What do you do with your yougsters/yearlings?

M

millyspaniel

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 July 2009
Messages
435
Visit site
My youngest is a little coloured gypsy cob, shes 18 months old and has the sweetest personality. She is very cuddly and affectionate and is happy following me around the field when i poo pick and will stand for ages and let me groom her. When i rub her withers or neck area she *grooms* me like she does with the others.
smile.gif

I led her out a few times in the summer just up the lane and back and shes really good with traffic. However i dont like to ake her far as she only wears a headcollar and am worried incase she gets too much or spooks/gets excited and i havent got much control. So its all about handling her as much as poss, tying her up brushing her, picking up her feet etc.......
However i always feel as if i should be doing more with her with regards to getting her used to things like the road etc.......
What do you do with your youngins?
Here she is having a play!:

2duxzmc.jpg
 
Well your probably doing already alot more than most!!! My weanlings come march next year will be turned away (bar checking on them daily!) until they are 2 or 3! They are having the hands on treatment over winter! I've heard many people say 'familiarisation breeds contempt' although how true that is I'm not sure! Congrats with all the good work you've put in already and I'm sure she'll be easy as pie to back as she knows you so well!
 
Got a yearling gypsy cob colt that we will be showing in hand later this year unless he sells beforehand. He is already well handled can be fully groomed, pick up his feet etc.... I've also a thoroughbred yearling colt. On Saturday I took him in the trailer down the beach and led him whilst I was on my other thoroughbred in order to get him familiar. I've had a saddle and simple bridle on him and will start to break him in the spring. He's a fantastic horse and will probably make 15 2 - 16. He's already trotting when being led and it going to be a great horse.
 
Our little one was one last month (late foal).

He leads nicely in a headcollar, ties up well on the yard once a week while everyone comes and goes and dogs kids etc mill about.
He has the farrier every 10 weeks to rasp his feet and saw the dentist with the other two and had the rasp in his mouth and rubbed around a bit. He loads onto the lorry nicely. You can groom him all over and I washed his "bits" the other day as they were a bit gunkey. He has practiced wearing rugs. He leads over coloured poles on the ground in the school.

He is good to catch and has his feet picked up in the field most days. He walks up the lane to the yard once a week with my old mare for confidence. The rest of the time he is in the field with her and has a daily check.

If you don't want to put a bit in his mouth could you try putting a soft lead rope from the right side of his head collar (clipped onto the ring by his cheek) and thread it under his chin. This gives a little more control but is kind. Ours already knows to walk into the pressure to release it but is much easier to hold if he does do a little spook.
 
I am thinking of trying a parelli style halter just for leading around the lanes. She does get led up the lane to the yard where she has her feet done every 8 weeks, shes getting better everytime with the farrier.
Shes so slow at walking though! i have to lead her with the little sec a and shes miles ahead in front and Daisy lags behind at her own pace!
I am trying to get her to move away from pressure and back up which she seems to be responding to nicely.
smile.gif

I have never thought of using a bit on her at the moment as she is still very young.
smile.gif


Its good to know how everyone else is doing with there youngsters too, am glad am doing enough
smile.gif
 
LOL our little chap likes to go slowly too - he just seems to be taking everything in and we don't like to rush him.

I think a parelli halter would work well - it seems a shame to bit them up if you don't need to - though if they are difficult then I can see why people would. Our homemade solution seems to work well at the moment though!
grin.gif
I keep waiting for him to be bolshy and rude but so far so good.
laugh.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
I am thinking of trying a parelli style halter just for leading around the lanes

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're going to start leading her out to see a bit more of the world I would recommend using a bridle - rather than any sort of halter or headcollar. You'll have far more control if things go wrong.
 
Mmm - my yearlings are in the field - being yearlings. I DID haul two of them out the day before the Breed Show. Quick loading and leading in a bridle lesson, quick bath (first ever), plaited (first ever), chucked in lorry and went. They arrived as cool as cucumbers, stood in the lorry munching hay until we whipped them out for their class. They were probably the two best behaved yearlings there - and came 1st and 2nd in a class of 12. Then went back in the lorry and munched haynets until we left for home. Then chucked them back in field!
grin.gif


I've got 11 yearlings so don't have time to faff about with them - they come in for farrier, worming, field moves. They get food thrown at them twice a day. That's it.
 
My girl is nearly 14 months old and goes for walks along the lane and down the road to see traffic (loves buses dislikes push bikes
crazy.gif
) has her feet done every 6 weeks although hasn't had teeth done yet. Been walked over trotting poles in the field in a vain attempt to let her know where her feet are so she leaves mine alone
mad.gif
smirk.gif
I would say the baggage is handled for probably 1/2 an hour a day

JanetGeorge - What do you think of us handling our yearlings as we are? Right or wrong or each to their own?
 
My friend and I have taken on a 5 months filly foal who is cob x.

When she arrived three weeks ago she was feral straight off the forest having only been manhandled into the trailer and now she leads, has her feet picked up, has had a rug on, can groom her all over including the vulnerable belly area. She walks with me on a busy road and has lorries pass her by and motorbikes. In fact I have been amazed at how laid back she is. She comes to call now for her breakfast and tea and is often waiting st the gate. She is socialised with my big horses aswell as ponies and we have had no problems at all.

Probably the lull before the storm

I only do something with her in the evening though and her time is her own the rest of the day though.
grin.gif
grin.gif


Oh i've also loaded her once onto the lorry.
 
My 2.5yr old goes for short walks both in-hand and on the long reins. He much prefer's the long reins (gets to go in front!). Just to see the world really.

He's bitted, used to wearing a roller, has has a saddle on him and grith done up. He's used to me standing on a block to groom him (so I'm much bigger than him) and is happy for me to lean over him.

He's great to groom, do all his feet and feathers, fly spray, bath (thank god - he's 70% white!) and all that kind of stuff.

He basically does all the stuff I'd expect an adult horse to do well, apart from the ridden part.
 
[ QUOTE ]


JanetGeorge - What do you think of us handling our yearlings as we are? Right or wrong or each to their own?

[/ QUOTE ]

Each to their own! I have no problems with people giving their yearlings more handling than I do. As long as they are kept 'disciplined' and not allowed to get too cheeky or familiar then it's good for them.

Withe the numbers I have, it's obviously not practical to handle mine for half an hour a day - it would be a full time job for one person - and mine tend to be so laidback they just don't need it. But if I had ONE yearling who I was raising to be my 'horse of a lifetime' then it would probably be handled for half-an-hour a day too - because I LOVE handling youngsters!
grin.gif


What I DO have a problem with is people over-handling youngsters badly - letting them get away with being cheeky and ill-mannered because they're 'cute' - I'm sure no-one here would be that silly! But some people do - and end up with a bargy, ill-mannered BRUTE! The kindest thing we can do for our youngsters is to bring them up to be well-mannered young horses - that keeps them - and their handlers - SAFE!
 
Thanks for that JanetGeorge
laugh.gif


My baggage is nearly 14 months old and stands about 13.1hh already and is Sec D x traditional cob so as you can imagine she is a chunky girl already and is getting to know her own strength
crazy.gif
smirk.gif
so she needs to be handled well now as I really do not fancy the idea of being towed along by a bolshy 3 or 4 year old. She is bad enough now if she isn't handled for a few days. She easily gets bargy and rude if not kept in her place
mad.gif
I'm assuming that its the Welsh in her coming out
smirk.gif



She is definitely shaping up to be my horse of a lifetime and we have good bond which I feel is getting stronger all the time
grin.gif


Sorry if I've gone a bit 'fluffy'
blush.gif
blush.gif
tongue.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top