What do you do with your 3 yr olds?

[Tegan]

Hi

My mum has just brought a 3 yr old cob. He has been sat on but not broken in as such.

We have had him for 3 weeks and he is now lunging quite well. He walks, trots, stands and can have a little canter (even if it is a bit fast). We have kept the lunging sessions to 10-15 mins a few times per week and have now started long reining for a silmilar time. He also goes for a 20min walk in hand down the lane once a week.

Once he is going nicely on the long reins we will start riding him and once he is broken we were planning on hacking him out a few times a week through the winter.

Does this sound okay? I am interested in whether others keep them going through the winter or turn them away. I am verging towards keeping him going as he will only be turned out during the day.

Thanks
Tegan

 

[Pinkpeeper]

We have only very lightly backed our 3yr old about a month ago. We have also taken her to a show every month during the summer. At the moment she goes for short walks with a rider on round the block about once very occasionly twice a week. Last show in a few weeks so wont do anything further untill after that. I also like to make sure she has an easy time the week before and the week after the shows.
Other than that she plays lots of games with my daughter and comes in for gromming and messing with. We also try and show her lots of new things, am currently trying to work out how to get a car alarm to go off near her (after reading someones post the other day).
Over the winter things will still be quiet for her work wise, she will be in at night and out in the day. Any schooling work wont start till next spring.
Its a personal choice to turn away or not, ours wont be turned away, but then we havnt done much with her.

 

[Biscuit]

Mine only did some training in hand training as a 3yo, but I did not want her backed until 4. Agree with pinkpeeper it is a personal choice, also depending on how well grown your horse is and what your goals are.

 

[ecrozier]

Our boy is now backed, we have had him about 8 weeks and started from scratch, he now lunges well on both reins in walk and trot, not going to try canter as he's quite big and still growing and not entirely balanced yet! He's still going in school every couple of days, want him to be totally confident with walking/trotting/stopping and steering, been out for one very quiet hack but need to get him used to traffic as we hack out of gate onto a road. Hoping by the end of this week to have the steering totally cracked and then he will mainly just hack, a couple of times a week, until the spring, maybe once in the school every few weeks just to keep th brain cells ticking over but again only 10 mins at a time.
We are also planning over the winter to take him to anything in hand we can find (Patchetts do indoor showing in october and November) and also to load him up into lorry every few weeks and take him to different places for hacks - again only for half an hour or so but idea is that by the spring, travelling and being ridden at the other end will be totally normal!
If we do turn him away it will only be for a month or so, unless he starts showing he has had enough. He's pretty grown up in his head though, and won't be asked for any proper wirk til next summer really, will prob start more regular schooling may/june next year.

 

[badgerdog]

Mine's been backed for about 3 months now. She's physically quite mature. I just take her out on light hacks to get her out and about and recently I've been taking her to some shows to do in-hand classes.
I'll not be turning her away for the winter, I'll just continue with the light hacks. I don't intend to do any schooling with her till next year.