What age do YOU start backing your youngster?

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millyspaniel

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The coblet will be 2 in may and the welshie will be 3. Planning to start work with the welshie - long reining, biting etc in the spring/summer and hoping to have her backed by autumn then turning away untill summer 2011.
I wanted to bit the coblet aswell next summer so i can start walking her out (leading) but thought i would leav the backing process untill shes 3.
I know someone who is currently long reining there 2.5 yr old and has started the backing process.
What age do you start the whole backing/long reining process and how long do you do each stage for?
 
I backed all 3 of my boys in my signature below myself. They had been bitted, long-lined, led out in hand etc. previously. They had their first saddles on their backs at about 3 1/2, but they weren't actually sat on for the first time until the Spring of the year in which they were 4. I'm a firm believer in not doing too much, too young.
 
Sat on Izzy at 2½ (only sat for 2 minutes) did all the basic ground training, and then when she was 3 I sat on her again and got her used to the aids. Got her walking/trotting and cantering and took her for a couple of very short hacks to the village. The just before she was 3½ I turned her away for the winter. She will be 4 in April and from there on I will start to bring her back into ridden work again and build up muscles. Will also do lots more roadwork too. Im looking forward to it
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(Re: sitting on her at 2½ - I did what I felt was right at the time. She was a big built wb and was over 16.2hh at the time. The vet also said he couldnt see a problem with me doing it when he came to do her jabs one afternoon.)

I'm going to take it slowly next year and wont be introducing her to any jumps till she is atleast 4½ and they will only be 2ft or less. The real work starts when she is 5/6 years old
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Some people seem to start them really young.
My TB mare was only backed last year as a 3yr old - shes now 4 and has been in work just over a year, shes still very green esp with jumping but shes very keen, where getting there!
Looking forward to working with the coblet, shes very compact and quite heavy and is already standing around 14.2hh, and sh has alot of growing to do judging by the size of her behind to her whithers - theres a least another 3 or 4 inches!
I think the welshie will be ready to start when she turns 3, shes very chunky and well developed. Looking forwards to long reining and spending lots of time with her throughout the summer!
 
Not backed until 4.
My eldest daughters IDx is 3yrs old he long reins, hes been wearing tack and rugs for a long time, weve dont alot of bombproofing with him, weve got him use to loading and all the everyday stuff. Horses take a long time to mature and even when they look as he does, like he could carry her easily we dont rush them.
 
My boy was backed last month he is 31/2 and yesterday did 3 strides of canter with rider on board! It was funny!! He will be hacked out in walk for the next month then will start schooling mid show season next year he will get time off maybe 6 weeks or so for being a good boy! Then he will get the winter off to take in all he has learnt
 
With my scottish sports horse I started long reining and lunging last autumn when he was 3 1/2. I sat on him in March just as he was rising 4. I started him jumping once he turned 4. He is now 4 1/2 and has just done his first dressage competition (coming 2nd!), and i'm trying to get him out to different venues every week to school/jump him, just so he gets more used to going out, but without the pressure and excitiment of a competition. The plan is to get him to more dressage comps, and once he is calm at these i'll start taking him to jumping competitions. I'm aiming him for the BYEH 5yo classes next year, and I would like him to start BE eventing next year, but i'm not going to rush him, so we will start when he is ready.
 
It really does depend on the individual horse and how mature both physically and mentally they are.

I did one of mine at 2 1/2 but another was 4 before I started him. Most of them are backed in their third year. I like to get them to the stage where they can walk, trot and do a few canter strides in the school with a rider on. They are then turned away for a few months and generally brought back into very light work in the following spring. I don't like to over work the youngsters so even at 4 they do't do much work and will get turned away again for the autumn.
 
My boy is 3 next october... I plan to do little bits of lunging and longreining with him over the winter (weather and surface permitting) and then back him in the spring when he'll be 3 1/2 and do LIGHT work with him over the summer and see how we go from there.... Nothing too adventurous til he's 5 though...
 
I bitted my sec D at 2, he was longreined then as well.
He had the summer off, just a bit of inhand showing and will be backed after xmas, he is 3 in april.
He became bored with being a baby, getting in to alsorts of trouble so vets told me to work him, so i did.
He enjoys learning, is level headed and i think you need to evaluate your horse and see what suits.
I have a 4yr old section A who is still not mentally mature enough to break yet, so i will leave her untill she's ready.
 
I got my boy at 7 months old, when weaned.

From then until 2 years old he was left to be a baby apart from basic ground work like leading, tying up, bath, grooming, feet pick, farrier, loading.

At 2 I took him out and about in hand and started long-reining, as well as continuing all the above.

At 3 he was bitted, tack on, a little lunging and continued with all the above.

At 4 he was backed, still continued with long-reining and lunging. Then turned away for a couple of months.

He is now 4 1/2 and in light work.. mostly hacking and just starting a bit more advanced schooling a couple of times a week.

ETS:.. I meant 'advanced' in terms of what he's done so far, not as in 'advanced schooling'
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"Well I really don't think they do! My shire was still bumhigh at 7, so Dr Deb Bennett can go figure that one out... "
Why don't you read the article I posted? She says that no horses mature skeletaly earlier than 6 years old, but in some larger horses the bone fusions may finish later. It's quite interesting reading I think.
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Normally 3 1/2, that way they dont need turning away and can be worked straigght onwards. I'm backing my coming 4 yr olds now ready for the spring.
 
We've just backed our filly this afternoon. Had a sit on and a walk around the school without mishap. She is 3yrs 8 months and is purebred ID. We won't be putting her into proper work until at least next summer as she's still growing. It was more a case of continuing her education and moving slowly onto the next step. Her dam was 5 before I did more than about an hours work at a time.
 
Dr Deb Bennett is full of contradictions. I first read her report many years ago and it says one thing at one point and then further along says something completely different. Even if you skim over those points and take what she says to heart then none of us should ride horses until the are a minimum of 6 years old. Im not sure Dr Deb is one I would use to make my point, mainly because I think she is a bit of a twit.
 
I'm 100% against leaving horses wild, then expecting them to cope with a sudden breaking process after four whole years.

My young horses have been in the process of 'backing' from pretty much the moment they come out. They are well handled, feet picked up, they get used to wearing something (i.e. headcollar, rugs etc), they get used to voice commands as yearlings, as I walk down the road with them I stop and say stand, and they get praise for stopping etc. Then to start again I say walk on etc. All two year olds have worn and been led in bits, shown in-hand etc.

To get used to girth pressure they wear surcingles on a night.

Backing shouldn't be a huge immense load of stress on a young horses mind - that's how horses are stressed and ruined. It should be a continuous process from the moment we decide to bring them into the world.
 
We backed ours this summer at 3. He is mentally very grown up in most ways and took everything in his stride. Now at 3 1/2 he is hacked out maybe once or twice a week for no more than 30mins. We don't have the facilities to just turn away so he has to come in at night etc anyway, and keeping him ticking over seems to work for him - he loves going exploring and leads the way most of the time!
If we can't hack him one week he goes in the school and does 15 mins walking and trotting and steering. However he is quite big so we haven't tackled cantering in the school yet!
He had a month off in october/november and will have another 4 - 6 weeks off in feb/march, and then as he rises 4 we will start doing longer hacks and introduce canter.
I won't be lunging him again til this time next year tho and will only start very small jumps next autumn, on the basis that he is still growing and everything we do under saddle at the moment is similar to what he does by himself, and at 5'4 and 9 stone on a 16.2hh ISH x WB my weight isn't enormous. However the tighter circles etc with lunging would be something I would rather avoid for now.
 
Well Merlin is a welshie too, and he also will be 3yo in May. So i plan to start bitting long reining saddle on properly next summer with a view to sitting on him in October... ?

Then he will probably get ridden a couple of times p/wk over the winter just easy stuff walk and trot mostly until the next spring
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Even if you skim over those points and take what she says to heart then none of us should ride horses until the are a minimum of 6 years old.

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, I've read the article, rather than skimmed it, and Dr Deb suggests starting horses at 4 won't do them any harm.
I'm not sure anyone has suggested leaving horses wild then subjecting them to education as 4 year olds. This thread started as what age to actually back them, that doesn't stop them being handled and well educated before that.
 
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