Remember, it’s Manni. Everything is different/better in Germany. Their international teams in multiple equestrian sports are not full of teenagers, so her comments are a bit of an exaggeration.
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There are other excellent goals for your daughter to achieve that are realistic and beneficial to her as a rider. One being attaining her dressage medals with USDF (bronze, silver, gold). Another goal could be qualifying for regionals/nationals and competing successfully at a national level. Something else to consider would be riding with different accomplished clinicians to broaden her knowledge.
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Exactly. I didn’t think the interview was fiction, nor was I shocked by the numbers given.
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Well adults yes, but it’s not at all like in the US. When I compete, the parents of the riders in my class are younger than me 
…. It’s really not fun. I talked to a friend of mine about it and she said, I am an adult I am 28!! And she is one of the older ones….
Cool Statement from somebody who has never ridden in Germany 
. Remember I have competed in both countries…
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I agree, but in reality at least in Germany it’s a bit different…Germany puts a lot of pride in his support for young riders. We have all these programs.
If you show any talent you get all kinds of support.
And then when you turn into an adult it stops. at that point you are either an Olympic hopeful or a professional or you stop competing.
Of course there are a lot of adults in Germany having horses but most of them stop competing. They simply keep a horse and go to the barn every day.
Okay but OP isn’t in Germany.
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Correct, as far as I remember I advised if you really persue an Olympic dream to go where Training will be the best…. Kristy Oatly moved to Germany with 12 years to go for her dream…
and another example Raphael Netz (BTW under 25 rider) moved to the Barn of the Werndls with 17;and worked for them. he went to the World Cup final this year and opens up his own Dressage barn in the moment… He was in the right place to learn! You need to go to the best place, wherever it is….
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OP, it looks like a lovely horse. But at 4, big, and still growing, it’s still learning where its feet are and how to balance itself, much less with a rider on board. Please don’t spend a huge amount of money on vets to “fix” it now - it needs time and proper exercise (which may be turnout on less-than-flat ground) to build the muscles to even start to carry a rider. There’s likely nothing really wrong here (though do get the white line resolved) - please don’t start injecting.
Your duaghter can learn a lot and develop a fabulous relationship with the horse by working with him on the ground while he matures. Not what you all were expecting (and maybe there’s something else she can ride while this one develops?), but good things take time, especially with horses. But stick to the classics and stay far away from Celeste.
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Thank you for your post!! One of the best ones in this thread!!
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All good advice - once the head bobbing lameness is addressed. It was not shown in the videos, but I believe OP stated they had the vet out yesterday!
I believe it was a poster here who encouraged me to not throw money after every little twitch and slight change in gait, especially on a young or unfit horse. I personally needed to hear that, as I’m prone to driving my self crazy analyzing every little thing 
. Young horses especially like to come in with a new scrape every day, or have shifting mild NQR issues that aren’t “lameness” but do eventually go away as the horse grows and gets fit.
OP I hope you got some answers yesterday, or at least a plan for going forward!
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Good morning,
I talked with the vet yesterday. He thinks is the lameness that he got on March 13th-14th and never got a chance to heal fully as we worked him hard right after the stall and paddock rest. The plan is time off, some beautiful groundwork (Tristan and Jec), no lungeing, grazing, night paddock time 12 - 14 hours. Thank you so much everyone for your beautiful, and honest advice.
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These are some of the dressage trainers in our area:
Denise David Cardinale
Allison King
Camelia Montalvo
Susan Stegmeyer
Chantal Curran
Alexandra Tomson
Madeleine Debure
Barbara Filippelli
I will do that. Thank you.
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Glad to hear this. With the utmost respect, please learn from this lesson. If you want you daughter and this horse to have longevity and success, you have to put the horse first.
Another thing worth noting on this forum…it’s not often that you have the majority consensus on topics here 
When nearly EVERYONE is advocating for something like taking a year to let a young horse grow and be a horse, that holds a LOT of weight.
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Can you please explain what a green rider means for you? My daughter has about 1300 hours of riding, 60 different horses including a stallion. Please help me understand. Thank you.
With all due respect, she’s still a junior. Apparently a very accomplished young rider - but a junior.
That makes her green. It’s not just about hours in the saddle… it’s also about maturity, competition experience, and most importantly… horsemanship. Horsemanship is acquired over years and years, in terms of caring for horses and learning by experience.
It’s totally fine that she’s green now - all junior riders are to some extent.
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Thank you. It makes sense.
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To be fair the hind end lameness is visible in the original sale ad. The horse is ridden impeccably and it does disguise it. I’m not saying that it is deliberate by the seller - there are riders that can make a horse with three legs look good. It is probably a general young horse weakness exacerbated by his heavy work load.
Giving this horse a 3-4 month break off completely – and I mean completely from ridden and lunging work - will probably do this horse wonders. If you can push for him to be out 24/7, that will be best for his KS. Breaking, backing, and being imported all before the age of 4 – this is so hard on a young body. What I find amazing about this situation is the horse has not been behaviorally worse in light of all the clinical findings. He is already a saint, but he’s going to be a gem once he’s grown up. Give him the break he deserves for taking such good care of your daughter, OP. I’ve known horses to lawn-dart their riders over significantly less.
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Thank you so much! I deeply appreciate your thoughts.
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