So anyone else have a youngster that just runs out of gas in the middle of a ride? My 3 yr old WB filly does just that. She normally gets ridden 2x a week, my trainer will give her a light lunge first. Now on occasion, she will burst into flames, make any rodeo cowboy proud, and then when I get on her, the ride is over. lol. I usually only ask for a trot each direction and then one lap each way of canter ( we just started to canter u/s) She is so funny that you can just feel her putter out after half a lap. I tried baby spurs and a whip, but do not want to have to use these too much. If she gets herself so worn out before the ride, should I just call it a day and just walk her around the trails? I will try to ride tomorrow without lunging first and see what I have.
I am no expert, but at first glance, that looks like a training “issue”. She’s using her “slow” button to resist work or because she doesn’t exactly understand everything yet.
What does your trainer say?
Get out of the arena and onto the trails. Forward, calm and straight - that’s all you need for a 3 yr old. Mine has been under saddle since march and goes out 2 or 3 times a week for about 2 hours. I’ve done 2, 3 hour rides with her and she was tired at the end. We walk, might trot a bit and once in a while canter (once every 2 weeks maybe?). Developing joints and back muscles need slow work and no circles!
Why wear a baby out before “real” work begins?
It sounds like either more ground work is in order, or she should just be turned back out until the Spring, or just get on and ride for the 20 minutes. No healthy 3yo should be “worn out” after half a lap of anything, not even after some fun on the lunge. It does sound like a training issue, and one that needs to be nipped in the bud fast, before it’s really ingrained and she gets MAD at being “force” to work.
Lose the spurs, switch to a Dressage whip if you’re using a crop, and yes, use the whip to get the point across. BUT, make SURE she understands the concept of "when I say go, I mean go NOW, and go with ENERGY’ from the ground first.
Couldn’t agree more. Getting her going outside and on trail rides is a great option too, as other suggested, as it will help keep her interested and prevent her from getting ring sour.
This. Forward must be established and be non-negotiable, or your horse will have one of the worst holes in its training that it can have. If you can’t get this done by yourself, get help from someone who is experienced with the correct starting of young horses. A ground person reinforcing forward with a correctly applied longe whip (I don’t mean touching the horse) may be all you need, if you have the confidence to let the horse go forward once it understands that is what is wanted. The basics are the basis of your horse’s future. They are critical. Once you have them, the rest is simple. Good luck. :yes:
My quarter ran out…
Totally off topic, but that would be a GREAT name for a Quarter Horse <LOL>…
I have a different take on this. Baby horses can have a very small gas tank and they can run out of energy far sooner than an older horse and far sooner than you’d expect. Best way I can think of to sour a horse is to get after them with a whip when they’re struggling to give what you ask because their muscles ache.
So the question is, does this horse go forwards sweetly and obediently when you ask at the start of the ride? If she does then it isn’t a training issue. Its a strength issue. As long as you’re confident that your baby horse knows what the GO aids mean then all you need to do is to work within the confines of her current energy reserves. As she gets older and more experienced her endurance will improve. Much better to have a good 20 minute ride than 60 minutes where you need to use the whip to keep her forwards.
I find “small gas tank syndrome” is far more common with baby warmbloods than it is with horses that carry more TB blood.
Something else that happens with baby horses is that their brains get full. And once their brain is full their bodies stop moving. An example would be if you took your horse out on a walk-only trail ride. Most baby horses start out wide eyed and fascinated by everything. Half an hour later their head is drooping and their toes are dragging and they are pooped! It can’t be the exercise as 30 minutes of walking is not hard work. Its all the new things they’ve seen. Children are the same when they start school. All the new experiences tire them out.
So next time you ride your baby horse you should work out if she understands forwards. If she does, don’t push her for more than she can give you once her fuel light starts blinking. Pat her and put her away instead. If you never ask a horse for more than they can easily give you, they learn to trust that whatever you ask them to do is possible. And once you get to the higher competition levels this trust is what gets a horse to reach deep within themselves and try their guts out for you.
You don’t get horses to try with all their might by using a whip.
I agree, because not only are they still growing, figuring out their own balance, they’re balancing a rider and trying to learn and pay attention and it can be as much mental fatigue as physical for the younger horses.
But the OP said the horse runs out of gas after half a lap. That’s not “running out of gas”, really, that’s possibly needing to regroup for balance, or deciding this “forward” stuff is too hard and no thanks I’ll just stop now. If the horse truly is petering out due to being physically tired, then something is wrong
Best way I can think of to sour a horse is to get after them with a whip when they’re struggling to give what you ask because their muscles ache.
I agree, if they are truly tired, work needs to stop. If the horse is expending so much energy on the lunge that it’s giving the rodeo a run for it’s money, then 1) there’s no point in getting on that young, tired horse and making work a 4 letter word, and 2) there are some holes and the horse doesn’t need to be ridden at all yet
So the question is, does this horse go forwards sweetly and obediently when you ask at the start of the ride? If she does then it isn’t a training issue. Its a strength issue. As long as you’re confident that your baby horse knows what the GO aids mean then all you need to do is to work within the confines of her current energy reserves. As she gets older and more experienced her endurance will improve. Much better to have a good 20 minute ride than 60 minutes where you need to use the whip to keep her forwards.
Agree. However, trotting once each direction of the ring and petering out half way through is a problem and I doubt it’s actually that she’s running out of gas 
Something else that happens with baby horses is that their brains get full. And once their brain is full their bodies stop moving. An example would be if you took your horse out on a walk-only trail ride. Most baby horses start out wide eyed and fascinated by everything. Half an hour later their head is drooping and their toes are dragging and they are pooped! It can’t be the exercise as 30 minutes of walking is not hard work. Its all the new things they’ve seen. Children are the same when they start school. All the new experiences tire them out.
Agreed - mental exercise is hard work. We can tire out our dogs with high intensity mental work faster than 60 minutes of physical work LOL
So next time you ride your baby horse you should work out if she understands forwards. If she does, don’t push her for more than she can give you once her fuel light starts blinking. Pat her and put her away instead. If you never ask a horse for more than they can easily give you, they learn to trust that whatever you ask them to do is possible. And once you get to the higher competition levels this trust is what gets a horse to reach deep within themselves and try their guts out for you.
I agree with everything but the bold You can’t always just ask for what comes easily, because physical and mental progression only come with asking for what’s harder than what they can currently easily do.
But there IS that line between what’s easy and what’s too hard and that shouldn’t be crossed. But there’s a wide gray area between hard enough to progress and not so hard it can’t be done, and too hard.
never asking for anything that isn’t easily in the realm of possibility is what makes a partner.
You don’t get horses to try with all their might by using a whip.
No, and whip really isn’t the first thing to go to when you are trying to teach forward. You can teach the response off the leg, with a whip being maybe Stage 4 of upping the ante, but as that understanding progresses, then the whip gets used sooner and sooner so that the horse learns to react quickly and energetically from the leg, not Phase 3.
Totally off topic, but that would be a GREAT name for a Quarter Horse <LOL>…
__________________First of all, Kathy that is hilarious!
Second, we do not want to work her hard on the lunge, that is her choice, lol. If she blows, she blows! Second, she knows forward, but like some youngsters her feet can get “stuck to the ground” on occasion. We are going to start riding out more around the property, they have some good bridle paths and she seems to enjoy that. There are obstacles to go over and through too, and she is really good! We will take time away from the arena. At the old barn we were at, that was all they had, an arena, so that is all she knows. We moved in order to have more options so now is the time to use them! My trainer feels the same. He has done a great job with her on the ground, and she adores him Oh and I only use the whip or a baby spur as a last resort. And very sparingly
I think you have missed my point. Your new post does make it sound as if at least part of this is a training issue. Baby horse’s feet should not get stuck to the ground. They should have learned forwards on the lunge and give forwards unconditionally under saddle. You need to work on forwards as an instant response to your aids. A neck strap is helpful so that if she leaps forwards (which she should) you don’t catch her in the mouth.
There are some serious holes in the groundwork from what I’m reading. Now if she’s actually seriously out of puff then I would check for a murmur. But it’s more than likely she doesn’t know forward. Why is she still exploding on the lunge? She shouldn’t be. Work is work. Lunging is not for bucking and playing. Was this filly ever driven/long lined. Yup, argue all you want horses don’t actually need it. Going in circles is fine for some horses but nothing beats them being driven all over the farm before you get in the saddle.
I’ve broken over 200 horses. I’ve yet to be bucked off, flipped on, or have given a baby a fright. They all have forward established before I ever get on. As well as a nice mouth and brakes. I don’t see the point in going quicker or doing it any different. No holes in the groundwork means willing and accepting horses once I’m on. Definitely get her out on trails but not a guarantee to making her forward back in the arena.
Terri
She exploded because she got spooked. And she doesn’t get worked everyday. She is extremely well trained on the lunge, voice command, changes direction when you simply put the whip in your other hand. She is very good under saddle. I am sorry, but I did not mean for this to become a training post. My trainer does a wonderful job with her, people will stop to watch her and ask about him. So basically there really are no holes in the ground work. And she is only 3, so I find it hard to believe that no one here has a young horse that still likes to get some whoops out on the lunge. the only thing we have not done is ground driving. Maybe that will be next.
