When comparing other horses to TBs, my question is this: is the problem that the other horses aren’t growing up/being trained fast enough, or is that the TBs are growing up too fast?
It’s no secret that many Thoroughbreds are retiring before many other horses their age are even being ridden. Many are euthanized before they even stop growing.
Exactly! It’s pretty hard to force an animal that outweighs you x5-x10 to do something it doesn’t want to do. That is basically an accident waiting to happen. You treat the horse like a horse, and teach them in a method that is predisposed to be easily understood and successful. No one gets hurt and everyone is happy.
I do things with my homebreds in about 15-20 minute increments. Of course there are some things they have to do that take longer (stand for the farrier, go to inspections). I try to keep things fun for them, give lots of cookies and pats. I do the tying balloons and tarps to rails thing, lead them past cars trucks, all kinds of machinery, over tarps. Turn on music, cross tie in stalls when I bring them in to groom them. Lead them in and out of doors , stalls, etc. Handle sheaths and udders. Bathe them, throw things on their backs pick their feet in stalls and out in the field. put halters on and off, put a happy mouth bit in their mouth with a bridle and feed them, train them to move away from a hand on their side, load them on trailers, get them used to clippers, etc, etc. My 2 year olds (these are warmbloods so they don’t get backed until at least 3 and sometimes not till 4) learn to lunge, and wear a surcingle and side reins, and wear a bridle and have a saddle put on and girthed up loosely. I lean on their backs and stand them up set to mounting blocks and walk up and down on the mounting block while they stand there, move away from hand pressure at the girth area, do back lifts and leg stretches. Travel to nearby farms (5 min away) and lunge for 5 minutes reload and go home. They know they will get smacked if they bite, strike, kick. They know they will get pats, scratches, treats and told how good and clever they are if they go with the program. I never punish if they get scared by something new; we just give it a break and try again another day. I must say, I think my homebreds have much better ground manners than any of the horses I’ve imported as youngstock. And my farrier and vets say they are very good also. And my trainer says they have been very easy to start (I am just too old to back them myself but I do ride them young once backed).
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