Riding/schooling youngsters

[chaps89]

How long do you ride/school a 5 year old youngster for?

I've just taken on a 5 year old for schooling and bringing on (Personally I think the owners mad for trusting me with said horse, as I've never done anything like it, but his point is 'Well, you can learn together and it's under supervision and it's not like the horse is a nutcase' Which is very true and I suppose we've all got to start somewhere)
He's very green and wobbly so straight lines and accuracy seem to be the main problem. I rode him on Friday night then again Sunday morning. Unfortunately he came up lame on Sunday, but I found after 20 mins of walk (with the odd tiny bit of trot to see if he was working through the lameness- it didn't show up in walk) he seemed to be getting tired.
He's been jumping 3ft fences & loose schooling and his owner is keen to get cracking with getting a rider on board to go off and do some competing.
Horse is big enough & sensible enough to sort himself out over this height but personally I don't want to go jumping anywhere before his flat work is more established.

I am not asking for much from him, just doing simple serpentines, loops, circles, transitions, but he doesn't have alot of muscle or topline, so is 20 minutes of this sort of work, 2 or 3 times a week, the best way to approach it? And to increase the time spent schooling as he gets more balanced? (I'm hoping it will be hacking out once a week and schooling the other times, with poles and jumps perhaps once a week/fortnight)
(I can't ride more often than this as I haev my own horse to ride as well)
The owner was keen for me to ride for longer (I stopped after 35/40 minutes on Sunday) and I'm not sure how to say I don't think the horse is up to that much very tactfully (especially as I've never done this sort of thing before).

The reason the owner doesn't ride is because he wants the horse to eventually sj or event and he had an accident jumping a few years ago (horse was killed, he ended up in a coma for 3 days) and he's lost his nerve. The horse is his pride and joy and a very nice sort. The basics are all there, it's just fine tuning them.

Doughnuts if you got this far!!!

 

[Bexaco]

it really depends on the horse. if he takes everything on board and is calm then you can work him for longer, whereas a immature 5 year old may find it difficult to concentrate even as long as half an hour.

Could the owner do some long reining/lunging with 2 reins or some work with a passoa to improve the horses top line and get him used to regular work?

I certainly would not want to go and event a horse that found a straight line difficult, I believe that show jumping is basically dressage with obstacles - cross country is different, but again I would like the horse to have a firm knowledge of show jumps before xc fences.

I think that if he could be lunged etc when you cant ride him then the horse would come on surprisingly fast.

Best of luck

 

[Damnation]

20mins hard work is enough for a baby in my opinion. With my 4 year old ex racer I would ride her for 30mins, but with only about 20mins of concentrated work. Lunging over trotting poles and longreining at this stage of training will also do the horse alot of good with building up topline and finding his own balance without a rider ontop

 

[canteron]

Seems to be as if the owner might be more difficult to manage than the horse?!

I have limited experience but my ambitious neighbour (and friend) loves bringing on youngsters and i have observed them over the years.

I have seen a couple of her horses get behavioural issues if they have been pushed too fast, even though the friend is a superb rider and very experienced. It seems that the horses hold their nerve and then get to a point and lose it.

I have noticed that with her latest horse she has taken it much more gradually - and importantly given the horse time to settle before pushing it, and the whole picture is much more settled and ultimately more solid.

So I suggest that you have a firm word with the owners and say that the more solid the foundation you can build the better the end result will be.

I think if you can manage their expectations, and find ways to help them "enjoy the journey" rather than just forcusing on the result it may help.

Good luck!

 

[chaps89]

Bexaco- I totally agree, sj is to me a dressage test interrupted with jumps. You still need the control and change of paces etc. I might see if the owner, or at least YO will lunge, if not, may try to in-corperate that into his schedule

Damnation- thank-you, it's good to know I wasn't way off with what I'm expecting of him

Canteron- totally right. Horse is an angel and tbh I can't see any reason why he won't achieve what the owner wants. But in time! Owner is v. confusing as one minute he is saying the horse is a pet first and foremost, competition animal second and he wants a rider to develop a bond with the horse. Yet the next he's saying the horse is a year behind in his prep as he'd haev liked to have competed him this summer but it doesn't matter as there's always hunter trials/xc coming up in the autumn

I've agreed to a months trial (saying I didn't feel I had the experience to try and cover up the owner issues) and a very lovely lady on here has offered me the ride on one of her horses if this doesn't work out, it's tricky cause I don't have the competition experience or breaking experience of the horses owner so telling him I want to take it slower and do more ground work with the horse feels a bit daunting. He has said he he does just want to leave me to it mostly (apart from with jumping, which is fair enough as this is obviously more his interest) so I'm hoping I will be allowed to just do things my way, might have to see.

 

[Birker2020]

Its a proven fact that young horses only have an attention span of 17 minutes so you need to bear this in mind when you work the youngster. As long as he does not appear resentful when the tack comes out/sees you approach to ride then I would have thought he would be okay with 20 mins of schooling three times a week (careful not to make circles too small at this stage). You could also incorporate lunging/loading/leading lessons into the days he is not worked or instead of working him to keep it a bit more interesting. Also why not do a couple of trotting poles scattered around to trot over.

 

[Lucy_Nottingham]

i think you are right thinking small times schooling and building up time with ability and fitness and muscle etc. Sounds a good plan to me!

Balancing etc will come with serpentine movements etc as long as you allow him to do it at his pace etc to ensure he learns to balance himself etc!

Good luck!!