When to back 3 year old?

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Amelia.

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Wondering when everyone begins to back there 3 year olds and how much you do in that year!

Horse is 3 late April. Wondering when people roughly start with the long reining, bitting,lunging, first sit?
Do you turn away or keep going with gentle hacking?
Very excited to get doing things, but also want things done right!!
 
Depends on a huge number of factors, but the horse has to basically look mature enough before I'll consider it at 3. I typically start to introduce them to tack, to do short in hand sessions (not lunging, I never lunge young horses) in the arena and to ride and lead them off another horse around Easter time. No more than 3 sessions per week. I will add in leaning over etc with the aim to do their first short hacks after a couple of months. They may go in the school a couple of times and do 5-10 short hacks, almost all at walk with just a short bit of trot to check that button is installed. Mine don’t canter and certainly don’t jump at 3. Then they're turned away until they are 4.
 
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When they are five - sorry but that's my view

Google bone growth plates and see the pictures of when growth plates fuse in different horse bones at different ages.

Some leading in hand around quiet roads, in hand showing all great life experience - but if I wanted a horse to last then I wouldn't expect them to carry any weight at all or do any small circles until they were 5 y/o.
 
Started mine at 3 because he was going to get big and he was bored and needed stimulation.

The plan was to start in the spring when he would have been 3 years 10 months but he developed colitis in the Nov / Dec before so vet advised to start him earlier to give him something to enjoy and focus on (he loves learning and exploring). He took everything really well and was happily backed very quickly (we let him set the speed) and it really helped with his grumpiness from the colitis.

He was only long lined and hacked for the first year. Didn't go near an arena until he was 4 (unless the hacking wasnt available and we long lined around the huge outdoor arena and around all the junps set up there, we also long lined over poles). We just did what made him happy (he loved the cross country field - no jumping!! - he enjoyed going up and down the lumpy bits and walking through the water). He was 5 last May and has done some intro dressage this year. We still keep the school sessions short so he doesn't get bored.
 
It very much depends on the horse, sorry. If they are full of fun and mischief I would do a bit with them, but that doesn't mean everything, constantly for weeks, sometimes a couple of times a week for a while then leave again.
 
You can start the prep whenever - but actually getting on and staying on I have always chosen to do around age 3.5 with breaks here and there over the winter due to weather. That depends on turnout though - last two years have been so wet I would probably be tempted to back then turn away when proper winter sets in. Restart in Spring of their 4yo year, aiming to get all the basics firmly installed before they turn 5. Nothing worse than hitting the teenage years without enough miles on them to help you cope with the cheeky exuberance that brings!

I’ve backed at 3, 4, 5 and 6. Unless forced to by circumstance, 3/3.5 or 6 are very much my preferred options!!
 
You will hear a whole variety of opinions on this so I can only give you my take on it.

I think most 3yo are mentally ready to do bits and pieces. Some are physically more ready than others.

I happily bit and do a little bit of groundwork with 3yo’s generally from spring. I usually adopt a pick them up and put them down approach! I’d pick a time when they are level and not up behind to sit (or have someone else sit) on them. They would do the minimum school/lunge necessarily to just install stop/start turn. Then they would just do short hacks 3-4 times a week for maybe a month, before being put back down.

I would in general never have a 3yo in work over the winter months (and ideally not a 4yo). My reasoning for this is that my horses are worked from yards/stabling and not the field, In the winter this often means restricted turnout, and this is not great for just lightly working a young horse.
 
What I AM seeing more and more (and I'm mostly in the 4-5 year old camp) is using micro sessions, that horses can only concentrate on new stuff for 7 minutes according to one (supposedly expert) post. Even shorter than the shortish sessions most people do with backing young horses.
 
Dex was 3 in May 23, he was lightly backed in Oct 23 at 3.5yo (literally sat on and got to the point that he did one lap of the school in trot which took about 6 days of 15 min sessions taking it at his pace) and then left again until Feb 25 (3y9mo) where I re-backed and did some hacking with him for a month, then he had three months off and he has been in semi-consistent work since May 24 (4yo).

Consistent work has meant generally 1 short and 1 or 2 long hacks a week in the summer, 1 schooling session about every 10 days in place of one of those hacks maybe - plus some groundwork bits here and there. Now its winter it means one schooling session, 1 ground work session and 1 hack weather and light dependent.

He frequently has weeks off, sometimes up to 3.5 weeks however he gets bored and destructive if he does nothing so its toeing a fine line between protecting his young body and keeping him and YO happy. He won't jump until he is 5 or 6 depending on how he feels, most likely 6. He has also been and done a couple of inhand shows, one groundwork clinic, and a sponsored ride and a beach ride in that time - all very low pressure and guided by him and how happy he was.
 
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In hand shows , walking out in hand with a bit if needed , loading and going to local shows for a walk around and a class or two , getting used to people standing on a mounting block are all good . I would wait another year to get on .
 
I would get on and off from a mounting block for a couple of minutes after his 4th birthday so he understood standing at the block and walking being led half a dozen steps so he understood moving with my weight. I would get on to ride at 5 and then I wouldn't give him a rest (for weeks or months) just ride on a regular basis obviously very short times to start with building up.

I don't lunge but as for the rest walking around the countryside, spook training, traffic training, long reining, ground tying, dragging things, working with another horse either behind or leading the ride, carrying saddles and other things plus a million and one other things he would have been doing it since he was a yearling.
By the time he was 5 he would be bored stiff with that lot, so used to having me on his back that we could just put the 2 together and get on with it.

He would also have walked hundreds of miles around the countryside probably a fair amount on long reins so he would also be used to being out in front and being brave, going through water, climbing over logs and making decisions etc.

I don't have a school so it is out into the big bad world. :)
 
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