Should I just ride her??

tonitot

tonitot

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Hey guys, Ethel turned 3 earlier this month (12th April) and I said when I got her I'd wait till she's 3 and a half to ride her. But people keep telling me to just crack on with her as she was broken in September last year and ridden in training to be a racehorse for a few months. So shall I stick to my plan, or will it not make any difference if I just started now? I'm not in any hurry to ride her but I do sometimes look at her and I think "I just wanna jump on!!" She does seem bored, but I know there are other things I can do with her rather than riding. So ... I shall go with whatever you knowledgeable lot say :D
 
I don't see any reason why you can't make a gentle start. You don't say what you are doing with her now. A few weeks good consistant ground work (lunging, long lining etc) would probably do the world of good for both her training and muscles. I would be holding off any hard work until next year anyway.
 
personally, no I wouldn't. I don't usually back a 3 year old to till the end of the summer that year.

What about doing loads of groundwork with her? longreining? lunging? Take her out to some in hand shows?
 
Lolli - Haha apparently so :D I didnt name her, it was her nickname at work for some strange reason!!

Blinky - Okays, so should I just do real basic stuff like gentle hacking and schooling? Probably sounding like I really don't know what I'm doing but I really don't want to ruin her somehow :P
 
She is still young and her body still has a fair bit of maturing to do. I would stick with plenty of ground work, long line and lunging for now, and in the autumn i would get on get the basics re-installed then turn her away over the winter. Next spring is when i would start with riding her regularly and continuing with her education.
 
Oh, I lunge her every now and then to keep her ticking over but didnt think it was good to lunge young horses too much. We're starting some long reining but its taking her a while to click that shes meant to keep walking in front of me, she tries to go back on a circle lol. I try to take her for walks on the road but I dont like going on my own incase something happens but the only person I can go with always seems to find a way out of going :/
 
Providing she's physically strong enough [ie, well covered, mature and developed etc]I'd focus on lunging and long reining for a little while, and maybe 1-2 short rides a week? Just mooching really and very very basic stuff for short periods and then once she's 4 start with the 'proper' work :)
 
I am on my 3 year old ex racer at the mo - little bit of hacking,little bit in the school (more to introduce him to the terrifying things that are jump poles - they will apparently eat you even if they are just lying by the side of the school :) ) he seems perfectly happy in the amount of work he is doing and acted as an escort on a hack today to an 11 year old mare :) Wouldn't advocate doing something everyday but to go from working 6 days a week to nothing didn't sit right with my little man so he is out and about.
 
I have 2, a filly and a gelding, both 3 yo that have been in training. Two very different horses, but both have excellent temperaments. People keep asking why do I not get on and get them ridden, but I am quite happy letting them chill out and eat grass for the moment. They are both good to handle, shoe, box, clip etc so I am not in any great rush.

That's just my choice though and I would think it would be fine to potter about with some gentle hacking and schooling.

Love the name Ethel..!!
 
She doesnt seem too fussed lazing about being a horse, but sometimes I think she does look a bit bored of not really doing anything, think I might just poodle about on her once a week or something, but heres some pics of her so you can say if you think she's muscled enough to be sat on :)

ethh.jpg


etheel.jpg


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Theyre not great, but theyre the most recent I have of her :)
 
we learned at college that the main reason that tb's got used for racing is because they mature alot faster than other horses and that they're bones set quicker, meaning that they can get doing their job sooner. Personally i think this is true to an extent so i dont see the problem of you just doing some light hacking with her and a wee bit of work in the school. Nothing too over the top just something nice and easy to make her think a bit more about what she's doing and remember to change it up alot
 
JenTaz - I heard the same thing :) I work with race horses and ours are broken in at 18 months but dont start "working" until their knees close up so theyre xrayed a lot by vets to keep an eye on them, and most of our horses have been fine :)

pinklilly - thanks :D i think shes beautiful but obviously Im biased ;)
 
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