Brain of Two Year Old Horses and Maturing.

[pryme_thyme]

Something I have always been curious about and never been able to locate any concrete information.

“What are typical attributes of a two old, mentally? Is the maturing environment/experience related or simple ‘brain anatomy’?”

Ie. is this like the horse equivalent to puppy ‘fear’ stage? Most two-three year olds I work with are usually bossy, in my space, pushy and overall nervy of everything and somewhere along the lines I can never remember they become… ruley adults (mentally anyhow)

TYIA I know it sounds silly but I love learning how our ‘children’ think and operate.

[EventerAJ]

I think of 2yos as teenagers. They lack “life experience” that only comes with time and age. Their basic personality is displayed, showing tendencies to be calm or nervous, easy going or easily upset, submissive, assertive, or aggressive, quick to learn or slower to process new things. As they get older and more experienced, the silly baby moments will be less, and they’ll be more confident in new situations. All horses will “grow up” to some degree, but the braver, natural leaders will gain confidence more quickly… They’ll be the first ones to investigate a plastic bag blowing loose in the field, while others run away snorting.