What are you doing with your 3yo

Tempi said:
Wasnt falling out :D Was just intriguied that you had taken a 3yr old to RC camp thats all! Yours must be very well behaved!

I have a 2 1/2 yr old who i will be backing myself next summer - i only hope he is as well behaved, lol!
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:D:D
She is amazingly well behaved...she loves it, really grumpy in the field now not doing anything.
Our adult camp is mainly for those who don't do competitons etc.....some have never jumped before and only ever hack, more of a drinking camp TBH...lol x :D
The only reason she did this with me is to have her stay somewhere else and be ridden on grass with others cantering past etc....
Did not want to go out next year and get on her at a competition and she does her nut as it's all so exciting, this way it was all introduced slowly and in a relaxed manner, we did more standing around teaching others on horse back. (BHSAI)
If you can find a good RC low level camp like that in your area it's really good for them, she saw so much and learnt so much with out the pressure or having to physically do that much. :D
 
On the lines of young horses doing too much too soon.. when I was looking for a safe genuine pony (after having a little ***** of a pony that did my confidence no good at all!), we ended up going to a dealers. Fell in love with the most sensible pony I've ever sat on. We bought him as a 5 year old so we cracked on with competing him pretty soon after buying him. We didn't have him vetted as he'd been vetted by dealers when they bought him over from Ireland only a month or so before we bought him.
One day I noticed one of his teeth had fallen out. Turned out he was only 3 when we bought him, and we had been competing him at pony BS shows and doing pony club eventing!
We took it steady with him once we found out his real age (again, this was the time before passports). He was awesome, but a real "steady Eddie" (his name was actually Eddie which suited him down to the ground), and once he had given me confidence and I'd outgrew him, we sold him on to another young very nervous girl, who had him 5 stage vetted and he passed with flying colours.
This was...about 5/6 years ago now, so he would now be 10/11. Have been in contact with the people who we bought him from, and Eddie had given her the confidence she needed and she sold him on again, and he is still being the amazing pony he was when we had him. No signs of lameness etc. And this is a pony who must of been backed when he was late 2/early 3 years old.
 
Have a good weekend people, off now for a long weekend, going to pick up a devil of a 12.2hh for three weeks bootcamp schooling livery with me!!!!:D

Monday i maybe typing with a broken arm and face!!!!!:D And he's not three!!!
 
Interesting post as I am currently helping with our first homebred 3yo who is also our first youngster (had 5yos but nothing like this before!) so it's nice to see what other people are doing with theirs :).

We have just done simple school work in walk, trot and canter and I have booked an arena locally for her first time in an arena other than ours next week :eek: :p.

The plan is to give her some time off over the winter then aim for the odd little show next July once I've done my A levels, though it all depends how old they have to be.
 
my 3 year old was 3 beginning of may. i started lunging him in april and then lightly backed in walk and trot (about 8 sessions of about 10mins) and then had 2 week break. then sent him away to be properly backed for 4 weeks and then brought him back and rode him for another couple of weeks just walk, trot and canter for 15mins around the school.
then turned him away the end of june.
He has been doing nothing since then apart from taken for walks in hand and i have long reined him twice.
i am not backing him till april next year ish ready for young dressage classes.

I have a 2 year old exmoor filly and i'll be backing her late next year and basically just hacking in walk with tiney trots. thats if shes ready as she was wild this year and im trying to train her and shes coming along well but if i dont think shes ready i'll leave her till shes 4.
 
My cob's 3.5 (May baby). He's backed and been out for very short hacks - ridden for 5-10min at a time then get off and walk him. Been doing all the long reining and walks out in hand for the last 2years. He's had a trot under saddle twice.

He's now standing in a field getting muddy and fat. He'll continue doing the same over the winter and in the spring (once he's 4) we'll start doing some more 'proper' work, inc a bit of school and fittening.
 
Ihave sold my 3.5 yo ex racer and he is doing on a normal week - 3 days work . Pretty much all hacking at mostly walk and trot with the odd canter . He normally starts off with 10/15 mins in the school just to check that brakes and forward is still working :D and then trundles off for a hack. He has done one dressage (w&t) and one in hand show and was an absolute angel - I do sometimes wonder if I sold the wrong animal :D He has grown a fair bit in that time (15hh to 15.3hh) so will have most of the winter off and then start again in the spring . I will probably do the first couple of shows on him and then pass him back to his now owners.
 
I am slightly surprised a few people have been competing 3 year olds. But hey, each to their own. Mine was backed the august of his 3rd year, established brakes and steering in school then hack 3 times a week for up to 30 mins through aug/sept including going for hacks away from home. He also went to a couple of in hand shows.
Then 'turned away' in sense of no work at all nov-feb although came in at night as have to at our yard and also he always has with prev owner through winter.
He isn't going to be worked at a 'proper' level til the feb of his 5th year - is a July foal so will be 4.5 then.
 
BroadfordQueen said:
On the lines of young horses doing too much too soon.. when I was looking for a safe genuine pony (after having a little ***** of a pony that did my confidence no good at all!), we ended up going to a dealers. Fell in love with the most sensible pony I've ever sat on. We bought him as a 5 year old so we cracked on with competing him pretty soon after buying him. We didn't have him vetted as he'd been vetted by dealers when they bought him over from Ireland only a month or so before we bought him.
One day I noticed one of his teeth had fallen out. Turned out he was only 3 when we bought him, and we had been competing him at pony BS shows and doing pony club eventing!
We took it steady with him once we found out his real age (again, this was the time before passports). He was awesome, but a real "steady Eddie" (his name was actually Eddie which suited him down to the ground), and once he had given me confidence and I'd outgrew him, we sold him on to another young very nervous girl, who had him 5 stage vetted and he passed with flying colours.
This was...about 5/6 years ago now, so he would now be 10/11. Have been in contact with the people who we bought him from, and Eddie had given her the confidence she needed and she sold him on again, and he is still being the amazing pony he was when we had him. No signs of lameness etc. And this is a pony who must of been backed when he was late 2/early 3 years old.
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Our case was the same, bought a pony off the Welsh mountains for my Granddaughter's 2nd birthday . We were told he was 4 but he was lovely as a lead rein pony and saw film of him hacking on busy roads and jumping a small jump. He was only a couple of hundred pounds and was only going to do walking round so took a chance. He turned out to be only 2 but now at 5 he is the sweetest pony. Jumps lovely and gently , not scared of anything. She did her first off lead rein jumping this week on him [only 1'6" ] and they are now both 5 years old.
Wouldn't want to do this with a horse though, our 2 year old has been out for walks down the road [tiny lane] next year will be backed, hacked out then turned away. Very little lungeing as I am not keen on the turning with young joints.
 
I'm also against 3yos (and 4/5yos) for that matter doing too much work or too much of the 'wrong' work.

However......
We had a lovely horse, bought as one of three half-breds (clydesdale/TB) from an agricultural sale in Carlisle. She was broken at 3 and was used as a huntsman's horse in the winter of her 3yo year. It sounds horrific but we are talking a Scottish hill pack, not the Quorn, so it was mostly trotting about in the heather. She was an ideal first horse for my sister-in-law at the age of 5, did all PC activities, hunted several seasons with us, moved on to a new home where she continued to hunt but also to do all the RC teams, including the championships (she was at Lincoln this year). She is sound and fit and has never taken a lame step and she is now 16, still going strong!
 
It depends so much on the horse. I personally am not a fan of 3 yr olds doing any "work". Being backed and doing a bit of hacking would be absolutely maximum. I certainly wouldn't want to be jumping a 3 yr old under saddle.

However, both the horses I have had have been backed in their 4 yr old year. The amount they have grown and changed between their 4 and 5 yr old year also puts me off doing too much with them as 4yr olds either! My old boss (4* eventer) never backed them before 4, and even then they would literally be kicked about a bit, and then brought back in as 5yr olds.

Each to their own, and there will be successes and horror stories from both sides, I have no doubt :D
 
Our 3 year old is a big, gangly chap that still has a fair amount of growing to do, however mentally he needs the work- he's a much nicer chap if he has something to think about. So atm we're working (with our trainer) to get him doing loads of ground work (in short sessions)- we've just started lunging (well, it's an interpretation- essentially you have them on a lot shorter rope but move around a lot more) to get him turning, in balance, and straight. He's being worked in a bridle, and we've had a roller and a saddle on. My sister 'backed' him in the stable and has now had a sit on him fully saddled, but it's been more of an exercise to see how he reacts and he's not actually doing any ridden work.

He's far from mature yet, so at the moment the work is purely to start developing his balance and musculature, and we're also trying to teach him to stay off his forehand (he's croup high atm, so it's a very important lesson). However he seems to enjoy it, and he won't be doing much more for a good while yet.
 
I'm quit glad a few of you have said not fans of doing too much with 4 year olds! Started thinking mine was doing less at 4 than some of the 3 year olds! But I'm happy with him, he will finish the year having gone round 2'3-2'6 xc and sj courses and done a handful of walk trot dressage tests.
Next year the fun begins!!
 
My boy was three at the end of may.
In march/april we did four weeks of this;
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he was then turned out and did some inhand shows. In july I backed him and did 6 weeks hacking out both alone and in company.

In August he went to a show and did this for the first time;
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I haven't ridden him since!!

he went to another show the week after to do this;

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and has been doing lots of this;
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and i don't plan on doing anything more with him until march/april next year.
 
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