What would you expect a 3.5 year old to be doing ?

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toomanyhorses26

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I have myself a little tb out of racing who is at the moment just 3 but will be 3.5 years when I sell. I will hold my hands up and say he is my first youngster but not my first ex racer - but he is soo confident and accepting I am finding hard to judge whether I am doing too much with him. Obviously in his past he has owrked relatively hard compared to 'normal' 3 year olds and he seems to have a need to be doing something eg on the days off he has had he is far more fidgety almost to the point of being grumpy :) Currently he appears (only had him two weeks so my all change) to be happy to hack out alone,in company,at the back ,take lead file etc ,will walk ,trot and canter in school picking up correctly 3 out 4 times, happy in traffic, pigeon flew out on him today and he just carried on walking :) , good to tack up,untack,rug up ,worm, and load but he is a little snatchy with his back feet so some work is needed there. He just really seems too good to be true :) I intend for him to have regular mini breaks as such throughout the 6 months I have him and he wil be doin his first inhand show in june - have I missed anything he should be doing or is he going to fast for his age - Help!!
 
I would personally turn him away to mature, I wouldn't want any 3 year old doing much work regardless of their breed. My yearling will be lightly backed at 3 and then turned away till she's 4.
 
Personal preference, I would be turning away for the next six months to just let him be a horse and mature a little.
Many "normal" three year olds have yet to be backed. TB's I appreciate are slightly different to the norm, but he is to all intents, still a baby, and I would want to let him be one for a while.
 
personally, I wouldn't buy a 3.5 yr old that had done any more than what you're doing now. I would only really want it lightly backed and hacking out. Wouldn't want it to have done much ridden school work at all. I don't start horses until the summer that they are 3.

I know ex racers will have already been backed. could you not keep him until it's 4 and do more with him then?
 
This was my gut feeling - he is living out 24/7 with a group of ponies who are keeping him in line and has piled on the weight since he arrived (still a little bit more until we loose the ribs completely) . He is a strange little horse as unlike my other TB who is a lazy little wotsit - this one genuinely seems pleased to be doing something (strange animal!).
 
Much as I would love to keep him - he will be sold around August time as I have my other TB qualified for things that I need to concentrate on and we have no free stables currently so there is no room at the inn ! Shame as he is a very friendly happy little chap :)
 
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