When to bring a youngster back into work....

[Halfpass]

First off a little update on Alee.

I backed this year about June time and was starting to get some nice work from her. I took her for a short lesson with Markus Bauer in August time I think and he advised me to concentrate on her lunging and long reinging for a while and to get on her after each session for 15-20 mins at walk with lots of long and low etc to encourage her to work through from behind. This I did and it was going well until she formed a capped hock and some stifness in her stifle both on the offside.

I took her for xrays purely as being only 3 I didn't want to miss something.
All came back ok and it was put down to a sudden growth spurt due to the good grass and a kick to her hock.

Low and behold she did shoot up from 16hh to 16.2hh in a matter of a couple of months

Ok so I was advised by the vet to give her 4 weeks off so at this point decided to give her a proper break and bring her back into work next year when she is 4.

This has been my plan and I have stuck to it. She is out 24 / 7 and comes in occasinaly for a brush and thats about it.

My problem now is that she is becoming a pain in the arse int he field. Not in a nasty way at all but just pestering other horses when their owners are bringing them out of the field, rearing up and standing in the gate way not letting them out.

She is in a lovely big field and always has other horses to play around with i'm pretty sure she's not bored or hungry she is a good weight and not getting any hard feed so is getting no more energy than she needs.

Some people have suggested to me that I bring her back into work now so that she has something to focus on but I'm really not sure. I quite like the idea of her having a nice long break until say January but also don't want her going stale.

My plan had been come January a month of inhand work a month of lunging and long reining then a few weeks of ridden work before sending her to markuses for a week or two.

Thought, ideas and opinions much appreciated.

 

[Theresa_F]

From the sound of it she is bored being in the field. Chancer is and hates not having his work routine. I would start three times a week with a little in hand work making her have to really think about things.

You can then progress back to light ridden work. I personally have not given Chancer a break but I do take ages with every step of his training so he is never physically or mentally exhausted like some are after an intense backing.

Every couple of weeks I try to introduce something new or slightly different and make the sessions not long - max 30 mins start to finish and this is only since he was 3, before that it was 15 mins, quality is better than quantity.

 

[Halfpass]

Thanks for the reply. I think you are right about her getting bored. She was never like this when she was in work.
I was thinking about doing some inhand stuff with her. Can you give me some ideas of little excercises? (I had hoped to introduce her to poles etc inhand.)
She can tend to go a bit mad in the first 5 mins in the school so anything to get her thinking would be great.
I hadn't planned on giving Alee a long break but due to the problems with her hock and stifle I was just being cautious pronanly over so but hey ho.
Trouble is she is a big girl but tends to forget that sometimes and when she comes galloping over wanting to play it can be quite scary for the other horse owners.
Got a lot on over the next month so may think about starting again in november. Thanks for your reply.

 

[Halfpass]

Bumped because I want more opinions please....... still can't decide!!!