Young Horse Advice

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Cripple101

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Hi all :)

I'm just after a little bit of advice regarding my young horse. A bit of background for you all - he's a 3 year old (4 end of March) big gangly zangersheide (currently about 16.3hh and very much still growing) and affectionately known as Ham (laugh now, let's get it over with hahaha). I got him last year having just turned 3 and having no education at all. I've done a lot of ground work and long reining with him, and lightly backed him and hacked out a few times autumn last year. He's just been left since then to be a baby :) He started being a little rogue in the field so I started long reining him out again once or twice a week which seems to be keeping him much happier!

He long reins out beautifully and I'm not sure how much he's learning from it now - what are people's thoughts on starting some light hacks under saddle again? I always said I would do next to nothing with him under saddle until he's 4 and I'm totally content to wait another few months but just curious to other people's thoughts. I'm very reluctant to do too much too soon with him, especially as he's a very big baby, so anyone who has experience with youngsters and has a vague plan for what is too much too soon would be great.

While I'm hoping he'll have a successful career, I'm not aiming for the age classes and my priority is longevity and his happiness - look forward to your thoughts :)
 
It is completely horse dependant but you can find that the ones that want to work can be a little hooligan like when out of work. If you can do little and often then it might be worth sitting on him again now for a bit. If he goes through an awkward growth phase you can always back off again. Providing saddle fits and you aren't ten ton tessie, then get him out hacking!
 
Hacking sounds like a good plan. You can make it as easy as you want and he sounds like the sort that will appreciate a bit of brain work.
 
I'm old fashioned, so he's 4 to me already. He sounds happy in his work, so I'd start lightly hacking and just keep listening to your horse :)
 
I never think you can do too much long reining, but personally I would be doing it more regularly. So I would up the long reining and then start to include a ridden hack, he sounds lovely :)
 
Quiet hacking is OK, but I wouldn't start unless I knew I could be reasonably consistent. So I would wait until the weather improves a bit!
 
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