Schooling an un-schooled 10 year old?

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belle98

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So I see a lot of potential in one of my relatives horses and I have the opportunity to ride her whenever I would like, however she has been a happy hacker her whole life. I would love to begin schooling her and jumping etc. My YO from my other yard was saying how difficult it is to 'mouth' a horse and get them working correctly when they have never been schooled and they are way beyond their baby stage.

Any advice around this would be great.
 
Any horse can learn at any age, I think, provided they are basically sound and healthy.
My ex racer started learning how to accept the contact etc in a dressage sense last summer when he was 9, sure it's a work in progress but he's getting better each week.

What is your level of experience with retraining?
 
I backed Tatts at ten he had a mouth like a brick ( he was driven before that ) he was easy to train and went on to be a great hunter .
keep sessions short at first and it will be great fun .
 
A couple of years ago I backed a 7yo and she was great. Was totally chilled and straightforward. Younger horses tend to have more on their minds and 'noise' in their heads... if that makes sense. They have SO much to learn and it's all so new. This mare didn't have that
 
I got my mare at 9 where she’d only hunted and pottered around hacking. Spent first few months hacking up and down hills to build the muscles required to work properly in the school and she is slowly getting there.
 
Honestly you can retrain a horse at any age in my opinion, just treat them the same as you would a young horse. Some times you need a little longer time to get them to become supple and to work through but it'll come! Very rewarding afterwards.
 
Sort of did this with mine - he’d been in the school but nothing consistent, his owner preferred ponies so he chilled in a field til he was nine and I started sharing him. Shared him for 4-6 months and I think she rode him once during that time?
I managed it and I was coming from RS horses, I doubt I could’ve done it on a baby. He was green and nervous but was more sensible than a younger horse, he listened very well. I’m schooling a four year old pony now a couple times a week, she’s very clever but her baby side does show. I wouldn’t have been able to school her properly two years ago when I was sharing my one.
So personally I found it easier, I think they’re more inclined to be forgiving and a little steadier. If you like the horse, there’s no reason it wouldn’t be able to be schooled.
 
I only have one experience of starting an older horse (she was 14) when started due to a few health issues she had, she had a lovely mouth and did well at dressage, she was the easiest horse ever to train at that age.
 
I started to do light school work with my old loan horse after he had been a happy hacker for 10+ years. He was quick to learn what I wanted but it took a long time to supple him up as he had only ever gone in straight lines! Teaching him to bend around my leg and not go forward was the hardest bit, but it’s very rewarding when you get there!
 
I'm doing this at the minute, 10year old tb came off the track and 5 and has hacked and done the odd fun ride since. Just started working him in the school one day on the basics, transitions etc and went from there. Top pic is this week, bottom was october.IMG_20200304_120857.jpgIMG_20200304_120857.jpgHe hasn't been easy but has really come on well IMG_20200304_120857.jpg
 
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