My filly will be 5 next week. I’ve been riding her in french link snaffles, a french link happy mouth and a regular copper snaffle. In all bits I’ve tried she is very busy with her mouth. Lots of bit chewing. It isn’t terrible and she hasn’t damaged the bits, but I don’t feel like she has quite accepted the bit yet. I’ve been riding her since June 2016. I welcome bit suggestions.
I’ve been pretty lucky and all of my previous horses have gone well in pretty simple snaffles or french links so I don’t feel like I know all that much about bit options!
dynamite0319 - I’m a big fan of french links for my young ones, but I’ve had a few that needed more, or something different. My two “go-tos” are a simple mullen mouth-type bit (the one I have is just a D-ring curved bar mullen mouth) or a Myler. For the Myler it’s either the basic level 1 snaffle or my MB43LP which is a low port d-ring bit (this is the one I use if they need “more” if they, for example, want to get really strong around a course). I’ve had friends that have had luck with bits that have movable parts in the center of the bit, but I haven’t tried anything other than what I’ve mentioned above on my youngsters.
And for an update on mine - I’m back in the club! I have a new 4 year old (2013) who I met down in Thermal in February and who has quite possibly the best brain I’ve experienced on such a young horse! Video here: https://youtu.be/3bTPJ-2b6Dc This one is fully a hunter, which is a bit of a challenge for me as I am definitely not a hunter specialist! But it is really fun to have a young one I can ride around on a loopy rein in a show environment. On a side note - the course at the end was his first course ever and only his second time seeing flower boxes/gates/boxes ever (his first time over flower boxes is the little clip at the beginning). No drilling or lots of time schooling for this one given his age.
And for the “correct” age per the beginning of this thread I also have a coming-5yo mare by the same sire as the horse I joined this thread with. She’s super sensitive and way behind the gelding despite being a year older, but I’m super excited about her! Just won’t be coursing her over anything for putting a bit more time on her. She’s technically a sales horse, but I’m not planning to market her for at least 6 months, and really hoping to get to keep her for a year or two until she turns into a “real horse” :lol: My last two geldings (the one I joined the thread last year with and the one mentioned above) have been insanely easy and advanced for their age. This one is the one that puts me squarely back where young horses should be, lol! Video here: https://youtu.be/nhAWbX0Qq58
Lol…I hear you, PNWjumper. I keep thinking I should start a spin-off “Trials and tribulations of training the 6-8 year old”, but really, my 6yo is still trapped in a 4yo brain. Actually, as he keeps on growing (he is HUGE!!!), he physically has some of the same challenges as a 4yo as well.
We are on round umpteen of re-starting after some physical something or other creating a major behavioral issue. Today was the best ride we have had since July. I felt like I had my baby back! Except that he’s more out of shape than he was in July and he has to re-learn where all his parts go. I think this is going to be the longest road I’ve ever had and ever will have with a youngster, which I expected when I tried him at 4 but is turning out to be even more challenging than anticipated.
I hope to use this year finally to take him places to do a lot of low pressure hanging out. Last year we didn’t do much because he was rehabbing a soft tissue injury, and I wanted to keep him in a controlled environment. He’s not scared of flowers or fillers, and jumping is not hard for him. It’s all of the other parts :), and I don’t want to make him more anxious or feel overfaced.
I am thoroughly enjoying this thread! I bred for the first and only time a couple of years ago. I have the friendliest, most handsome, athletic boy who is coming 2 next month (but don’t all moms say that?! LOL). Naturally, I am looking forward to when he starts in training. It is really great to see what I can expect. Thank you all for sharing your wisdom and experiences!!
Ahhh the joys of bringing along babies, amiright? :lol: And the ones that grow so big are a whole ‘nother can o’ worms! My 7-year-old mare was a funny one who looked full grown height/width/but-not-bulk at age 2, and now at 7 I’m seeing where she’s going to suddenly bulk up, and I have a sneaking suspicion it will change everything about how she uses herself since most of what she has left to develop is muscle. I keep wishing there was a video repository where you could submit side-by-side videos at various age points in a horse’s life and then could pick from lots of horses to watch how they developed in video format. Because it would be fascinating to watch horses at age 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 to really compare how they’ve grown. Every now and again I’ll go back and watch the younger videos of my horses, but it’s hard with your own horses to have an objective eye in that way. Although I will say that it’s great to see the issues from way back when because it gives you a great boost of “look how far we’ve come!”
Anyhow, I have a feeling I’ll be posting something similar to your comments above about this mare in the coming year or so! I’m really hoping to get her to the point where she’s ready to join her age group for the age classes by the end of the year, but I’m pretty sure that’s a pipe dream!
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Look at the KK Ultra bit, similar to french link, but the middle piece is round not flat. I’ve used the bit on many horses, including my 5 y/o and majority of the horses seem to like it. The mouth piece is also curved (fyi there’s an arrow on the bit designating top vs bottom). It could be her teeth, if you haven’t checked them within last 6 months she may have sharp edges.
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I just had my first jumping lesson with my 4 yo pony since September! She was amazing! She had All The Scary Things to deal with today. It was hugely windy outside so the lesson was indoors (I trailer out) and we haven’t been in that arena before. There were light spots on the footing where the sun was shining through holes in the siding. There was the Scary Flower Box that she didn’t want to go over (even though she jumped over the Other Scary Flower Box that had a pole over it without batting an eye), but eventually did with some encouragement. When we were done and after I untacked her, I needed to find the trainer to give her a check. I took Pony with me and we walked through the barn and then outside. Instead of going back through the barn I decided to walk around to get back to the trainer. The wind was whipping up the US flag that was strung up on a pole. Flap, flap, flap went the flag. Pony didn’t want to have any of it. We did sort of an advance and retreat and we were able to walk by it. Her little pony brain must be tired after all that!
But she got lots of praise for being such a good pony and doing so well in the lesson. I think tomorrow we’ll have a nice easy trail ride.
I had to log in to ‘like’ PNW’s post. There certainly is a whole learning curve; that repeats itself with each and every different horse! And that curve is curvy - it takes many turns. Same learning raising them from foals, making the breeding matches. Yes I wish there were documented histories that could be studied. There is a European breeding book of the bloodlines but I’d love to ‘see’ the horses as they physically change in their development. That learning takes so long that then you’re dead. So much goes into making a horse … love the thread on Off Course about it being a piece of artwork!
How is everyone doing with their babies?!
PNW your hunter is stunning!! How is he doing now?
I had to resurrect this thread to give an update on my baby! We had a rough start to the spring with some NQR-ness. After many diagnostics ($$$$), we xrayed almost every joint on him and “for fun” looked at his back and found some “changes” to his spine. Not quite kissing spines but not far off. It explained his not being lame per se but he had been compensating on his right hind and left front. Poor boy. No idea what caused it, perhaps born that way (1/2 appendix heavy in tb blood and half hanoverian), or a pasture accident (he plays very hard with another 4 yr old gelding). Got him right again with regular chiro/acupuncture and building topline in a pessoa then under saddle. Went to a few shows at the end of summer and he was pretty good!
Had our first jump lesson yesterday with a barn mate. My trainer is an eventer who trains with Laine Ashker, so she is all about gymnastics. All the “jumping” he has done has been tiny crossrails, and only 3 times. So she sets this gymnastic with a bending line option on either side at 2’, no ground lines, and has us do it forward and backward and looping all around! She said I needed to ride him like I fully expected him to go forward and jump, so I did! I wasn’t sure what he would think but he actually did really well as long as I kept my leg really on and encouraged him! My riding was terrible but we got over everything and my game little boy had his ears up and was looking for the next jump the whole time!! There were crotch rockets and a hoard of bicyclists going my and he just kept going! He’s 17 hands and lanky so not the most handy boy but he did well! Looking forward to the next lesson! It’s been a lot of fun to bring him along! Looking forward to ya’lls updates!
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Thank you, mpsbarnmanager! My hunter is the most freakish 4yo I’ve ever sat on (in the best way possible). He won throughout the summer in the baby greens AND carried around young kids in the short stirrups with wins there too. Never had a FOUR year old I was willing to put beginner level kids on before! :lol: And just in the last couple of weeks I’ve bumped the fences up at home to 3’ -3’3", and here he is doing an eq-style course for the first time: https://youtu.be/gQwLOOaMaSo This was his first time doing unrelated fences (the 2-stride is made up of two unrelated fences that are not lined up with each other), and not only did he happily do it, but he then cantered back to the “in” jump and headed straight down the actual related line with zero confusion. Just love this guy!
And I’ll update on my 5yo too since I mentioned her earlier and she’s part of the OP age. She was the one that I was sure was not going to catch up to her age group because she was SO sensitive and reactive to everything. Well, I put her on stomach stuff (omeprazole, a Chinese Herb called Stomach Happy - both at shows only, and then SmartDigest Ultra at home and at shows) and she turned into a different mare. She ended up catching up with her age group and picking up some fantastic ribbons in her 5yo classes through the second half of the summer. I have big plans for this girl! https://youtu.be/WHdp_Aprz50
Sorry to hear about your guy, but it sounds like you’re on the right track. It’s awful trying to figure out what’s going on with a horse, but so great once you figure out how to address what you need to address. And I’m not going to lie - 2’ jumps on a young horse without groundlines sound scary, lol! Kudos to you for having a such a great ride! I have no problem with jump size, but take away my groundlines and…yikes! :lol:
The 4 yr old who bucked me off and tore my rotator cuff September 2016 and got 4.5 months off between that and a swampy winter got restarted by me in the spring, turned 5, and hasn’t put a foot wrong since. I had a total of three lessons on him (super green/just broke baby stuff I can DIY) with my trainer of many years before she was diagnosed with cancer, and passed away very suddenly. It was a huge shock and a wake up call…
After a couple months of putzing around I found a new trainer and I have had 4 lessons with her that have totally changed the horse. He’s ridden 5 days a week and starting to use himself - gaits are getting more lofty, responsiveness is on the UP! This is a 17.1+ baby with a couple more years of growing in him I’d guess, whose favorite gait has been halt, and she’s telling me to slow him down now! He’s so darn smart. I’m pretty sure if he was in full training vs a lesson every 1-2 weeks he’d be first level by now.
He also got clipped for the first time and was a total pet about it.
He does need to get fitter and stronger - our arena suffers in rain, so I’m worried we won’t get enough work in to maintain him, but I have a new trailer coming soon so hope to get him out and about soon.
Hi all! I stumbled upon this old thread searching for stories of young horse commiseration.
Would love to hear stories of where all these horses wound up / turned out and maybe share any current 4yo 5yo tempter tantrum stories to make us all feel better about the “terrible 2s” of young horses. 
Especially during this seemingly endless wet/cold winter we’re having.
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All I do is baby horses and starting them so I have had a wide range of personalities over the years. I can definitely relate to almost all these stories.
Some have been much easier than others!
My last horse before my current was a leggy Iberian WB mare, best jump I have ever seen EVER and a fire cracker. Lots of go, zero woah. I had her at 18 months until she was a 5 y/o.
She had a ton of ground work, more than any horse I’ve ever started, exposed to everything I could think of and she was still a fire breathing dragon though she would never stop at a fence even though she just had started o/f.
Ever since I started her as a late 3 y/o I said every day she would get better to convince myself. Every day was very sticky full seats and I consider myself born sticky. Two years she was with me and in a young horse program, I maybe had two or three rides where I could relax and just hack. Otherwise, it was consistently attempting to ignore her spooky behaviours. Thankfully sending her more forward helped some, but with an athletic spin that would dump the best rider it always felt counter intuitive.
I learned to grin and bear it, stay loose but defensive in my core and just ride. But it sucked!
She could have easily taken me to 1.20’s-1.40’s though I wasn’t having fun anymore. She ended up in a jumper home with an older teen who was braver than anyone I know and with an Olympic coach full time.
I truly believe that every youngster is a different story, every strategy will be different but fundamentals are the same. Some you can push, some you have to wait.
Normally, the first ten rides will be gold and from there to 6 months under saddle they will try to be naughty. Usually they gain confidence about 4 y/o and by 5/6 with consistent good work you should have a decent idea of what type of horse you will have in the future.
Now, my current youngster is going on 4, just started in December. He is an Appendix APHA, but looks like a giant painted WB, 16.2 already and thick, he still isn’t overly confident but he’ll kick on. He’s been the easiest and smartest youngster I’ve ever had. Show him once, ask the second time and he’s got it.
With him 15-20 minutes a couple times a week is more than enough. Although, he sure loves a play date in the fluffy sand ring.
Key to remember with babies, everything and anything if normal and shorter is better. The more stressful the situation the shorter it should be. The tendency for the mental check out with emotional exhaustion is your worst enemy.
Though, in the end, the littlest wins feel amazing but they aren’t for everyone. You never know what kind of horse you will have until they have been in work for awhile.
Good luck!!!
Funny you should ask… This thread showed up on my list because someone liked my description of the 3/4/5 year old stages… Although it’s combined driving (and some ridden dressage to help with CDEs), not hunters, because I left that discipline when I bought the aforementioned youngster.
The upshot since 2016? Yes, he went through all the stages predictably, I delayed driving him for a year so he was a bit more mentally mature and since then we have progressed steadily. In fact this winter he (and I!) were recently accepted into the USEF Developing Athlete program (!!!) And in a few days I’m headed to my bucket list event, Live Oak international. We are still a work in progress at Intermediate, but going FEI/Advanced feels like an achievable dream. He’s also pretty damn respectable in dressage even if that’s what I refer to as “not his day job”. (Full disclosure: it’s possible he thinks day 2 of a dressage show is the strangest marathon ever, but he’s willing to be the fastest one out there)
But most of all, he’s a blast and while I’ve had a decent amount of success in a few disciplines, maybe not this much while having this much fun.
Inspirational enough? 
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