go over some roads and dont want to inflict her on drivers at the mo LOL - also do a lot of rope work on her, getting her used to EVERYTHING

xxxxx
 
How old is the horse you are talking about as a lot really depends on that?

With youngsters consistency and routine seem to be very important. You also need to be able to read them, know when you can push them and when you need to back off and every baby is different. Last year I backed my now 4 year old. For the first week we stuck to the school and got steering, gears and breaking really sorted so she was clear what was being asked. For the second week we got on in the school, spent 10 mins just quietly warming up and then went out hacking for 30 mins with a nanny horse. When she came home from my instructors where she was backed we just did tons and tons of hacking and aimed to go out 4-5 times a week. I laid off the lunging a bit then as I felt that I didn't want to be lunging lots at her age. As the nights grew in and I went back to uni I found it increasingly difficult to maintain the consistency she needed and she didn't cope to well with just going out at weekend so we made the decision to stop on a good note and leave her grwoing in a field for the winter. She came back into work 10 days ago and the difference in her mentally and physically is ashtonishing. For the last 10 days we have been lunging/longreining most days and the last few days I have upped the quality of the work and made her work pretty hard. We do loads and loads of transitions and lots of work on going forwards and now do a good 10 mins (more if she's feeling "well") on each rein. Yesterday we took her 10 mins down the rode with Kiri on her back and me at her head, found some puddles and ditches to look at and play with and as she was outstandingly well behaved we left it at that and didn't lunge.

On Wed she is going back to my instructors for some serious bootcamp - she is feeling stronger and more oppinionated this year and its showing! Instructor is going to ride her for a few days and help me establish where the line is and what happens if she crosses it and then I will get back onboard and both of us will be instructed under instructors expert eye for a week or longer if we need it. Once she comes home we will have a lesson every week, maybe 2 some weeks if I feel we need it, and 1 schooling session a week, doing our "homework" Will will then hack out 4-5 days a week and build up her mental and physical fitness slowly without too much pressure. On days where she really needs 15 mins work but I am short for time I will lunge but I'm hoping to move away from this now as I feel she is old enough and strong enough to start working a bit more with a rider on and would rather do circles in a school on her back then on the lunge. Toward the end of the summer/autumn we will aim to introduce a little jumping if things are going well and then will aim to do a little dressage and the odd clear round over the winter.

Hope that helps
smile.gif
 
I believe in consistency and repetition with youngsters.
I believe they should be ridden often but not for long to keep them ammused.
I'd work a youngster about 4 times a week to begin with but once it's improved in it's gaits and transitions and its fitness improves i'd take it up to 6 days a week and a day off.
Schooling and flatwork is important in a youngsters training imo and it should be done quite alot.
Hacking is good, but youngsters can be very uptight on them so i try to keep it at a minumum unless i'm riding with other people.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Schooling and flatwork is important in a youngsters training imo and it should be done quite alot.
Hacking is good, but youngsters can be very uptight on them so i try to keep it at a minumum unless i'm riding with other people.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lol! Thats almost the opposite to what I;d say, goes to show how much you have to tailor things to the individual horse! Mine will quite happily try and dump me schooling, she really doesn't like it much and finds it far to boring and isn't easy to ride in a school enviroment. Take her out hacking on the roads and bridlepaths however and I can do anything with her, she is confident, forwards and totally chilled, she's even ended up nannying her nanny on a few occasions! - I do (and always have) 90% of my schooling on hacks and just work on specific things in the school.
 
[ QUOTE ]
How old is the horse you are talking about as a lot really depends on that?




I bought her last year she was 4, she had never been backed but was lunged occasionally not much atol i believe!

All the basics to start with - and a year on shes doing really well a few walk & trot test (both placed with great feedback) Considering i haven't had much time on my hands what with my twin girls who are still very young, i feel we've done well & this is all new to me too. She is a pro to hack out on - doesnt spook and is very very confident people don't believe me when i say shes a baby (she always take the lead & even show the other horses "how its done")

I have weekly lessons & her flat work is improving & we are now working on her canter (she fine when hacking out but needs to gain her balance in the school) I try to lunge twice a week, my friend hacks her out twice & i school her the rest. Sometimes a 15 min hack then in the school for half hour or so!

Shes only just got the nack of working "on the bit" in walk, as i ask for trot she stay's round for one/two strides then her neck comes straight back up (she got the hard part out the way) but were getting there shes has some very good weeks & then it feels im back to square one with her but i know were on the right track (well i hope)

Just wished i had more time on my hands.
 
i usually get the basics- stop and start plus a bit of sideways in the school established.that is done alt days- i do leading on lanes and long lining other days so they arent doing to same thing every day.i also teach what i want from the ground first as i find most horses learn things easier this way.
then they hack out alot as i find straight lines in walk plus getting them out in the world really helps chill them out.
the more uptight a horse is about something, the more i expose him to it- otherwise he will remain uptight about it!obviously if a horse is terrified of traffic im not going to just hack him down a dual carrigway everyday and hope he realises its ok- i desensitise them to things gradually but consantly.
plus it gets them much fitter and i worry less about stresses on their legs-esp the 3-5 year olds.
imho constant schooling in the menage is really boring for them.
schooling on quiet lanes is more interesting and makes a more fresh baby with a better attitude.(only a comparison to a few babies ive ridden who werent started like this and just did schooling for months on end-am not saying all horses who school are going to be soured)
i usually do schooling for one day(max 45mins)
hacking next day- 30mins to 2 hours varying lanes to bridleways and all walk to canter work.
long lining or lunging another day-20/30mins.
horse then has day off or another hacking day.
in a normal week 2-4 schooling sessions is plenty and the rest is made up of hacking or long lining/in hand work, plus a day off a week/every 2 weeks.
works for me.
 
I've got a 4 YO and I ride him for 30 mins every other day. A mixture of hacking and schooling. I don't ask for an outline - although he naturally seems to go in one. We were only cantering once on each rein around the whole school - but yesterday we did his first 20m in canter.

I had a lesson on him when I first got him so that I knew what to do - the best advice I got was to make sure he keeps on enjoying it - don't ride for too long and too often so that they don't get too tired.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top