When buying 4 yr old , would you prefer backed or fully broken??

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kezimac

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as my friend has a 4 yr old TB - never been in racing or training, lovely mare, very quiet gentle, could be nice eventing horse or general riding club all rounder. She is in process of backing her at the moment. Buyers do you prefer backed or fully broken - been out and done a bit? or do you prefer to do that yourself?
She asked me and i said broken but then thought - not sure as people getting a 4 yr arent novices and would want to do it themselves.
 
Depends what I'm looking for really.

Out of choice, I'd prefer one which is backed and ridden away and can do basic green walk/trot/canter :)
 
I bought my last one as "just broken" and she'd done walk trot and canter but nothing else and i was quite happy with that. People are looking for different things when they but a horse so It depends on what your friend wants to do. Some people want one to train themselves, others want all the basics like hacking, small cross pole covered.
 
bought both of mine as unbacked, one was 3 and the other 4, I`m happy with the way they`ve turned out and are coming on, its been bloody hard work and a bit gritty at times and there has been lots of grrr`s , swearing and "i will never get another youngster my next horse will be 15!!!" lol but honestly i wouldnt change it for the world, if your experienced enough you can put yout own stamp on it and also learn alot along the way, all horses are different and react in different ways some will be easy to back and bring on, others a total nightmare
 
like yeeharider i would like mine untouched- i would then either back it myself or send it to someone to be done for me. there are a two reasons for this:

1. cost. quite often (esp if you go through big yards that deal in a lot of highend comp horses) 4 year olds might sell for 7/8k plus. the same horses will be much less unbroken and then you can either back it yourself or pay someone a few hundred to do the same job. i could never have afforded my horse if he'd been broken in...

2. don't want to have to deal with other people's screw ups. at least if i do something wrong i know what i've done :D
 
When I was younger and my parents bought my horses, all I had were horses which had 'issues', so I was always trying to re-educate my horses - as soon as I was earning my own money and could afford to buy myself my own horses I went for youngsters every time, untouched 2 or 3 yos which I could back my own way - this way if ever things went wrong, I knew exactly where it had gone wrong and could go back and correct.

So, I'd go for un-backed every time.
 
Depends on the horse and how its been started. Early years training are so important that given the choice, I'd prefer to buy a youngster lightly backed, rather than discover the mistakes someone else has made by training too much and too soon. Mine have always been very green, last mare had one week under saddle, and also had a 5 month old filly, a complete innocent, trusting and without any negative experiences.
However, after illness had to sell those two and after recovery, bought my first older horse, a 12 year old as just wanted a simple life. How wrong I was ! She has more issues than any of my youngsters have ever had and re-educating a mature mare is tougher than any baby.
 
I'd prefer backed with 3 paces, this way I can try and ride him and see if I like his movement (I prefer comfortable paces), and as she's 4 I think she could still be moulded to my liking. That's my opinion.
 
i think it all depends on what people class as backed or broken.

i would either like it not started at all or able to w/t/c and hack in company- half finished horses are imo half finished and advertised because the owners have hit a issue in training and are trying to palm the horse off.
 
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