Starting Young Horses; Patience Will Reward You (and Your Horse)

When I graduated college and began working with horses full time, I pretty quickly built a name for myself locally by starting young horses under saddle. I absolutely loved doing it and I was pretty fearless at the time so I would get on just about anything. It was a great niche market for me as the more seasoned dressage trainers in the area weren’t as interested in backing the youngsters. I always felt I started horses in a kind, fair, and soft approach and with little difficulty. They progressed quite nicely in their work. I would never back them before 3 years old, but it was pretty customary for me to begin riding them in the spring of their 3 year-old year.  This was the norm in the industry so I just followed suit.

In recent years I’ve really begun to question the need to start horses at such a young age. Despite increasing evidence that their mind and bodies are not ready for it, it seems that so many people are starting them as 2 years old and in some instances even earlier.  When I began to seriously study Straightness Training® and ways to work with my horses from the ground and in hand, I began to doubt the culture of young horse training in the US. I don’t even like the term colt starting anymore because by definition a colt is a young (male) horse less than 4 years of age. Quite frankly, I don’t believe we should sit on their backs before they are 4 years old anymore.  Perhaps we need to redefine what “starting horses” means because it is normally associated with under saddle work when in fact we should be ‘starting’ their education on the ground for several years before we think about the riding part or our partnership.

Unfortunately, there is a predominant mentality in the horse industry that the more you accomplish with a horse under saddle in a short period of time; the better you are as a trainer. It’s not my aim to criticize the big makeover competitions as they do some great work to place horses and gain recognition for talented trainers. I have even thought about participating in them myself, but I just can’t bring myself to as I feel they too strongly feed this mentality. So many times I’ve had people inquire and ask “what can you do with my horse in 30, 60 days or 90 days?” I don’t have an answer for them because it very much depends on the horse. I will probably accomplish a lot less than most people want to hear because there is no quick fix or fast track to correct training and it shouldn’t begin on the horse’s back. It should start from the ground. It takes years to bring a horse along in correct, gymnastic dressage work. Only time and patience will develop a horse that is sound in both mind and body that will have a solid, healthy, and joyful career well into his/her 20s. Dressage was designed to make our horses stronger, balanced and sound. If the work we are doing with them is breaking down their joints, causing chronic pain, ulcers, or they are requiring extensive maintenance to stay sound, we really need to take a hard look at our training approach. Painkillers, injections, and the need for constant bodywork is not the answer. All have their place in equine medicine, but are all too often used as bandaid for poor training practices.  

 So the question is, what do you do with your young horses and why is it best to wait until they are bit older to begin their under saddle education? First of all, why should we wait? Dr. Deb Bennett’s study on Skeletal Maturation in Horses is over 10 years old now, and often makes its rounds of FB, social media, or in horse forums, yet it still has not changed the norm in the industry. I won’t get into all the details of it. There’s a lot to it and you can read it yourself if you have not already by clicking here. I am going to oversimplify here, but to put it in a nutshell, although many of the bones in the horse’s body fuse in the 1-3 year old range, the pelvis does not fully fuse until 4-5 years old and many of the vertebrae in the back do not fuse until 4 -5 years or even later. Allowing them to be farther along in the skeletal maturation before asking them to carry a rider is the safe, fair, and ethical thing to do. Mentally, I also believe that horse’s are not ready for more focused and gymnastic work until they are 4-6 years old.

 That’s not to say we can’t do anything with our horses until they are 4 or 5 years old. Personally, I like basic handling of foals to begin very early on.  If the environment allows, they should be comfortable and familiar with humans in the first days of their life while also still having ample time to develop a strong bond with their dam. Since I am not a breeder, I only have a couple horses of my own that I have raised since birth. I was fortunate to also have their dam since she was a yearling so she was very comfortable with me handling her foals and being there from the very beginning.  This may not be the case for all mothers and it’s important to respect the mother and foal bond, but if you are able to get your foals accustomed to being touched, groomed, handling their feet, wearing a halter, etc from early on then I do believe handling becomes easier and less stressful for them as they grow.  Unhandled weanlings in my view can be quite difficult as they have enough size and strength to hurt you and they are often quicker and more nimble than a fully-grown horse. I have gotten a couple nasty kicks from weanlings/yearlings through the years, in part from my carelessness, but I have become aware of the power behind those little hooves so making sure they are relaxed and able to be handled early on will serve you later.  Other things I do with my foals while they are still with their dam are bathing, getting use to fly spray, and just lots of time grooming, touching, and building a bond. I want them to be used to my voice and enjoy their interaction with me. Assuming the mare is well-handled and can easily be washed, giving the foal a nice hose down on a hot day when you are spraying down the mare is a great time for them to learn about being washed. The foal should lead easily if you are going to do this with a halter and lead on.

Once horses are weaned from their mother I begin working on things such as tying, trailer loading, walking up to the arenas and being left by or leaving other herd mates.  I like my young horses to live out, being able to come and go from their shelter 24/7. However, I will lock them in to eat their grain and sometimes will leave them in for an hour or two just to get them accustomed and being comfortable with being in a stall. Although I like my horses to live as natural a life as possible, for safety and practicality reasons, they should be accustomed to the basic restraints of being in a stall, trailer, cross ties, that are sometimes necessary when keeping them as domestic animals.

 To me the first three years of a horse’s life are simply about building a healthy relationship with them, getting them accustomed to routines of the farm, basic handling, grooming, leading, and tying, and most of all just being a horse. If you want to do more with them, take them for walks out on the trail on the ground or play with some ground poles, a horse ball, or other obstacles. The key word here is play. Make it fun and joyful and build the foundation for a solid lifelong relationship, even if you are just the trainer and intend to pass the horse along to another person or back to his/her owner. The more horses trust and enjoy the process of being with humans in their early years, the more they will offer us in the long run, provided we always respect them and keep the joy in the work. There are practical things you can do with your training in this time too. I like to get my youngsters comfortable with clippers, vacuums or other “scary” equipment. I don’t clip my horses at all anymore, but I think it’s important that they are comfortable with them should they need to be clipped for medical purposes. 

 As the horse moves into his/her 3 year-old year, I begin to think about preparatory groundwork for riding. Teaching them how to correctly bend and balance and use their body in a healthy way is the first step. I begin to really assess their asymmetry and how I can help them from the ground. They can begin to learn some lateral work in hand and get accustomed to wearing tack. In their 4 year-old, depending on their physical and mental maturity it is often appropriate to introduce light riding, but I still make the focus of this year on developing their skills on the ground, in hand, and at liberty. Sessions under saddle are really about them getting use to carrying a rider and should be short and always positive. If you feel comfortable, taking them out on light hacks to get them on varied terrain and comfortable working outside the ring provides mental stimulation, builds confidence, brings variation to the work, and helps to physically develop their balance. Only when they are 5 are they ready to begin a more of proper riding career. I promise you that a horse brought along in this manner will progress faster under saddle and with more confidence, balance, and strength than those that are started at 2 or 3. Patience is truly a virtue when it comes to horse training and in this case, both you and your horse will reap the benefits in both his/her soundness of mind and body for many years. I genuinely believe it is our duty that if we are going to ride these magnificent animals we must respect their bodies and do what is in our power to preserve their health so they can live a long, sound, and fulfilling life. Only then are we giving them the chance to have an equal voice in our partnership with them.