I usually lurk here, but OP, I just want to reassure you that chances are your horse will recover with time off to grow and develop. My now 6yr old WB went through similar things as a 4 year old except that I am his trainer and I am a vet. I wound up backing waaay off on training ambitions and just let him hang out in my hilly pasture with my TB (3rd lvl), go on the occasional hack, play over low jumps and cavelletti and simply GROW. Now at 6, all the weird lamenesses, balking, bucking and unhappiness are completely gone. He goes forward with just a light squeeze of the leg, he has very nice baby hhās, he reaches out to the bridle (instead of false frame), does sf and ly with ease, all that good stuff. Iāve owned him since he was 2, so waiting until this year to actually do ārealā work, may seem excessive, but I do have another horse to ride and, even this year, he grew another inch!
I feel your pain. I also have a 4 yo (coming 5) WB mare - physically, she is good, but a previous trainer got her in a wreck that created some bad mental baggage. She is now with a trainer who works very slowly and methodically. It is very tempting now that she is W/T/C under saddle to put her with a dressage trainer who would have her looking fancy within a few months, but I am waiting because I can tell that she needs more foundation and the lower pressure environment she is in right now (fewer days per week and back to ground work and desensitizing for the winter).
Itās hard when you want things to move along and be up there enjoying the ride, but it just takes the time it takes. Nothing good happens fast with horses, Iāve learned.
Good for you for being ready to to an about-face for the best of your horse!
I heard this advice given to someone who I think was already showing second on a horse with an amazing brain and willingness to put up with it all, but who simply had never learned correct use of his back. He was a fancy horse, and doing so well the owner just dismissed the advice because all seemed good. Not terrible long later that horse had a soft tissue injury you could directly point to his incorrect use of himself as a cause of. The rider was wonderful about revisiting at that time, and is now progressing well after several years of return to basics to fix things. Doing it NOW and slowing things now is far easier and more beneficial in the long run.
This is a danger every one of us have if we have a youngster who is well balanced and seems physically mature. For some odd reason I tend to prefer lines which mature later, but it meant I was lucky enough to purchase a talented but very slow maturing horse. She also wanted to arch her neck too much and look collected and fancy, but because she was downhill for several years and took a long time to develop her back muscles in part because of that, we HAD to take things slowly. Itās simply easier to take it slowly with a horse who clearly needs it - but youāre now getting to see where your horse needs it, and your commitment to fiixng things will pay off in the end.
Good luck!
I just wanted to back up the poster who recommended Nuclear scintigraphy if you really want to know what and where is going on.
As the owner of the very lovely older horse that was pushed as a youngster, and discarded because of the problems it caused him, put a stop to this right now.
Even if you donāt end up with permanent physical damage, simply undoing the faulty training and filling in the gaps, as well as the mental aspects of it, is quite a process.
I just wanted to add (on top of good advise already shared) that your trainer should be accessing training for your young horse. Meaning that there should be lessons every couple of months with his/her trainer on your young horse.
As a horse professional myself, it is easy to not push enough or push to hard with client horses. Having some consistent oversight keeps things working on track and helps stop potential issues from turning into real problems.
I try to lesson at least twice a month with my own horse even though Iāve trained many to his level. Itās just smart investment into my riding and my horses future.
I expect my clients want the same for their horse and usually if I request a lesson for me on their horse they are more then happy to have that occur. We all go and learn from the experience and try to use this to avoid training pitfalls.
Perhaps offer this to your trainerā¦ if they balk; move on. If they are interested (even if willing but not excited) make it happen and encourage it. Itās a benifit to all.
Best of luck.
I love this!
I think any of us who has had a young horse has had the young horse woes. Two steps forward, one step back; five steps forward, 10 steps back; and so on . . .
Listen to your gut! There have been times I havenāt listened to my gut and regretted it. YOU know your horse and you are your horseās advocate. Do what feels right to you and is following your vetās protocol. If you donāt think your vet is on the mark but you do think something is wrong, seek another opinion.
Iāve gone through starts and stops with my young horse for various reasons. Time off just for growing, time off because of a bad winter, time off because of an injury of mine, time off for work stuff that keeps me too busy to ride. Whatever. Sheās only five so Iām okay with it, though I do sometimes think weāre not far enough along compared to others. It is what it is, as they say. Since Iām not going to the Olympics and my interest in showing waxes and wanes, thereās really no matter where we are.
Last week we had a warm spell so I had a couple nice rides. Today we have an inversion layer and snow dust on the ground and Iām getting over a cold so no riding, and maybe no riding for the foreseeable future if the weather continues like this. When it is so cold that my fingers burn and I want to throw up, then it is too cold to ride!
Having bought a horse without knowing he had a serious C6-C7 issue despite a very costly pre-purchase, Iām going to suggest that at the very least you have a proper neurological exam done on your horse. The lameness that my horse showed was only palpable from the saddle, could not be seen from the ground at all. His neck was a disaster and explained a lot about his reluctance to try certain exercises. I am very, very glad that I was both owner and trainer so I didnāt have anyone telling me to train through it.
I hope your horse doesnāt have a serious neck problem, but Iād want to know in hopes of ruling out that bit of anatomy.
Training/trainer advice youāve received above is good. If you know in your gut that something isnāt right and that is backed up by your vet, itās time to re-evaluate your relationship.
FWIW my current horse finds it useless to stretch. She thinks itās stupid lol However, she doesnāt get to call the shots on what is good and correct training so our Achilles heel gets worked on each and every day before and after the collected work. For some horses itās easy. For others not so much. But for all itās basic suppling and abs/back strengthening work that must be done.
So much great advice here, so will try and avoid re-stating so much that has been said and which I fully agree with. And having bought a YH at start of year for him to have a paddock accident that took him out for 5 months, I fully sympathise with all the woes and rollercoaster of emotions that come with a YH.
Just one experience I wanted to share relates to a YH in my barn. Beautiful nature and competing very successfully when naughtiness started appearing in her training at home. Given she was only 4/5 when this occurred and still maturing, she was turned out for a few months. She returned worse than before - having learnt that her naughty behaviour was rewarded.
Vet examination x-rays and scans found some neck issues which were treated but naughty behaviour (which by then had become very dangerous) remained and escalated. Had to be sent for re-training with a specialist because her behaviours under saddle were so dangerous. Successful in the end but a very long journey and setbacks on the way.
Based on that experience, I would be very cautious about turning out (in comparison to backing off intensity of work - hacking out etc), and consider xrays/scans for the neck so that you are fully informed and can make decisions with a view to the long term wellbeing of your young horse.
I agree partially with this post. You shouldnāt chuck the horse out for the winter after a week of terrible rides. I think a week or two of low intensity, easy, positive rides followed by a few months of turnout would be reasonable, though.
You obviously care a lot about your youngster and I applaud you for getting a bunch of opinions from experienced people.
I am not a young horse expert - Iāve only had four over my life time. . . but Iāve always favored the slow approach. I think there used to be an old horsemanās maxim: Make haste slowly - and āless is moreā - etc. There is a lot of wisdom in that.
Warmbloods are often larger horses, as wellā¦ . . I canāt help but think that all the growing they have to do to get from the adorable baby foal size to the 16-17 plus hands they often reach at maturity has got to create some biological stress here and there.
I have a four year old too:) She is a warmblood cross, and apparently a late bloomer. She was 15 hands when she was started under saddle last spring, about six weeks prior to her fourth birthday and she grew two inches over the summer and seems to be thinking about shooting up again. . .Her breeder has said she expects her to reach 16 hands by age 7 or so. Weāve been taking it easy -: she got schooled about twice a week in the arena for half an hour, working mostly on picking up her gaits nicely, and transitioning back down, stopping, turning and learning how to travel on a 20 m circle - all on a very light contact. We hacked out in between. . . . I didnāt start asking her to accept contact and think about roundness until six months after she was backed, and then - we only worked on that for about a month and sheās been āon vacationā since we turned the clocks back. Iāll resume working with her in Feb/March (I donāt have an indoor).
Donāt despair. it sounds like a lot of other people also like the slow, long and low appoach with babies - in my very, very humble, possibly ridiculous opinion, too many youngsters are pushed to do too much, too soon.
I wish you the very best of luck and wamest sympathy and I hope everything begins to go better for you. It sounds like your young horse will be worth the time and effort you are putting into him. I havenāt met a horse yet that didnāt take a lot of time and effort - regardless of his/ her age 
Iāll be thinking positive thoughts and crossing my fingers for you.
So many good comments here. I usually balk when I hear the usual āget a new trainerā comments but a trainer is really only that - someone who knows a bit about the subject and can ride ā¦ not a professional who has spent years at school
and has specialized with experience.
As years and years go by a trainer picks up knowledge if they have sponge like mental qualities.
Stick with your vet or get a second opinion if yuu feel uncertain.
Never a waste of time giving time off - too bad it is winter or Iād hope your horse could be turned out on hills to develop naturally over time. Iām sure you would not go wrong with backing off a bit, as you have already commented yourself.
The good horses are worth the time spent making haste slowly.
Good luck with your nice horse. Horses these days are bred to look like dressage horses, even if they canāt do it physically.
There is also the boarding stable scene of spending hours in stable and then more hours in a small turnout paddock - if that is the scenario - and a young horse does better moving out on hills and in the open.
He is a Warmblood, he is 4. Throw him out for 6 months to a year and let him grow. Find a new trainer.
You will be happy you did. Sounds like you have a nice horse, give him the chance to grow and have the physical maturity to do the job. you have all the time, take it. best of luck. Trust your vet.
