The big day has arrived-the day you actually swing your leg over your young horse's back for the first time and sit aboard him.
It's an exciting moment for horse trainers and for anyone who's raised a young horse, rather like your child going off to their first day of kindergarten. But it's a moment often misunderstood and shrouded in the mists of equestrian legend. For the truth is, if you've done things right-following the guidelines of last month's article "Young Horses Need A Leader, Not A Friend" (September 2007)- a horse's first few days under saddle should be glorious non-events.
The horse world is full of conflicting opinions about the right age to begin riding a horse. Thoroughbreds, Quarter Horses and Arabians destined to race start under saddle as late yearlings or early 2-year-olds. Others will argue vehemently that horses shouldn't be started until they're 4 or 5, claiming that they're still growing and too fragile until then.
We believe that the best answer is between these two extremes. With adjustments for the breed and for an individual's characteristics (including size, temperament and soundness), the spring of a horse's 3-year-old year is the best time to start them under saddle. With occasional exceptions, at this point in life they're physically mature enough to support the weight of a medium-sized person and to handle a reasonable amount of work. And they're usually mentally mature enough to begin to concentrate and really learn.
We believe that waiting until age 5 can handicap a horse's usefulness as a riding or competition horse. From a physical perspective, it's especially important to start large horses (warmbloods and drafts or draft crosses who'll mature taller than 16.3 or 17 hands and weigh more than 1,200 pounds) at 2 or at least 3 to begin to develop the muscles they'll need to jump, to extend or collect their gaits, or just to go in self-carriage.
Just like children, you also need to begin teaching them how to learn and to enjoy it. And with big horses it's always an advantage to work with them before they realize how big and strong they are.
We're not suggesting you have to ride them at 2 (the thought of riding some of the horses we've had at that age is comical), but you can longe them for 10 to 15 minutes two or three times a week, pony them off a trusty horse at the walk or trot, or just hand-walk them for 30 minutes several times a week to strengthen their bones, ligaments and tendons, joints and muscles. If you know how to drive and have a harness, you could even teach them to ground drive.
You're working on developing fitness and strength-which will have a direct influence on their ability to become athletes-and you're working toward the goal we discussed last month of establishing your aids. Your aids are your means of directing them (to turn, to jump, go down the trail, or to change gaits) and are the key to establishing horses' confidence in you as their leader. That confidence will be extremely important over the next several years, as you introduce them to a myriad of situations or questions they've never faced before.
