Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I rescued an 18 year old stud this past summer and know he's not had a lick of riding training. He's got very nice ground manners and he's on a list of priorities to have gelded, but he's only had me and my son sit on him and be led around. I've put a snaffle bit on him, just let him wear it though, no direction yet. He was very underweight, so even after gaining weight, the saddle slipped over his shoulders a bit going on a slight downhill, causing him to buck. He's not very tall though (13.3) all that Raffles breeding shows very clearly in this little guy (he's 75% CMK with Hanad up close.) He may make a nice kid or small adult horse and I'd like to get him started and do some slow LD on him, but his recuperation has been very slow. He's on reg. turnout now (after being stalled pretty much 24/7 for the past 6 years) and he actually has some muscle tone now. He's very sweet and I think he'll appreciate a job, I just worry that he'll be a bucker, but maybe that's better than a bolter. (I have one of those too!)

 

heidi larson

 

heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> > In all my years of horses, contrary to conventional wisdom, I have found
> > no evidence that horses become incapable of learning after
> > a certain age. If they are alive and not incapacitated, they are
> > capable of learning. They may not be physically capable of
> > performing what they are taught, but then that happens just as
> > often with younger horses, but they are capable of learning.
>
> Marv, you are so right! It is not infrequent for us to simply not get
> around to starting horses until they are 7 or 8, and at that point, in our
> experience, they actually learn faster than youngsters, and are physically
> ready to pretty much do anything we ask. For endurance, their best years
> are from about 8 on into their late teens, IMO, and other than beginning
> to put a base on them a bit younger, there really isn't any point in
>  doing
> "heavy" work, IMO. On the young end, we almost never start 3-year-olds (I
> can remember starting one in the fall of his 3-year-old year), and
> generally don't even consider it prior to 4. (Am considering starting one
> young stallion in the spring just a few months prior to his actual 4th
> birthday--but have a 7-year-old "in line" for the trainer first.)
>
> When people ask me about starting "older horses" I just sort of assume
> they are talking about horses at least in their teens... :-) And our
> experience with starting older broodmares has been that in general, they
> are ready to burn their bras and GET A LIFE, and are utterly THRILLED to
> have something to do, once they get past the "independent broodmare"
> mindset and realize just what you are offering them! (And as a part of
> getting past that "independent broodmare" mindset, we've found it best to
> go right out on the trails and get to work, once they've accepted saddle,
> bridle, and rider,
>  rather than doing a bunch of drilling of mundane
> details--they catch on quick, and they get bored going around in circles.)
>
> Heidi
>
>
>
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Heidi-aerc#M20935  /\_/\~    http://www.synjinarts.com
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                  /   O> ) \~~~~~    Art)
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