I have a question about barrel racing. I have been to visit a friend at her barn and some of the boarders are barrel racers. They are competing with horses that are 3 and 4 years old. The 3 year old has just started and is just doing mainly exhibitions and the 4 year old just won a 1D division at a local show. Since I am an English rider, and not that familiar with the discipline, I was just wondering if this is young for the horses to be starting. It would seem they still have to grow a bit, but, then again, I am used to Warmbloods.
Quarter horse people start young. There are 2 and 3 year olds doing reining and cutting. So btw do TB race trainers. It may contribute to a shorter working life but it is industry standard for those breeds.
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There have been some studies out now showing that starting horses early in the task for which they will later be asked to perform gives us better, sounder horses that last longer:
https://thehorse.com/117784/conditioning-young-horses/
The same with human athletes, that those started early go on to be at their best as they compete, because they have grown and matured into what they will be eventually.
You would not want kids to just play around having fun until they are 18, then start teaching them a physically demanding task, or to learn to be an athlete then?
Of course, when you train, you are at risk of injury and you have to train carefully, but that will happen at any age you start and train.
The rare athlete that is better than anyone may have still been that good starting training later, but for most normal athletes, the early you start, the easier it will be for you to be good at what you grew up doing, horses also.
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You cannot show a 2 y/o in either cutting or reining. And I know numerous horses in both disciplines that show well into their teens.
If the horse is competing in a 3 year old futurity class you gotta assume he was being trained in reining as a two year old.
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Yes and that is what studies have shown, the horses trained early are better at their task, which makes them also more sound, mentally and physically, as they are learning that task as they grow up into it.
As for horses getting injured, that happens any time you do anything with a horse, at any age you do something and even to horses that don’t do anything.
There is so, so much more that goes into why a horse is sound or not, a blanket statement as “if an old horse has problems, it is because he was started at any one age”, as studies the past 20 years have shown, is not quite so any more.
How you start a horse, what that horse does and luck has more to do than when you may start one.
Just look at all those horses started early that are just fine into their 20’s today, as many as those started later, becausew when we start them will not determine how they will fare, but that the training be right for each horse.
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The article is very interesting, but it stresses appropriate conditioning. Not running at speed on hard surfaces or jumping. And indeed the thrust of the article seems to be that foals and young horses raised on pasture do better than those in a stall. The moderate excersize and conditioning suggestions here seem tailored to people who are keeping a yearling in a stall.
There are no recommendations to start performance training at age 2 with an eye to the show ring at 3.
Id be open to seeing evidence that this higher level of work is good for horses. I’m not around Western horses much but certainly have seen a lot of OTTB.
Quarter horses do mature faster than warmbloods but their bodies are still growing too. I believe most growth plates aren’t closed and finished until about age 5.
As long as the horse is brought along slowly and conditioned appropriately, there usually are no ill effects from starting young. Of course, each horse is an individual and should be treated individually. Some horses are not mentally ready to handle barrel racing at a young age. Some need time to mature or you’ll blow their mind.
There is also the futurity world of barrel racing. There are even slot races for 3-year-olds where BIG money is up for grabs. Now, I have no idea if these boarders you speak of have any interest in futurities, but they are out there. Most of the futurity horses start running when they are 4.
So long as the horse is taken care of, there are many horses who are still running down the rodeo road in their teens, who were futurity horses.
Exhibitions are not competing. They are just practice that you can do at the event arena, taken at whatever speed you chose (in most cases).
1D is good … but it also depends what kind of competition shows up at your local shows. Last week at our local jackpot, we had a pro rodeo girl come in and blow everyone away by over .7 tenths. But you are only as good as your competition! It’s kinda nice sometimes to see how you do against the big dogs.
This is the industry standard. Personally, I do not agree with it. I do think that training early and often is a good idea, to set a solid foundation for the lifestyle they are going to have. But I don’t think that “training” necessarily means starting or riding. So much can be done in the way of groundwork to prepare the horse for under saddle training, that I would not put that amount of weight on a horse that does not look mature enough on the outside or physically ready to carry it on the inside. Even waiting until 3-4 to start gives the horse so much more time to grow and develop. Just because you CAN put stress on a young horse’s joints, doesn’t mean you SHOULD. But that’s just my opinion on an issue that most equestrians would debate for days.
Thank you all for your input. These boarders do take great care of their horses. It just seemed young to me but I guess not.
