Too Early to Ride

There is NO reason to ever ride a horse for more than 5-10 minutes before it is a 3yo. By 3yo, I mean a horse who has been outside of its mother for 36 months . For those of you who don’t know, some registries give all horses of that breed another ”year” of age on January first. For example, a TB born in May of 2009 is officially a one-year-old on January 1, 2010. This means that the so-called two-year olds competing on the track could still be months away from actually having 2 years on the ground.

I have bolded that first statement for a reason. I would like to underline it about a hundred times. So many people train and compete horses who are still very much immature. Every time I hear ”the vet told me it was okay” I want to respond with “Well, of course – he knows he will get a lot more business from you down the road as your horse breaks down prematurely, too.” As a society, we have become enamored of instant gratification. This has moved into the horse world as well. We breed, raise, and train horses in the highest levels before they are physically or mentally ready to handle it. The earlier you train them and compete them, the earlier you can get your money out.

Disciplines that frequently ride horses as long yearlings are: racing, western pleasure, reining, and the TWH show horses. I’m sure there are other pockets of this behavior, but I have not had the (dis)pleasure of seeing it myself. The first three do so for “Futurities” – competitions that showcase 3 year olds. How do you get top performance out of a 3 year old? Start training it as a yearling.

Let’s look at how the Futurities started: Futurities started out as what it sounds like – a showcase of what young stock might be able to do in the FUTURE. A 3yo was not expected to be perfect or excel – a futurity would just showcase a nice prospect for future buyers/owners. The REAL training would happen after the horse had matured. Eventually, the Futurities became THE showing arena. These horses peak AT THREE, and then are retired to breed or sold off before the injuries induced by stress on an immature horse create serious problems. In show barns, it is not uncommon to see four-year olds receiving hock injections to keep them sound. WTF? Horses should not need help remaining sound until their teens at least!

By six, most show horses are retired. At six, trail horses are just hitting their stride. FEI will not allow any horse younger than six to compete in jumping. FEI champions are frequently in their teens. Why is that? They were not rushed into training, nor were they ridden in infancy.

This is one of those areas where greed overcomes intelligence. It is NEVER OKAY to ride a horse that young! I do not support Showing of 3yo’s, and I do not support racing. I do, however, enjoy competitions involving horses started intelligently – show jumping and dressage, among others.

And you call yourself a Trainer?

Unfortunately, the Label “trainer” is thrown around far too lightly. Myself, I can, and have, trained horses from halter breaking up to bridle less riding. I have only done so for myself and a few select friends. I do not call myself a trainer. However, I know I have a lot more skill than a lot of the yahoos out there using the “T” word to describe themselves.

To me, being a Trainer is being out there every day with the horses, learning from them as much as the other way around. You have a large pool of knowledge and experience to pull from, and every horse is an individual. If one method does not work, you have the flexibility to try another way. There is no “one-size-fits-all” way to train a horse. There are also no shortcuts – you teach a horse to give to pressure in the bridle, and move away from pressure on the leg. Each movement is broken down into small parts so the horse has a chance to learn each and be rewarded for the correct answer. A horse that you have trained leaves the barn willing and flexible – happy in his job, not bullied into it.

At the bottom of the barrel is ‘Billy down the road’. His claim to fame is that he has successfully remained on top of the rank horse in the next pasture. He then goes and advertises himself as a trainer on craigslist sans grammar and spelling that most of us learned by the fifth grade.

Real ad…enjoy! The emphasis is my own.

TRAINER - $150 (LIBERTY)
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Date: 2009-08-23, 10:43PM EDT
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Hello thanks for your time i will brake or train or horse i have been around horses for about 4 years i have green broke two qurter horses and saddel broke a draft horse i also do farm work so if you need help let me know.
• Location: LIBERTY
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests



Some top of the line trainers become “Big Names”. The underlying problem with Big Names is that they have become too busy to do training themselves. They have hordes of helpers doing most of the handling, while the Big Name jets around the country doing expos with pre-screened horses. Don’t forget hawking the special $85 stick or $100 halter you must have. Most of the time, the starting point – the horses – get lost in the rush to commercialize.

Some “Big Names” are better than others. You really have to watch and decide for yourself. Try not to drink the Kool-Aid along the way. If you feel the need to buy strange, expensive contraptions, spend $800 on videotapes, or need to play elaborate games in order to make “friends” with your horse, you need to back away slowly.

Somewhere in the middle, you will find hardworking, knowledgeable, actual trainers. You still have to be very careful with your choice. Even trainers that come with recommendations are sometimes closet abusers. You would be shocked, nay, FLOORED to find out what goes on behind the barn at some places.

Most importantly, you should never leave your horse unsupervised at a barn for long periods of time. Make unscheduled visits. Check up on your horse to make sure it is being properly cared for. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t!

All in the Name of Winning....

Apparently, the desire to win brings out the worst in a lot of people. We have invented cruel ways of tying a horse’s head up, down or around to get a headset. We cut, numb, break, or ginger tails to get a tail set. We lunge a horse for hours to get it “calm”. We add painful nails or irritants on legs or under saddles to get “animation”. We drug. We break and ride and compete babies before they have even had a chance to finish growing. We use crazy bits, rigs, or gimmicks to fast-track horses instead of actually training them. We perpetuate deadly diseases because the horses “look” good. When tests or trials are designed to catch cheaters, the cheaters find ways around the tests.

NONE of this is acceptable! It does not matter if Susie in the barn does it, or the Big Trainer down the road does it, or you are told that you will not win unless you do it. It does not make it right!

All in all, it is difficult to be a real horseman and keep competing honestly. It takes more time, more knowledge and more patience to come by all the fancy moves the right way instead of the quick way.

Most of my friends that used to show have stopped. They got frustrated by seeing the cheaters being rewarded, time and again, with ribbons, while they struggled to place.

If you still manage to show honestly, I applaud you. Please do not give in to the pressure to cheat. It is ultimately the horses who suffer.