Trials and Tribulations of training the 4 year old!!!

[Samotis]

Just wanted others to join me in my happiness and misery!

It can be so rewarding but so frustrating!

I have an amazing 4 year old that has always been big, super leggy and slow to use common sense!

He has the kindest heart, wants to please and is drop dead gorgeous but takes all of my patience! Going in a straight line and cantering more then one way around the arena is an issue right now ha ha.

I know I am not the only one that is riding a baby and working through all the green moments. Would love to hear about everyone else’s babies!

It’s crazy because there are days where I feel he is going backwards and then days where he gets it and I am like, wow! He has been paying attention!!!

[btswass]

My favorite moment with my baby was when we had our first show at 3. Right at home and only 3 flat classes. I fell off 15 seconds into the canter and the next two classes we couldn’t even attempt to canter. He went in his stall and came out half an hour later during a schooling break and I kid you not he was going around the ring like a seasoned hack winner! That was our biggest “aha!” moment. And have since figured out how to ride his very unique “buck” of throwing his head to the ground as quickly as possible. Another fun time was when we went up to saurgerties to school for the first time and he decided he had to jump everything, including the trot x, at 4’! Never been jumped out of the tack quite like that before!

[SugarCubes]

You’re not alone! I have a youngster too, and right now we are still working on steering and what my leg means! My guy is 5 or 6, but was backed then sat in a pasture for two years, so we are also learning what it means to have a job, which means dealing with temper tantrums when we get near the gate and someone thinks his work for the day is done. Sigh.

I’m also working with him on basic skills like standing in crossties, clipping, bathing, picking up feet. He needs work on all of those things. Boy, did I take those things for granted with my older seasoned gelding :lol:

Love this thread, btw! And we need pics of your baby!

[DMK]

4 may be my least favorite year. At 3 you are santa, the easter bunny and a minor god, all rolled into one. Whatever you say MUST be the right way to try first. And they don’t have enough balance to use it against you.

I refer to 4 as the “thug” year. Perhaps you are not quite as godlike as they previously thought? Perhaps they don’t LIKE doing all those things that were previously unchallenged? Perhaps (absolutely!) they have a better way? It’s a thug life.

At 5 they kind of hang on to some of that thugness, but in general, they’ve figured out all the stuff they tried at 4 is what we refer to as the Hard Way To Do Things.

Which explains why I signed up for this ride all over again with a really unbroke 3 almost 4 year old. The dain bramage is higher in the Olde Ones. Oh well, different discipline, entirely different breed type this time so the adventure continues!

[Doctor_sOrders]

Bringing along a baby was certainly a highlight in my riding career. I’d say I loved those two years even more than the two years I was competing every other weekend, preparing for eq finals, and catch riding almost everyday (different kind of fun).
As long as they’re sweet at heart, it’s a true joy to watch a baby grow!
DMK, you’re so right. My girl thought I was god’s gift to her when she was 3. I got her out of a pasture, virtually untouched, and she was awed and amazed by everything we did and soaked it up like a sponge!
4 brought on some sassyness. Suddenly all the things we had agreed to do a certain way were being questioned. She tried lots of shenanigans and generally tried to get the upper hand in many situations. The height of her brattiness was at 4 months into her 4th year. She grew from 16.0 to just shy of 16.2 in about two months then in the next two months put on about 150 pounds. And she figured out she was stronger than me.
That summer was hell. But come 5 years old, my filly was acting more like a big girl, I had her respect and her heart and at our first outing at a small H/J show, she caught someone’s eye enough for them to offer me double the amount I had in my head to sell her for.
That was a year ago. Last I heard, she went up to Conyers and cleaned up the 3’ hunters with her new girl who plans on taking her up through the junior hunters and big eq. Stunning pair and I swear they’re both smiling in every picture I see of them.

[raisethebar]

DMK - you speak the truth! I love the reference.

My guy is turning 5 this Saturday (tears, where did the time go?) and I have had him since he was 6 months old. At three, I was like God and he loved being around me at all times. He ran up to me in the pasture, nickered, and had a wonderful go-getter attitude with everything. At four, oh boy. I was the bad guy and he resented me. Sounds like typical teenage problems. I didn’t hate this past year with him because we both learned and grew a lot, but this year is already showing the light at the end of the tunnel. His personality sweetened up and he is back to the go-getter that he was at 3. He doesn’t question me anymore and figured out that my way is probably easier than bucking and kicking. He’s more assertive and ready for the next challenge which I absolutely love about him!

I think its so funny that everyone seems to have noticed the same patterns with their 4 year old. I even was warned by a lot of people that 4 is the “terrible 2’s” for horses!

[PNWjumper]

I love the 4yo year! The ones I’ve had have been an extension of the 3yo amiableness. With my last couple of youngsters it was the 5yo year where they started testing their boundaries :sigh: My last gelding cleaned up in his 4yo year and then hit 5 and said, “wait, those jumps are SPOOKY!” My mare hit 5 and decided that it was time to spot test my seat between fences when we were in the big grass field (and also more extensively during victory gallops).

I got a new coming 4yo in March of this year and took him out to the first show of the year mid-April. He jumped his first ever course over a 1.0m 4yo class (well, technically his second since we had our first go-round in a 0.75m class first thing in the morning). I’ve never been so blown away by a young horse. My expectation was to take him over fence 1 and pull up if necessary, then fence 2 and pull up if necessary, etc. But he loped around the whole course like a pro! I chalk it up to the 4yo brain. Well, that and the fact that I bought him FOR his brain, so it’s not totally unexpected that he would be so agreeable. Of course it could also partly be the “gelding” part. My mare at the same age was happy to share her opinion, lol!

I love love love horses at this age. But I share in the misery of the 2 steps forward, 1 step back process. You get those glimpses of future brilliance and then back to “I forgot how to turn left!” :lol:

[DMK]

yeah, some horses take their sweet time, but I think they ALL hit some version of the three stages. And every time I am freshly surprised to learn I am not a “God” anymore…

[Covergirl15]

[QUOTE=DMK;8669462]
4 may be my least favorite year. At 3 you are santa, the easter bunny and a minor god, all rolled into one. Whatever you say MUST be the right way to try first. And they don’t have enough balance to use it against you.

I refer to 4 as the “thug” year. Perhaps you are not quite as godlike as they previously thought? Perhaps they don’t LIKE doing all those things that were previously unchallenged? Perhaps (absolutely!) they have a better way? It’s a thug life.

At 5 they kind of hang on to some of that thugness, but in general, they’ve figured out all the stuff they tried at 4 is what we refer to as the Hard Way To Do Things.[/QUOTE]

I think this may be the best quote I’ve ever heard! My last baby was the same way, though he was started super late his 3 year old year, so all this was pushed back a year (5 was his bratty age). He was so good the first year, and then when he turned 5 I had about a month when he wouldn’t go faster than a walk no matter what. I’d (finally!) get him to trot, we’d go halfway down the long side, and that was it. He finally got over that, and then he’d spook and bolt at random things. But… by the time he was 6, he was pretty well-behaved(ish) (; And now I’m starting all over again with a just-backed 3 year old! (but we’re in the “santa” phase now (; )

[vxf111]

The 4 year old year is the hardest. At 3 they are smaller, unwordly, and compliant. At 5 they are grownup. 4… I am not anxious to do 4 ever again

[drawstraws]

sigh Mine is 7, going on 3 (his sire is well known for really, really, really late bloomers). I don’t have an arena and live in the midwest so my horses sit all winter. When he was four, he dumped me the second ride of spring and broke my leg so he was turned out the rest of the year while I was on crutches. He spent a couple of months with a trainer then next spring but then we didn’t do much after July (due to the weather, bugs, etc). Last year I sent him off to a different trainer in April and showed him half a dozen times and he was good but didn’t quite get far enough along to make me feel like he was ready to go to our world championship show so he came back home in September. Spring took its time getting to us this year so I’ve just now started lunging him again and am hoping to send him back to the trainer in July when I can get some money together. I should get on him myself prior to sending him instead of wasting so much time but I’m mentally just not sure I can do it. He’s incredibly looky (how he got me off three years ago - spook at something (real or imagined, I’m not sure), drop a shoulder and spin) and even though I rode him all last year without incident it’s hard to get that out of your head. I really miss the days of being young and able to bounce.

[mpsbarnmanager]

You get those glimpses of future brilliance and then back to “I forgot how to turn left!” LOL!!

I have a just turned 3 yr old by Romantic Star out of a big paint Appendix mare. He’s awesome! Amazing brain, looks to die for, and he thinks I am the best thing since sliced…um, alfalfa! He’s so nice that I’m almost afraid he is too good to be true. I’ve had him for a year now and I just started him a month ago. He’s been super easy so far, which is great, because he’s my first baby baby. I had a 4 yr old who was very green, and my TB was a green 5 when I got her, but this is my first blank slate. We are still mostly walking and working on steering and forward. Yesterday was the first ride he was not himself. I thought it was the cooler temp. He was distracted and full of himself, wouldn’t stand at the block, etc… From the horse you have to chase to keep him trotting on the lunge line or ground driving. We walked around the ring one time. lol! I heard dogs in the distance but thought my neighbor was just feeding his hunting dogs. Come to find out, he had let the dogs out and they were on the edge of my pasture chasing rabbits!! I felt better knowing his off behavior had a legit reason! lol! I told myself to get used to having off days! Love this thread!

[Doctor_sOrders]

Yes, starting with a blank slate really opened my eyes. I felt so connected with the mare I started. She was so easy to ride, probably because she had a good brain, an easy disposition and I was the only one that had ever been on her! I didn’t have to guess how she was trained to do something.
And talk about rewarding! Every accomplishment that mare had (and still has today) felt very personal.
My next horse I hope to get will be a two year old (start a little younger than the last) and I’d do much more groundwork to start with than the last one.

[Samotis]

Ha ha! All of this is so true! I bred this horse and have a full brother who is 8 this year.

And yes, he was the devil at 4!!! He is now packing a 12 year old kid around on a lease.

My 4 year old is not anything like his older brother. Much less bold and questions things a lot more. He also is bigger and much more awkward then his brother at this age. Huge difference in temperament. Older brother is very bold and bad ground manners. This one is the sweetest horse ever. Would sit in your lap if he could with not a mean bone in his body. He has always been very sweet, yet does take a lot longer to understand things. His brother learned a lead change in a day and would jump a car if you pointed at it! ( which is good, he is a jumper and bold is a good thing, just made it a bit harder to work with as a youngster.)

But he has a phenomenal jump and I see the brilliance, there is a unicorn there I know it! Ha ha I am excited to work with him to be a hunter. With his jump, he should do quite well.

Here are some pictures. Free jumping at 3 and his first time jumping under saddle last week!!! And his adorable baby picture. He has a heart shape marking on his face which matches his personality!

[Peggy]

He’s gorgeous with a fabulous jump, Samtois.

My experience is that the 5 y.o. year is the brattiest (a 5 y.o. horse is roughly akin to a 15 y.o. kid). Then they get better at 6. And one day when they’re about 8 you suddenly realize that they’re much more grown up.

After starting with two that hadn’t been started under saddle when I purchased them, I now have a coming 6 y.o. Yes, he’s green compared to a made horse, but he’s shown in the meters and I certainly didn’t have to teach him to pick up his feet or to lunge as I did with the previous two.

[Samotis]

Very true! And thank you! I think he is so handsome!

My first homebred out of my TB mare is 8 this year. Because I was putting my focus on the 4 year old this year, I got really lucky and leased him out to a fab kid who loves him to death. Had you said a kid would be riding him a year ago I would have said no way!

He was champion last two,shows in jumpers and has made huge improvements in the last 2 years. So 8 really was the year where I finally see the rewards of all the work!

My four year old was going to be for sale but if my older boy stays leased, I may just keep him!!

It is rewarding riding the babies, but also can be so emotional because every day they are a little different. I am looking forward to this year and seeing how he develops!!!

I hope 4 is a good year!

[brody]

Talk about timing! A four year old just arrived here.

Sigh. What am I in for? Lol

[hntrjmprpro45]

We have three 3 year olds in training right now (we specialize in young horses). I’ve started a lot of babies over the years and they are all so different with how they handle different stages of training but I do agree, the 3 year old year is usually pretty easy. 4-5 years old can be tough but once you hit 6 years old they really mature mentally.

[Samotis]

Luckily I am not in a hurry with him and I will only move forward with training if I feel he is improving.

Honestly a month ago I could barely get him to canter three strides. So the fact he can now canter both directions more then one way around and trot poles, is a good thing!

Still working on him carrying himself and keeping a frame, but that is something that comes with age!!

[Risuena]

A friend of mine calls the 4-5 year old ages “the wonder years”…as in “I wonder why I bought this horse??” :lol: