To buy a baby...?

[Exploding Chestnuts]

It makes no difference, a long as they learn nothing bad, they can be taken "off the hill" as un-handled five year olds and still be fine in a year or so, but if you do that [not a good idea], you need to put a lot more work in and be v experienced as they are strong and nervous/wary/bumptious.
Commercial TB studs put a lot of work in to two year olds, getting them ready to race, but otherwise most can just learn the basic manners with very little handling

 

[FfionWinnie]

If I have understood, what is proposed is to winter a weanling outside without a rug or actual shelter to be checked by someone else and kept company by a youngster who is much older, bigger and stronger to potentially rag it about with an owner who doesn't really want to commit to a riding horse just now. What's the point?!

Far better to leave it to an experienced stud to rear a foal with the right sort of company and buy it when you are ready to start being properly involved with it.

 

[Goldenstar]

If I were you I would consider amiddle way I would buy a two year old between September and Christmas .
Get it backed next year and you will know by it's four year old summer whether it will suit you , you not wasted too long and can get out of it easily .
If you buy a foal it's very diffcult to know if it will grow up to be want suits you , you can't even know how big it will be , just take a guess and you carry the risk of injury and other disasters for longer .

 

[furrycat]

I bought my mare as a weanling, having visited the stud with a friend who was looking to buy (I had no intention). She is 8 years old now and I love her to bits it hasn't been all plain sailing but it has been a great experience. She's no world beater (neither am I) but she hacks, she jumps, she can do a nice dressage test and she is just the most cuddly adorable horse you could ever meet.

So I would say if you want to do it, go for it. My horse lived in at night during the first winter but thereafter she lived out with some old mares and the odd youngster in a herd, and stayed like that until she was about 4 going on 5.

 

[Bilbo_Baggins]

I went half way between and bought a 3yo. The circumstances I was in at the time were perfect. I was working at a trekking centre so lots of other horses and ponies around of all ages and sizes and of course all the sensible ones to show him things weren't so scary. It was nice to spend time walking him in hand and just spending time with him grooming. I got a lot of riding in the job so that wasn't a problem and I have bought him on slowly as a result. He is now nearly 8 and has very low mileage, but I enjoy him and I couldn't ask for a better horse. He is very trusting of me and I enjoy being in his company.

If I were to get another horse in my current circumstances I would not get a youngster. I have since moved into a new job and my horse is in his own field (with other fields of horses around him) I can only foresee a massive problem trying to go out riding on Bilbo and leaving a youngster alone in the field! I also don't have the help around to show the youngster new things (except for hacking and leading by myself) and with the change to an office job I am not around as much everyday as I was in Bilbo's younger years.

 

[southerncomfort]

I personally prefer a 2 year old that's been allowed to be a baby and is a blank canvas. Two year olds are very rewarding as you can start doing bits and pieces with them.

 

[Theocat]

You should get a baby because you want a baby.

It won't be cheaper by the time you get to age 5, and it will take longer to get on board than it would if you save up the money and buy something more established.

What if you still aren't feeling motivated in three years, when the foal has been started and really does need a lot of your time?

Honestly, it doesn't sound like a sensible plan to me. Save up for two years and see how you feel.

 

[Leo Walker]

I LOVE baby ponies! They are so very rewarding. I've ran on 6 and am still in touch with all the new owners apart from 1, but I do still keep tabs on him from afar. Not a single one of them made the height or person they should have. It was fine as I bought them for literally pennies, to run on and rehome at the point they were suitable to do that. I also could keep them very cheaply on my own land. I get an inordinate amount of pleasure seeing them as adult horses doing their thing But if I had bought just one to be MY horse then it would have been soul destroying!

Because I bought nice babies who were dirt cheap and kept them cheaply, they pretty much covered the costs of keeping them to being adults. Ironically the only one I bought to keep has costs me about 5x what it would have cost me to buy him as a 4yr old and hes also far too small! Doesnt matter a jot to me though. I adore everything about him, well apart from his midget status, and we have a fantastic relationship. I know him inside out and no amount of money would have bought the relationship we have

 

[Leo Walker]

I do have a VERY strong hankering for another baby pony at the minute. I cant do it as I'm physically knackered and also have to keep them on livery yards now. Doesnt stop me trawling horse ads for diamonds in the rough though!

 

[Nasicus]

I got mine at 6 months, yearling in may. She has been so much more rewarding than my previous 12yo Mare was. Sure, I may not be riding for another couple of years, but just spending time with her, introducing her to new things and watching her grow has been amazing.

It hasn't been cheap, for example she had a atheroma cyst come up on her nose that we had to get surgically removed, something they're born with and might have already been removed if I had bought her at an older age. And she's had to have her entire course of first vaccinations, three separate visits. Then there's the cost of good quality stud balancer, and moving her to a yard where she has friends. Then in the future there'll be the cost of getting her properly backed. So she'll have probably cost me a bomb by that time.

But she's worth it, she's taught me so much more about horses than my previous Mare. We've had our challenges, and our accidents (ran me over like a freight train!), but it's all served to make me a better horseperson, made me utilize my brain to overcome challenges, and makes the good times even better! Watching her happily trundle up the ramp into a strange 7.5t lorry for practice, whilst the other older horses threw a hissy fit about doing it, well it makes all the work I've put in worth it, and I can;t wait to see what the future holds for us both!

 

[MagicMelon]

I'd prefer to buy a just turned 4yo that I could start completely myself which is generally what I do most of the time. Then you still can shape basic stuff like handling, loading, farrier etc. to a degree. I'd rather start them from scratch (ie. from putting tack on for the first time etc.) as I think you learn a huge amount about their character from the early stages. I wouldnt have a foal, I think its expensive and I dont see a massive benefit.

 

[jaffa2311]

I bought a weanling last year. She came to my gate from Wales aged 4.5 months old and was completely feral.
It was quite an experience teaching her everything, as she hated people.

She is now 13 months old. She was supposed to live out 24/7 all winter last year too once she was tame, on the 3rd night of her being out, I found her in the wrong field eating the lush grass of a rested field!
She managed to walk under the electric fencing without realising, as she was so dinky.

After that, she lived in at night and out in a better fenced field during the day.

She's had colic twice and choke twice. She has cost £700 in vet fees, which my insurance have paid!

On a positive note, I have an amazing bond with her. She loves me and trusts me. She runs over to the field to see me, she is reassured by me when scary things happen and truly loves being with me. Unfortunately she doesn't feel the same about other people and is happy to show them that with her back two legs!!!!

I bought her because of her bloodlines. I am hoping she will make a top class show pony, but in all honesty, I have NO IDEA what she'll turn out like or whether her temperament will be good enough.

She looks like absolute s**t now, all gangly and ewe necked.

I was hoping to show her as a youngster but she is nowhere near physically ready or mentally ready, as she spends a lot of time on two legs even at home!