And we did, didn’t we? We gave you our opinion. I’m sorry it wasn’t the one you wanted.
But if you are going to come on here and post that how horrible the young jumper program is and that you don’t believe a 2 or 3 year old should be under saddle, but give no other reasons as to why except that people would look at you funny, well that’s going to ruffle feathers.
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In my area, with the warmbloods aimed at long term careers, your timeline is off by a year. Stock horse trainers start at two…the warmblood starters start at three, turn out, then restart at four. I personally would be very suspect of a warmblood started at two…unless it was literally ponied lightly, tacked and sat on with a rope halter a few times.
The amount of work in the round pen, longing, bitting up, and other common prep work before mounting is already not healthy for a two year old. Bitting a two year old is just not fair. So many dental changes, wolf teeth, etc…not a great start for future confidence.
For me, the downsides of starting early far outweigh waiting until the horse is physically and mentally ready to really work. While starting a horse at four may put them in a little bit behind a timeline aiming for a young horse classes, they can actually progress very rapidly with a good trainer because they are truly ready to go to work.
Certainly from the standpoint of commerce, getting a horse started early and sold for top dollar is the way to go. But there are buyers out there who are looking at this from a different perspective. The seller may well be aiming for one of them.
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IME warmbloods are usually started at 3, however having a 2 YO under saddle would not be strange to me at all.
My 2 year old comment was more aimed at the fact that OTTBs are racing at 2, which is super hard on their bodies, but then you see those horses stay sound for decades after.
Warmblood growth patterns vs TB growth patterns aren’t really too different.
I started my youngster at a late 3, an then he got almost a full year and a half off. He decided to grow another full hand, and I had absolutely no intentions of selling him. He’s 8 now. But if he was a horse I was planning on making money on that would have been a poor decision financially.
Frankly, the number of TBs racing at 2 who are sound for “decades after” isn’t all that large, unless said 2 year old TB washes out quickly. A slow start, especially for heavier/larger horses seems to be a good thing for overall soundness in later years.
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There are studies which say otherwise that have been done with TBs. The idea that we must baby horses until they are X years old is false.
Having your two year old under saddle and hopping on to walk and trot around the arena once a week is not going to cause the detriment of your horses soundness. It’s a lot less stress than those TBs are under, and considering how many go on to have long successful careers after racing I don’t think it’s something we need to worry about.
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Yes- I am not an advocate for doing a lot of work with young horses (and I wouldn’t start until 3), but I always want to know which horses are the ones people keep talking about that break down early. There are top show jumpers still going strong well into their teens and if you think most of those horses weren’t doing some version of young jumper series you would be wrong. What about the horses who were doing GP but now have “stepped down” to the Junior/Ammy jumpers (1.20-1.45m)? They are jumping more and higher than the vast majority of jumping horses and again, going well into their teens. Also, the reality that many OTTBs go into eventing careers and are jumping around big tracks just fine the rest of their riding life seems to fit with the idea that breaking young isn’t the ruinous path people think it is.
Another reason I wouldn’t wait to sit on a big, healthy WB is because they are so much easier to deal with when they are 3! They are (usually) happy and goofy and think learning is fun. The 4-5 year old “I know everything and you know nothing” mentality is a lot easier to manage when they already have some education.
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I was just pointing out that she hasn’t tanked her horse’s value by not yet sitting on him as a 4 y.o., and some smart buyer on a budget is going to benefit from that. The horse in my example was an unbroke 4 y.o. last year. Now it’s a 6-figure prospect jumping around the 85cm for miles before it breaks its green status. This horse is probably (most definitely) not that horse, but if all it takes is 3-5k to get it going under saddle and now you’ve got a $35k+ horse well, that’s getting a whole lot out of a 25k budget in this market.
Of note though, OP, you only have 2 more months before this scenario plays out, at which point you will have an unbroke 5 year old. And, as you can clearly see here, that’s going to come with pushback.
Still think 25k CAN is reasonable if the horse has any sort of quality to it. Canada can be a challenge to sell from, especially as we head into winter, so that might end up factoring in. Since he’s not broke buying off video would not be unheard of. If you go this route focus on getting excellent videos.
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Sell him. If you don’t have time during your BA you will have less time during a masters and even less entering the workforce. Right now he’s a marketable unstarted 4 year old. If you backburner him for 3+ years he will be a lightly started and sporadically ridden 7 year old.
The third option not presented but i think is best is to send him off or start him yourself and advertise him as green. That dramatically increased his value. By some of the responses this seems to be very emotion laden decision for you, which we can all relate to when it comes to our horses. Selling him unstarted means you have zero say over the trainer chosen nor can you see the intended rider and how they click with the horse. If started, you will probably have a lot more peace of mind being able to see the new owner on them and how their trainer navigates green moments.
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I agree. If it was me, I’d get the horse under saddle and then advertise for sale as I wouldn’t want to leave that money on the table. OP’s mileage may vary.
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I completely agree, as you noticed what was holding me back was my emotional attachment to him - I am a huge softie and I acknowledge that lol What I’ve decide to do is send him to an amazing trainer near me this winter and sell him next spring as a green 5 year old. I think that will be the best for both of us. My trainer also brought up the argument that if I sell him unstarted I might always wonder what if he had been the perfect horse for me. I do love my 5 year old but maybe I’m wrong and I’ll click even better with my 4 year old
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I’m going to send him to a trainer this winter, I don’t want to start him myself for the same reason you send your kids to school to be taught by someone else - I’ll be to soft on him 
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My comment about seeing horses at 9 and 10 looking to step down comes from what my trainer, the trainer’s I’ve worked for, and my vet and farrier’s comments. (I personally think that any 9 or 10 year old looking to step down is a red flag).They have all recently noticed that more and more horses are breaking down younger. Does that mean I think the young jumper program is horrible or anything? No of course not, if the horse is sound and having fun go for it! I didn’t mean to come off as attacking the young jumper program, I just personally think the trajectory is quite steep for many horses both physically and mentally, and I just don’t think many 4 year olds can handle the pressure and workload to compete on that level.
For ottbs; I know many tb breeders who breed for racing and racing is hard work, yes lots go on to have careers but those who do usually only raced a few times and weren’t good at it - I wouldn’t use that as a baseline to prove that working a horse hard at 2 or 3 doesn’t affect them later in life.
I find the 2 year old year the worst for baby warmbloods, they’re always little monsters at that age
You didn’t share any of that in your first post, so since most of us don’t have any idea of what you call groundwork, or what you do before a horse is ready to " hop on" we have to assume. I did.
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That’s why I added it when people were talking about how much he’d done? When I wrote that many people had been quite displeased by the fact that he was unstarted - I was tired of defending my choices I’m sorry if what I said upset you. If I was unclear you could have asked for more information.
I wasn’t upset, unclear-- just not fully informed. He is pretty far along which makes him much more valuable than the run of the mill un-started horse( with no training) because he has been in training and just needs backing.
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Sounds like a very sensible extra thought, good luck with getting him going.
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I agree with you, I think it is excellent for a 2 yr old to have some very light riding, builds bone density, much easier on the horse than endless circles on the longe. I had a warmblood mare that had 30 days light riding as a 2 yr old; she never had any lameness issues or problems. As a 3 yr old I sent her to a trainer for a re-start and he said she was so easy going, remembered everything. Never any lameness issues with her and she had a full riding career. I have a OTTB that raced as a 2 yr old; he is now 9, no lameness whatsoever. I had a Hanoverian gelding that was started as a late 3 yr old, hardly did anything, always some lameness going on with him. I don’t think there is a link whether a horse will remain sound or not based on age started, its how they are worked or pushed that contributes to unsoundness, just my personal opinion.
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I am glad you are keeping him.
