First backing age

[Walk_N_Gal88]

Depends ENTIRELY on the horse around here, mentally and physically. We have a 2.5 year old QH that will be getting her first ride next week most likely. She’ll get ridden maybe 15 -20 minutes at a time 2x a week until the weather gets too grody here to ride a spunky youngster in December. We have no indoor or even covered area to ride.She’ll get several months off, then go into work again in the spring, same deal.

She has been getting ground work the entire time we’ve had her. She stands tied, saddles are no big deal, bridles are no problem, picks up all four hooves, etc. We’re working on baths and clippers, trailering, etc.

[Demerara_Stables]

@callyhan

I plan on teaching the acceptance of a rider, being calm at a walk, maybe trot if he handles things well, steering, halt in the fall of his 3 y/o year and then wait until next spring for the canter work. I was just wondering if it was going to make things more difficult for me somehow to not keep him in consistent under-saddle light riding over the winter.

This should be a great plan! When you “re start” again in the spring, I’d do an abbreviated version of what you do this fall to prep him (long lining, ground work, etc), and for the first time (maybe two or three times) you get on, pretend like he’s never had someone on him, just in case he is surprised by someone on his back again. But, you should have a good foundation there and it should be easy to remind him of what he’s learned so far. Kind of like the review during the first week of school after summer break.

[Heinz_57]

@Demerara_Stables

I just want to add that the idea that waiting until the horse is older means they’re in some sort of phase where they don’t want to work is a myth.

I’m glad someone finally said this goodness. A horse’s attitude towards work often greatly depends on the humans that have handled it in those early years.

I generally start mine somewhere in the 3.5-4yo range (going by birth month here, not year). That tends to be when they are physically developed and coordinated enough that I feel they can handle the added weight and additional balancing requirements of a rider, and mentally developed enough to make good choices in bad situations.

I don’t canter the first ride, and see no need to. Most I’ve started get around to cantering about the 10th ride or so, once I feel they have a solid grasp on steering and stopping from the seat and moving the shoulders and hindquarters independently. Cantering is not a big deal unless you make it a big deal.

My current 4yo is at about 40 rides, going w/t/c out in the open field on a loose rein by himself (quietly!) for 20-30 minutes 3 times a week. I started him in February (yes, winter!) at 3.5, put about 20 rides on him and then gave him the spring/early summer off. He came right back into work this summer and never missed a beat, because every step of the way has been a positive confidence-building experience for him - he likes to work and interact.

[Bluey]

@Heinz_57

I’m glad someone finally said this goodness. A horse’s attitude towards work often greatly depends on the humans that have handled it in those early years.

I generally start mine somewhere in the 3.5-4yo range (going by birth month here, not year). That tends to be when they are physically developed and coordinated enough that I feel they can handle the added weight and additional balancing requirements of a rider, and mentally developed enough to make good choices in bad situations.

I don’t canter the first ride, and see no need to. Most I’ve started get around to cantering about the 10th ride or so, once I feel they have a solid grasp on steering and stopping from the seat and moving the shoulders and hindquarters independently. Cantering is not a big deal unless you make it a big deal.

My current 4yo is at about 40 rides, going w/t/c out in the open field on a loose rein by himself (quietly!) for 20-30 minutes 3 times a week. I started him in February (yes, winter!) at 3.5, put about 20 rides on him and then gave him the spring/early summer off. He came right back into work this summer and never missed a beat, because every step of the way has been a positive confidence-building experience for him - he likes to work and interact.

Other than individual horses, each one may or not be more receptive to work with humans, if you have started horses of all ages, including many feral horses, younger or oder those, there can be a clear general difference with starting a two year old or a four year old in how they approach being guided and helped along.

[tabula_rashah]

I generally back in the 3 year old year. For me it’s mostly dependent on my schedule and when I can focus a couple weeks of being able to work with them consistently lol. Backing to me is sit on, walk around the ring a time or two, stop, steer, maybe a few steps of trot. No actual work, 10 mins tops. Then they’ll get kicked back out for a while and start light work in the 4 year old year.

[Arzny]

September of their yearling year - unless they were born super late or are selling in October, etc. I basically get them vaguely going walk/trot with a rider and then send them on to someone else who teaches them to gallop.

I like to start mine rather than send them out to be broken in because I feel like I can go at the horse’s pace moreso than they can at the training center.

[Sabino]

I have always wondered why when someone is referring to starting a horse, they call it “backing”. To me that means you are literally backing them up, not starting them. Why is this phrasing used?

[Bonnie2]

Because you are just getting them used to you on their back. You’re not doing anything as advanced as riding yet.

[Heinz_57]

@Bluey

Other than individual horses, each one may or not be more receptive to work with humans, if you have started horses of all ages, including many feral horses, younger or oder those, there can be a clear general difference with starting a two year old or a four year old in how they approach being guided and helped along.

I can’t exactly tell what you’re trying to say to me? What I’m interpreting is that you think I just don’t have enough experience to know the difference, or something to that effect, which would be quite the assumption.

[Sabino]

Ahhh, lightbulb moment here! That makes sense.

[jebabacus]

Quite a controversial topic! I wrote a blog post about equine bone maturity andf training ages ago, and it still gets lots of views. Here it is:

Equine bone maturity: When can I start training a horse?

[outerbanks77]

I backed my WB mare at 4 and 3 months. I probably would have started her fall of her three year old year, but a) she was difficult with the ground work and b) I was mentally preparing myself after being launched from the last horse I’d started.

Looking back now that she is 8, I’m really glad I waited. She looked fairly mature at three, but now even her 4 year old pics she looks weedy compared to the tank she is now. Plus, she didn’t really start growing a brain and being useful for anything until she was 7, so the extra year of riding would have probably been useless. Even her 4 year old year we were just doing light rides, often 20 minutes and no cantering because she just wouldn’t.

I’m not sure if I’ll back my next horse as I’ll probably be over 50 at that point, but I’ll definitely wait until they’re at least 4.

[VodkaRedbullx2]

I’m stealing this. I always wait until fall but why! They need the hottest part of summer to keep those baby brains grounded.

[Bogey2]

I start mine at 3. My current one I picked up at 3 so had to do a lot of the groundwork to get him ready to be sat on so he was 3.5. I am mostly working on steering and balance. I do not worry about canter until the horse is better balanced and steering. I want the canter to come from him being ready, not just an out of balance throwing him in to it.

[Bluey]

Interesting that studies are showing now for decades that starting a body early for whatever task it will have in life, horses, humans also, tends to give the most fit for the task body and mind.

Why some still insist to wait until the body and mind is so far into maturing to start training, when is clear that starting as soon as we may in proper ways for that stage is generally best?

Expecting an athlete to be good to maybe competitive against those that have been started early and studies have now shown that fitness for the task, here the horse as a riding partner, is best developed starting as early as it’s growth permits is best for a long, healthy life at that task.

Does it hurts to wait to start a horse later, more mature?
Not for just riding, but if we expect a horse to be good and stay sound for many years at a higher level of effort, that early start can give it an advantage that many are leaving at the table by waiting.

Think about this, your body growing up without a serious sport, then early adulthood you decide to take up basketball or tennis.
How much does your body has to then retool itself to accommodate the new task, how proficient will you ever get at it, compared with someone that has been in sports from very young? How apt are you to stay sound if you really exert yourself, compared with someone that grew up already primed for those tasks?

Just more to ponder.

Training Young Horses: The Science behind the Benefits

[Heinz_57]

@Bluey

Think about this, your body growing up without a serious sport, then early adulthood you decide to take up basketball or tennis.
How much does your body has to then retool itself to accommodate the new task, how proficient will you ever get at it, compared with someone that has been in sports from very young? How apt are you to stay sound if you really exert yourself, compared with someone that grew up already primed for those tasks?

Sorry, but every serious sports player in my circle - now late 30’s - has had at least one surgery or replaced joint due to the damage done playing sports as a young person. Few even continued to seriously play sports after high school or college, yet are stuck living with permanent injuries.

Every time someone trots out these studies to validate their position of riding two year olds (or 18 month olds, if we’re talking racehorses) I wonder to myself - do these studies categorically prove that riding (and only riding) horses is the only way to achieve this early conditioning? Or is that conclusion being made because it conveniently suits our profit-fueled purposes, when other forms of controlled exercise could produce the same result?

Anyway, we seem to be getting slightly off topic, and I’m still waiting for you to explain your earlier statement to me.

[Bluey]

@Heinz_57

Sorry, but every serious sports player in my circle - now late 30’s - has had at least one surgery or replaced joint due to the damage done playing sports as a young person. Few even continued to seriously play sports after high school or college, yet are stuck living with permanent injuries.

Every time someone trots out these studies to validate their position of riding two year olds (or 18 month olds, if we’re talking racehorses) I wonder to myself - do these studies categorically prove that riding (and only riding) horses is the only way to achieve this early conditioning? Or is that conclusion being made because it conveniently suits our profit-fueled purposes, when other forms of controlled exercise could produce the same result?

Anyway, we seem to be getting slightly off topic, and I’m still waiting for you to explain your earlier statement to me.

Don’t confuse anecdote with data.

Injuries happen to bodies started early or later, foals on their dams also suffer injuries.
Injuries, as you say, need studied and quantified and qualified to decide why and that is what studies do.
Studies have shown proper earlier start does give the body a better way to gain fitness and so less injuries and longer sound life than later starts once bodies are more set in their growth patterns.

Some of the earlier studies that were later confirmed were on starting AQHA colts at two or three by groups of students, measuring all kinds of physical and mental parameters.
There seems to have been a positive physical and mental definite advantage to those started at two over three.

Does that mean everyone needs to start two year olds?
No, but to dismiss that plenty of two year olds may just be better started earlier and try to make that practice wrong is just not sensible, according to what we can know today.

Do what fits you and your horse, but consider that others also may be doing right by theirs, even if they don’t do it as you choose to do with yours?

[endlessclimb]

@Demerara_Stables My experience differs. There was a clear difference in work ethic and tractability between one that was started at 2-3-early 4 and the ones who were started 5-6-7-8.

FWIW they were untouched, even the 8 year old. They spent a looooong time thinking the hay was free, and saw no real good reason to get with the program.

[Montanas_Girl]

@Heinz_57

Every time someone trots out these studies to validate their position of riding two year olds (or 18 month olds, if we’re talking racehorses) I wonder to myself - do these studies categorically prove that riding (and only riding) horses is the only way to achieve this early conditioning?

Of course not.

But, what decades of research has failed to produce is any evidence that starting horses at a young age is harmful. A couple of generations of scientists have examined this issue from multiple angles (race records, controlled experiments, etc.), and none have been able to produce any verifiable link between early work and injuries in later life.

My experience tracks with what Bluey and endlessclimb have reported. Very young horses are like little sponges. They relish attention, interaction, and training - with concessions, of course, for their short attention spans and immature bodies. I don’t do any “real” work with my youngsters until their 3 year old year, but from the very beginning they learn that training and “stupid human games” are just part of everyday life and therefore rarely question anything I throw at them.

[Heinz_57]

@Bluey

Do what fits you and your horse, but consider that others also may be doing right by theirs, even if they don’t do it as you choose to do with yours?

That works both ways, you know.

@Montanas_Girl

Of course not.

But, what decades of research has failed to produce is any evidence that starting horses at a young age is harmful. A couple of generations of scientists have examined this issue from multiple angles (race records, controlled experiments, etc.), and none have been able to produce any verifiable link between early work and injuries in later life.

I do hope this will continue to be studied from many angles.

Asking legitimately, not trying to be a smartass: If it truly doesn’t hurt anything, why not start them even younger? If 18 months is fine, why not right at a year? Or as soon as they’re weaned?

There was a broke yearling at an auction near me not long ago. Everyone was horrified, even the crowd that starts them the day they turn 2.