Help!

LAURAmay · 09-03-2010, 09:04 PM

ENOUGH!
as i said before i am not asking for your opinion on how old to start my horse.
if it makes you guys feel better she was born in august so to be exact shes around 2.5
i know why so many people have told me that they hate posting on here now.

Deb2 · 09-03-2010, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LAURAmay

well i have just started riding willow again cause i have had the all clear from the specialist!!! whoo.

Anyway she was simply perfect on my first ride (which was on saturday).
i gave her a quick lunge and just hopped on but OMG she is so unbelievably lazy!
i had to get my co-worker to run behind her with the lund whip to make her move!
so first question - can anyone give my any tips in making a lazy horse go more forward?

Also when i rode her yesterday all she would do was walk backwards and she threw in a few pigroots as i was asking her to go forward.
my first thought was on no shes sore but when i lunged her she looked fine and when my co-worker came in and was hunting her up she didnt do a thing.
if she was sore wouldnt she be playing up when trotting and cantering?
and she wasnt at all girthy or anthing, but it was just when i first hopped on she started to play up.
i dont know if it just a 'omg i cant be bothered working so ill be stubborn' or if there may be something else going on. she never did anything like this during breaking.
i gave her the day off today and i will work her tomorrow and she what shes like.
does anyone have any ideas on what made her do this yesterday?

Ps. sorry for the long post.

Well, I thought I would quote this origonal post so we could get back on track!

I think she is trying you out and if you could get the person who started her (your co-worker I think) to ride her and see if she trys it on her than you will know for sure. Also, some lessons with the starter will bring you up to speed with how willow was started and what aides were installed so to speak.

Short interesting play sessions interspiced with rest times will do her no harm....just remember that if for what ever reason you cant ride or play with her for quite some time (ie busy life/school/work or whatever) then dont feel guilty because you are doing her a favour by allowing her some rest time.

This is the method I took with Shilo over the last year. I backed her after her 2nd birthday and now shes just turned three and in that whole year she has had 24 rides in total. She is so well adjusted and relaxed and mentally just so cool, and now ready for a little more serious play, with plenty of relaxed play as well.

Laura, do it your way!

Deb

Bon & Ted · 10-03-2010, 08:38 PM

I will not add anything further about the age as it has been covered.

However I believe if you must ride such a young horse make it easy for them. Ride them on trails etc, instead of in the arena or roundyard.

circle work is hard for a mature horse and they need time to build the muscle etc to do it. It places stress on joints. So your best bet would be to ride her out and just not ask much of her at this point. And you will probably find that riding her on the trails etc will make her more forward naturally, interesting and low stress.

my filly is almost 2.5 also and she gets bored and testy after 10 minutes ground work - keep it simple and as soon as you have a result stop right there.

cabmaster · 11-03-2010, 06:30 PM

If a TB can RACE at 2, and others freejump/lunge at the same age I see no reason for not starting the horse as a 2yo.
She isn't competing on it, and she isn't working it to death every day.
I know many TB's that are still eventing at high level into their teens, so you can't say it ruins them all!

I'd much rather start it before it got too big and strong and set in it happy paddock life. JMO, but 2 or 3 is a good age to start them.

dun · 12-03-2010, 09:53 AM

I would keep out of round yards and arena work and get into bush work...trails etc....

I really think that you will see a difference in the "forward" issue.Relaxed and out in the bush is wonderful for young horses.Being on a farm we have plenty of room for that and I dont know where you are or if this is available but nature for young horse work is what we do.....cheers.
PS And we dont do it for 3 hrs either but I am sure you would be onto that already....