Getting the young horse from trainig

When we collect our young pupil from the first schooling process, it is important to know very well what has been done and in what order. This can vary a bit between trainers, but the end of a basic training session with a 3 year old is normally thought in months. It is normal here in Finland that the horses are very used to people and know how to lead, lift up legs and are normally very well behaving for young horses, often a bit on the unresponsive side, but that is just a different angle to being afraid, extremely responsive, lazy, etc.

I normally have 2 things in my head when a horse is in basic training. Firstly of course the horse and his needs, and secondly the costs for the owner. Training is a costly thing and as the old saying goes: "A lot to give, little to get", but it is the most important training period in a horse´s life! What a fun job to do and see the young horses under their owners when the training ends. 1-3 months is enough time in the basic training, depending on the age and maturity of the horse. In my opinion this time should not be extended unless the horse is ready and mature enough to aim for a breeding show in the spring. Most 3 year old horses are only made used to the saddle, rider and taught about the bit. Somewhere between 1-1,5 months of training the horse knows a little about many things - not a lot about only a few things. He knows how to launge, how to carry a rider, can be ridden in the riding pen, has been ridden outside and is allowed to move happily and in a free form and shape under the rider in a gait that is easiest for the horse (tölt or trot). Between 2-3 months we start opening a bit for sideways exercises and normally then the tölt opens up by itself. Most 3 year old horses do not make it so far, many, or most, go home after 1-1,5 months because they do not have the mental nor the physical capability to do more. Continuing much longer simply isn´t necessary, only costly, and at it´s worst can create problems into the horse. It is a little bit like in 1st grade a child learns how to sit still (most of the time) and learns to recognise most of the letters but nobody is going to ask a child to write a 2000 word essay or keep their attention very focused for a long period of time.

The bone plates in the horses´ legs close at around the age of 3 and that is the reason why we can start at that time to do basic training, not sooner. We also do not want to start any sooner in the training process for ethical reasons, unless we are talking about getting the horse used to humans, leading, picking up legs, and the normal process that a young horse has to be acquainted with for cutting of hooves, vaccinations, worming etc. "The kindergarten for horses" I call it. This takes a very short time, a few days, not more, and can be for instance repeated yearly.

In the training of young horses and returning them home, there always comes the question up: "Can I start riding my horse?". It is always as boring to say "no", but in 99% of the cases that is the answer.

"WHY?? I have a horse that is doing so much", I sometimes see shining out of the owners´ eyes, after they have tried their young horse for the first time after training.

The answer: Your horse should now be allowed to have a good holiday, to be a horse with other horses, not with a rider on. This is important for both, the mind and the body of the horse (wanting to ride is simply for the owner). Even though the horse has learnt a lot, there is still the rest of training to do, establishing the tölt and other gaits. After the basic training the horse is normally still so raw in the gaits that they can be diverted into many directions. We want the horse to learn to do things correctly and to learn the clean gaits straight from the start, not to end up in a situation where the gaits are clean for 2 days and then end up in piggy pace. The young horse is learning very rapidly (both in good and bad) and we want it to learn on the same speed with as good results when it comes back for the second training period after a holiday. The trainer then simply needs to continue the training, not to start by correcting mistakes that maybe have occurred with too much riding after the basic training. (This is also good for the owners´ wallet..)

The young horses are very calm here in Finland, and that is why they can often tolerate a rider riding them without much training. Often that is taken advantage of and the young horse is ridden too much too soon. The same principle goes as with children working (which is unfortunately normal in some countries). We don't want it because it is not good for the young one and it is ethically wrong.

There are some prodigies, young extremely talented stars, around in the horse world just as in the human world. Showing in the 4 year old class and getting good remarks is the same thing as a wonder child playing Mozart or doing algebra at 6. Not so common but we know it happens. We do not want to overpush things, but we do not want to be holding our talented student back either.

A good horseman in Iceland taught me a good rule early in my horsemanship: "Train and teach a bit of everything at 3, always be ready to quit and say this is enough at any point if the horse needs it. Start normal riding at the winter after they are 4, do what is needed - not more. The winter after that, when the horse is 5 you will have a good horse."

This summons it well up because it is not all about training and teaching of the horse, it is also about the horse growing up mentally and physically, and meeting the right amount of the right kind of demands to grow up to be a healthy and pleasant horse in the future.

It goes without saying that a 3 year old is not a pleasure riding horse, but needs guidance from the rider to learn right from wrong. We as parts of a horse community need to make this into our normality and guide others that don't know into the right path, no matter how they do it in other horse breeds.

Have a good day and I hope some of this will be informational for someone...Gummi