WWYD - Move to livery and back or send away ?

B

Beatrice5

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So the time has come and her 4 th Birthday is looming mid March.

Our fields are awful so I am not going to be able to back her at home. She was born here and has never known anything or anyone other than her mother ( my riding mare) and the NF kids pony / companion and briefly a lodging rescue horse. We are very limited in our facilities and do not have a stable so she has never experienced being confined other than in a corral and field shelter. She is a big burly 15.2 approx cob x very docile and confident and has been handled / farrier / vet etc like a normal horse ie she knows her manners since tiny. So she is very domesticated. She has worn tack and last summer when the ground was good we started long reining which she took to like a pro. But we haven't done any walking out on the road as she is so strapping I feel like a pea next to her.

Do I :

Move her down to our local livery yard which is a 10 min walk down the road and back her myself using their schools ( Indoor and outdoor) BUT she would have to be stabled at night and turned out in the day with some really dominant mares who have had their share of victims and casualties over the 5 years we have lived here. ( the livery run a mares field and a geldings field nothing else)

Send her away to a breaking / schooling yard and hopefully find someone experienced and kind to build a bond with her and get her started for me ? Am worried as she has never left home before and it would be a real leap of faith for me.

Wait til the ground dries up and back her this summer at home in my fields ? Far less stressful as familiar but tricky as ground is clay and either slippy and wet or bone dry.

One final question - I was considering leading her off her Mum to get her out and about - how would you gauge wether she is ready for this and what tests / precausions would you put in place before trying it ?

Thoughts / suggestions appreciated.
 
So how do I find a suitable yard - I am not from this area originally so don't know many "horsey" people around here. We are in the South West ( Brendon Hills)
 
Unless you have lots of experience backing horses, I would send away.

My 2 came back with all the basics done, and a the lady who backed them now schools them regularly. ( im not good enough to do any youngster justice !) It was a great experience for them. Not just being away from home, but also getting used to other people handling them too.
 
I would also choose B, I'm in the same situation and this will be the first one I haven't backed myself, but as a homebred I feel it will be part of his education to go away for a while. (I feel sick at the thought of it, I must admit)
 
I have reschooled a few naughty ponies as a kid and took her mother on as a bit of a headcase ( she isnt she was just scared whitless after someone messed up backing her) I did my NF pony myself and he was a doddle.

I find a blank canvass much easier than taking on someone elses mess hence if she goes away she needs to go to someone good who doesnt use brute force and bullying to break a horse as I have seen first hand what that does and had to clear up the mess after them.

Everything I have done with Henna so far has been straight forwards . From the initial imprinting to walking over taupaulines and long lining last summer. She trusts me 100% and I am worried if I send her away and don't do my homework properly that genuine trust could be lost.
 
I'm in a similar situation except I have amazing hacking.

Firstly, I'd get her out inhand to see the world a bit. If her ground manners aren't good enough to lead out inhand then you need to work on that pronto! I've been walking my almost-4yr old out inhand for the last year and it teaches them soooooo much.

We're a little further along than you I sat on him and started him over the summer, knowing fine well that I'd be in the same situation as you are now, come winter. I got him going enough that he's safe to hack and that's now what we're doing a couple of times a week. We've just been for our first lesson (he was fabby) and is just learning to canter.

I'm going to move to a yard with facilities in the spring to further his education. Firstly I want to bring him on myself. And secondly I feel there's no point sending off for backing (and using up all my funds) when he'd then just come back to no facilties and no opportunity to continue his eduction. I'd therefore still need to move somewhere with a decent school and if I'm doing that anyways, I don't need to pay someone to do something I can do myself. So the plan is a yard with decent facilities and spend the extra money on lessons.
 
Her manners are fine she just has bloody big feet and I don't own any steel toe caps ;) We have ventured out on the roads for 5 mins a few times last summer in hand and tbh she was fine as she has met cars from a tiny foal as we graze our neighbours field most summers.

I do think there is something to be said for her seeing a bit more of the world but am trying to find a happy medium without risking worrying her and stressing her out.

Am starting to make preliminary enquiries as to who is who around here and will go and meet those who sound suitable and see if I can watch them working.

The yard on our doorstep is lovely it is just the current resident mares are big and like to boot eachother and mean it. My filly who blunder in all friendly and get whacked and it's not a risk I want to take.
 
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