Tips for dealing with a young horse

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Hovis_and_SidsMum

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It's now really hit me what I've taken on with Hovis - not that i went into this with my eyes shut I hasten to add. But last night I realised just how young he is.
Sidney will lift all his feet with a single tap to the leg and a "hup". Hovis just looks at me! He will lift his feet but only with some real encouragement.
It really struck me what a difference I can make to him as a horse. Sidney is the product of other peoples work (for better or worse) and whilst some things we can change he is fundamentally now settled into his character. Hovis is a clean sheet of paper and what i do with him over the next years could mean the difference between him being a wonderfully mannered confidence giver or a satanic nightmare by the time he gets to Sids age.
It scared me a tad!
So has anyone got any tips, advice, recommendations of any books etc that might help me? He's broken to ride so I'm not talking about a real baby but at 4 he is still young.
 
Introduce him calmly to as many different things as possible -take him places and show him things. Also, be patient and calm with him and praise him when he does well. Don't let him get away with things jus because he's young - make sure he bahves as you would want an older horse to behave. Common sense really I suppose
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good luck with him - Hovis is such a cool name!
 
dont feel daunted by it all, it is suprising how quickly youngsters learn, i took my youngster who is 4 to her first s.j. comp the other day and she was 2nd with a double clear, when i came out of the ring i thought to myself, god only 6 mths ago she had only just been sat on now look, it does make you feel chuffed.
 
Having had all my horses from a young age, no book can tell you exactly what to do, as all horses, like humans are different.

On various occasions, I have tried to do something with Ralph that I'd done with Fly and when he's not responded, thought well Fly can do it!! Then after thinking it through tackled the problem in a different manner and found that Ralph responds completely differently.

You need to take your time, as you say, you have a blank canvas and its wonderful to look back in years to come and say I helped to produce this lovely animal.

One thing I learnt from and early stage is that you have to be firm but fair. I do not believe in shouting and screaming or beating a horse and have seen so many so called experts trying to break horses.....I prefer the word backing as breaking is exactly what some people do to horses and that is why so many horses end up being sold on as dangerous.

On that note, sorry if I sound like a dragon but it happens all too often and is happening at my yard as we speak.

You will be fine as long as you listen to your horse and work together as a team. Good luck and enjoy the experience as it is great when in a few years time when your sitting on your horse and being praised by a Judge, you can say 'I did that'
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Enjoy it! Bringing up youngsters is so rewarding. Just take everything slowly and calmly with him and make sure to praise him loads when he behaves well / does what you ask. Show him as many things as possible, for example even if you dont want to jump him when he's grown up - still include it in his education. If he's too young to back yet then you can still lead him over poles and scary things, it'll all help towards when he's under saddle. I envy you, I love babies!
 
As above, they are all different, and I haven't found any one book that's really helped. Although, once you and up and riding, Carl Hester's book on dressage from Novice to Advanced is really good - he starts with 3/4 yr olds, basic stretching, accepting a contact etc.

However, there are two items which I found absolutely changed my life with one youngster: a Be Nice Halter and a car tyre inner tube!!

He was (still is!) very big (17.1) and a real character (lovely, but cheeky) and we went through some 'handling issues'. He got quite strong and actually pulled me over in gateway and trod on me once! He also went through a phase of pulling back when tied up and breaking things.

So, a friend who's in to all the 'natural horsemanship' stuff lent me a Be Nice halter, which was so fantastic I bought one for myself. Almost the moment he got it on, he totally respected it, and was like a little lamb to lead about. He's now back in a normal headcollar and absolutely fine. I use the halter if something exciting is going on and I think he might be a handful. It's also great for reluctant loaders...

The same friend also told me about tying him up to a car tyre inner tube to cure the pulling back issue, which has worked wonders. The first time he tried to pull back when tied up to it, he gave up and walked forward, and has been fine ever since. Although, I do always tie him up to the inner tube on the yard, and I would never tie him up outside the lorry at a show.

I found that when he was 4, he was very sweet and kind of naive, then he found his strength and confidence, and he started to become more of a handful at 5, which was when I had to really knuckle down and get his respect without scaring him and jeapordising the bond we were developing.

Sometimes I felt like I was correcting him all the time, but there's no other way, otherwise you might end up with a monster! He still has his moments and he always will - he's a cheeky character, but basically he's well-mannered and I can trust him with other people now.

I think to a certain extent, you can't change their character that much, you can just instill some manners and respect.

Must be like having children!
 
A normal halter is fine if you've got a nice normal horse.. I wouldn't go down the more stronger halters route. In general, the less gadgets and equipment the better. I teach NH and a halter isnt really necessary at the start.

Abotu bringing up youngsters, imagine what teachers you liked in school. The ones which were patient, funny, knoelwdgeable, entertinaing, inspiring, encouraging, etc were the ones I really liked anyway.

The ones I didnt like were the ones who were cross, grumpy, didnt know what the wer talking about, never said I was doing well, etc.

I reckon if you can become a good teacher using all those positive attributes I listed above, and also give your horse time, assume he's always right and can see life form his perspective, and see problems such as the feet picking up, more as oppertunities (how good can we get together and can we have fun doing it) you'll do a brilliant job.

About the feet, I'm sure lots of people on here can give you good advice about training a youngster to pick up his feet. I'd get him happy with you handling all his legs first (ie he will stand still on loose rope) before I'd think about actually lifting one leg a little off the round, and then just for a split assecond at the start. If he is touchy abotu his legs tho, start rubbign his legs with a dummy arm or end of a rope or stick, so if he kicks he wont kick you.

THe idea is:

you touch leg - horse stands still - you take stick away and give him a rest as a reward

you touch leg - horse moves - stick stays on leg - horse stands still - you take stick away and give him a rest as a reward

Best of luck. Young horses really do become a total reflection of what their trainer has taught them
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And.. break down one big thing (like picking up feet) into LOTS of small things....and then reward once each small thing is done.

Become that confident, encouraging, fun, positive teacher, so when your horse sees you he doesnt think work, he thinks fun!
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Agree with the being firm in a nice way too... ground rules and consistentcy in a nice way are really important.
 
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