what should I do with my rising 2 year old this year?

I would put full tack on, begin long lining and walk out on the roads with a sensible horse. No weight on the back yet though
 
TheMule said:
I would put full tack on, begin long lining and walk out on the roads with a sensible horse. No weight on the back yet though
Click to expand...

Thanks, I was thinking about long reining this year but she is not going to be bitted until the end of the year so would be off the head collar really.
 
Lots of work on the ground such as getting used to tack, boots and being fiddled around with etc. Walk out in hand in tack and eventually a bit of long reining i'd say. With all that in place you should be good to go for backing next year :) Good luck
 
Agree with others, in hand walking, full tack on, long reining. Getting them used to being tied up, bathed etc., if not already done. Groundwork involving scary objects such as tarpaulins, umberella's, traffic cones etc.
 
warmbloodcrazy said:
Lots of work on the ground such as getting used to tack, boots and being fiddled around with etc. Walk out in hand in tack and eventually a bit of long reining i'd say. With all that in place you should be good to go for backing next year :) Good luck
Click to expand...

We did a fair bit of basic ground work last year due to her not wanting to catch when I bought her last May.

Thanks :D

Joyous70 said:
Agree with others, in hand walking, full tack on, long reining. Getting them used to being tied up, bathed etc., if not already done. Groundwork involving scary objects such as tarpaulins, umberella's, traffic cones etc.
Click to expand...

Would you just getting a crap*y saddle to use for this to get her used to full tack?? I have a saddle fror my other horse but dont fancy using that as its a good one.

I am going to get tarpolin at the weekend, think we have cones etc in our jumping paddock (which is next to a train track and quarry road).
 
If you're showing him, he's getting handled, washed, travelled etc so plenty of education as it is and it's surprising how much that will take it out of him and make him stale so for me the rest of his time should be spent being allowed to be a baby with other company his own age and turned away. You want to make him old before his time if you do anything else with him, poor boy.
 
Maesfen said:
If you're showing him, he's getting handled, washed, travelled etc so plenty of education as it is and it's surprising how much that will take it out of him and make him stale so for me the rest of his time should be spent being allowed to be a baby with other company his own age and turned away. You want to make him old before his time if you do anything else with him, poor boy.
Click to expand...

I dont have the opportunity to turn her out with others of the same age as there is only one other the same age and the owner wouldnt turn her out with others as its a fresian and needs graded or something (no idea). i would have happily done that.

My mare is not the best role model so need to teach her other things.

She will be shown a handful of times this year, so not enough to make her stale.
 
Jenna1406 said:
Would you just getting a crap*y saddle to use for this to get her used to full tack?? I have a saddle fror my other horse but dont fancy using that as its a good one.

I am going to get tarpolin at the weekend, think we have cones etc in our jumping paddock (which is next to a train track and quarry road).
Click to expand...

As long as the crappy saddle isn't having any weight on it, then im sure it would be fine, i had an old synthetic saddle that we put on my girl, and when she got used to having that on, i used to let the stirrups down and let her get used to the stirrups banging against her side, to begin with i actually picked them up and bumped them against her side the took off at a walk, and eventually trot.

Also brilliant next to a train track, my girls field is right next to the London Midland line, so very busy, trains do not bother her, even when she's in the tunnel and they go over head, quite impressed when she did that for the first time as a 2.5 year old. Also if you can, get her used to big farm machinery and tractors if possible, our hay man kindly left his tractor and trailer running so i could walk my girl past when i was doin in hand work with her, so hopefully when she sees big traffic out on the road she will not be phased by it.

Good luck and have fun :)
 
Last edited:
Shows.....in hand classes, be plaited up, bathed...long lined....attack them with saddlecloths!!....

scary things like tarp!? cones? in hand walks....hacking etc?

:)
 
As a rising 2 yr old, in hand showing and the handling that will come with that is enough for her age. Let her be a baby, to many people do far to much to soon.
 
Leave it in the field ! :)

Groom & pick feet out etc but theres plenty of time for everything else next year
So long as it knows enough to lead correctly etc
 
Apart from basic handling and ground manners, begger all. My rising 3 year old is polite on the ground and walks out in traffic with others. Other than abit of long lining he will be left until next year. There is a lot of growing going on in these first few years. Let her be a horse.
 
I am taking everything in that you are all saying.

Id like to do a little of something this year and obviously I dont mean I am going to be doing this 5 times a week etc, I am meaning once every few months as she is a baby. She is in a paddock with my other horse and leaving her out in the field all the time wouldnt sit right with me when I am doing things with my big mare.

Shes good to lead, pick feet out, good for farrier, good for vet (injections), will let anyone lead her, will walk past tractors (livery is on a part time working farm), rug etc - she will do pretty much anything, not through making her do it but through what seems to happen on a day to day basis.

I have taken her for a small walk in hand probably twice since november and that was more to take her to the big field for a munch of some grass.

I was wanting to introduce her to long reining after she has actually turned 2 (not until May 18th) and it will litrally be introducing her to it and then potter a bit over winter but nothing major. wont be biting her until December anyway as I will be getting the vet to check her mouth before I bit her and she is due injections November time.

Is everything I have said too much for her?? She is cob x tb x clyde.

Thanks
 
thatsmygirl said:
As a rising 2 yr old, in hand showing and the handling that will come with that is enough for her age. Let her be a baby, to many people do far to much to soon.
Click to expand...

Maesfen said:
Thank goodness for some sense.
Click to expand...

Slave2Magic said:
Apart from basic handling and ground manners, begger all. My rising 3 year old is polite on the ground and walks out in traffic with others. Other than abit of long lining he will be left until next year. There is a lot of growing going on in these first few years. Let her be a horse.
Click to expand...

These.

Sounds like she already has had good experiences and good manners. Let her be a baby. I would even consider looking to put her elsewhere with others of a similar age.

I would not even consider long reining or introducing a saddle for at least another year.

It can be frustrating waiting for them to grow up and be ready- patience is needed. Once every few months is pointless- leaving her in the field is the best thing you can do IMO.
 
kirstie said:
These.

Sounds like she already has had good experiences and good manners. Let her be a baby. I would even consider looking to put her elsewhere with others of a similar age.

I would not even consider long reining or introducing a saddle for at least another year.

It can be frustrating waiting for them to grow up and be ready- patience is needed. Once every few months is pointless- leaving her in the field is the best thing you can do IMO.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Putting her somewhere else wouldnt work as there isnt anywhere near me that would do this (I live in Inverness), livery yards are few and few between up here as it is, without having to travel miles. I already drive 10 miles there and 10 miles back, so to put her somewhere else would cost a fortune.
 
Oh and I am just trying to get as much information as possible and advice as this is my first youngster.

I had to restart my other mare years ago as when I got her she was upside down in the next, so we turned her away and long reined etc before riding long and low and all that but she was 10 at the time.
 
Nothing I did nothing with my two year old .
They already knew trimming leading and tying up and about stables .
So they spent their two year time being horses .
 
Its quite interesting the varied different ideas that everyone gives regarding 2 year olds. Obviously, I would never push her to do anything she wasnt ready for. I suppose really, Breagha will tell me when she is ready to try something new.
 
Jenna1406 said:
Thanks. Putting her somewhere else wouldnt work as there isnt anywhere near me that would do this (I live in Inverness), livery yards are few and few between up here as it is, without having to travel miles. I already drive 10 miles there and 10 miles back, so to put her somewhere else would cost a fortune.
Click to expand...

Ahh, fair enough.

It sounds as though you have given her a solid start already, I would give her an easy year, enjoy handling her, get her out to a couple of shows as you have planned and keep building slowly on the foundation you have got. She sounds lovely!
 
Personally I wouldn't do any more than you are doing already. Over the 12 years I've bred foals I've found that it actually makes very little difference to the backing process if you don't do anything with them between 1 and 3 as long as they have had basic handling (catching, leading, grooming, etc) when they are foals. I used to be a fan of desensitizing them as youngsters but it really does seem to come down to their individual personalities when it comes to backing them.

I do like my youngsters to be allowed to be youngsters and spend as much time out in the field with their peers and a couple of older horses to show them what is what. If you don't have the facilities to do this where you are it would be worth having a look at local studs to see if your youngster can run with theirs.
 
kirstie said:
Ahh, fair enough.

It sounds as though you have given her a solid start already, I would give her an easy year, enjoy handling her, get her out to a couple of shows as you have planned and keep building slowly on the foundation you have got. She sounds lovely!
Click to expand...

We have a good relationship now as she wouldnt catch when I first got her and she was very under weight etc. So we have a good bond.

eggs said:
Personally I wouldn't do any more than you are doing already. Over the 12 years I've bred foals I've found that it actually makes very little difference to the backing process if you don't do anything with them between 1 and 3 as long as they have had basic handling (catching, leading, grooming, etc) when they are foals. I used to be a fan of desensitizing them as youngsters but it really does seem to come down to their individual personalities when it comes to backing them.

I do like my youngsters to be allowed to be youngsters and spend as much time out in the field with their peers and a couple of older horses to show them what is what. If you don't have the facilities to do this where you are it would be worth having a look at local studs to see if your youngster can run with theirs.
Click to expand...

We dont have any local studs up here to do anything like that. I would have to send her miles and miles away to somewhere and I wouldnt be comfortable with that.

She is out with my 15 year old mare and she keeps her in check and on occasions (not that she likes me to see) will play with her but she isnt the best roll model - typical chestnut mare.
 
My boy will be three on July and I've lots of bits and bobs this year. Despite living out on a herd in a large field he comes running when I call so I haven't put him off ha ha . He's been bitted, long lined in walk a handful of times, walked out on short hacks with a nanny horse, done ground work, played with scary things like brollies etc. he does something once every week or two and seems to love the learning and interaction :-) let your youngster be your guide, I don't see why they need to spend three years in a field.
 
Too many good slow growing heavies are ruined completely because they are not allowed to grow steadily and quietly in a field I understand you dont have another youngster for her to play with but in my mind You shouldnt do anything with a two year old but maybe three or four shows The handling needed for those will be enough She sounds like a wonderful well mannered baby so why ruin all that buy pushing too far too fast. Her type she shouldnt be doing anything at all until she is at least four preferably five to give her time to mature and fill out and stop growing I dont lunge at all but if I did the horse would need to be at least 6 or 7 before I did. I do long rein prior to backing when they have passed their 4th birthday If you are patient you will have a lovely healthy horse if you rush her you could be building in joint problems and arthritis before she is old enough to do much. If you are in a hurry to ride buy a riding horse not a baby
 
My filly (3 in June) has been out since birth with a few other horses. She leads, gets groomed & feet picked out & sees the farrier for a trim a few times a year. Apart from this she has done nothing and won't be doing anything until June this year when she will come in as a 3 year old for basic ground work and to the see the sights & sounds of a busy livery yard. She will then be turned out for winter with a group of other babies and broke as a 4 year old.
 
Let it grow on, all that is needed is manners with the farrier/vet, polite to lead and accepting of leaving friends to stand in a stable for an hour or so occasionally.

For what it is worth this is what happened to my pair of rising two year olds in 2013. In February 2013 they were 18 months old, one of them is a very tricky anxious type and huge. Ill health hit me and I can remember thinking what the heck am I going to do with the babies, at the time they were stabled and we had a foot of snow on the ground. Two weeks later I was in hospital and had no choice but to have them turned out. I thought it was the end of the world, especially with the difficult one.

Those youngsters were abandoned from March 2013 all the way through to December 2013. My friends looked at them twice a day and they were held in the field for trimming, worming and vaccs. Neither of them forgot their early lessons and when I was well enough to handle them again they were fine. They will both be three in June and over the last weeks have had rollers on, as soon as the clocks change I will do more with them, one is too weak to back but the anxious one is a strong type and will be sat on and long lined.
 
my 2 YO has a serious job to do this year. That is playing with our 2 yearlings. They love her to bits, and follow her around all day.

I am determined to do an inhand show with her, as shes the only one ive had thats registered with the SHB(GB). But to be honest thats pretty much it

I love watching her play, and trying to work out what shes going to be like in the future. Crikey im sounding like a fluffy bunny

So i'd say, let her be a baby
 
I agree with others, once the basic's are learnt and they are reminded of them now and again, I would just leave them as they are.

We have just got a 9 month old colt who has had nothing done bar be in a stable, so as soon as we have him leading (proving the hardest, he is quite agrophobic once out of the stable!), tying up, picking up feet and generally well mannered he will most likely be turned out until just before he is 3. Whats the hurry? Shes already well behaved and obedient, let her have her time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top