I acquired a young horse earlier this year. Not exactly sure of her age but very likely turned four this spring as of her spring dental appointment (who is also my vet). Not sure of breed or bloodlines either but she is a SMART and sensitive type of mare and communicates very clearly, which I like a lot. She had been handled (leads, kind of stood to be tied, kind of would let you pick up her feet) and was (relatively) easy to start under saddle, though her interest in participating waxes and wanes. She likes to āhang outā-- with the other horses, with people, but not always go to work. Thereās a lot of stopping at the gate and pulling me back to the gate, normal baby horse stuff. Mostly she aims to please. Sheās never once been mean but certainly does not suffer fools. Basically I adore her personality except that sheās not lazy but is more backward-thinking than Iād like-- her go-to move when offended is to turn in and refuse to yield her shoulders and now sometimes tear around on the longe and tune you out completely. It used to be running backward so weāre making progress.
Sheās had less than ten rides under saddle. The first few she had no issues with some encouragement from the ground. Cautiously forward at the walk and trot, a tiny bit of canter by accident. Never offered a single kick out, rear, buck, etc. Weāve been working on walk-trot transitions under saddle, and after a couple of rides off the longe, sheās tried to get me off twice. She does know what Iām asking; her voices commands are excellent and she will alllmost go into trot and then decide not to. Iāve just been rewarding her for each try. Then she would take two trot steps and decide otherwise. This is not my first baby and I know they are all different under saddle, but this is not a reaction I would expect from her. Earlier this week she admittedly got me halfway off and I bailed. Got back on and walked around, then called it quits. Did tack check, my saddle isnāt fit to her but not terrible by any means. Yesterday I stuck it out, schooling something else, and quit for the day. Tack check again, this time saddle looks a hair too wide on her and might be causing pressure point under the saddle-- I can feel it and see it on my saddle pad after she got nice and sweaty with all this gross weather weāve been having.
This horse changes shape every single day. I can tell sheās always going to be one to tell me when something is not to her liking. So, people with sensitive young horses, what have you done when they change so much? Iāve experimented with half pads and shims but havenāt found a combination I like so far. I was already riding in a half pad so thatās not an easy solution. Beg my fitter to come out once a month? Quit until she stops changing so much? Any other solutions? Iāve always been of the mindset that babies make do with functional until they earn their right for me to spend $$$ on tack just for them, but maybe Iām growing nicer.
ETA: Filly works 3-4 times a week for about ~25-30 mins, 1-2 of those have been rides since we first started her under saddle (15 min groundwork, 10 min ride). Iām dragging her up for our first lesson with my trainer next week. Was hoping to be walk trot by then but looks like thatās unlikely now.
. Someone I know starts their babies that way, cause they can bail easier and donāt have to worry about saddle fit. But theyāre ridiculously experienced and far more athletic than Iāll ever be!
