[QUOTE=Risuena;8670732]
A friend of mine calls the 4-5 year old ages “the wonder years”…as in “I wonder why I bought this horse??” :lol:[/QUOTE]
HAHAHA. Yes! Even though I love mine and he will never be for sale, I have had those rides.
All jokes aside, I can’t wait to do it again!
Samotis - I LOVE him!!! He will make up to be a lovely hunter with that jump.
[QUOTE=Risuena;8670732]
A friend of mine calls the 4-5 year old ages “the wonder years”…as in “I wonder why I bought this horse??” :lol:[/QUOTE]
Mine was 3-4 for that. At 5 now I’m finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. (He was lovely when I bought him at 2.)
On the plus side he’s VERY PRETTY. I tell people that he’s lucky he’s so good looking or he’d have been dogfood by now.
I forgot how awkward they can be at 3. It’s like the baby learning to walk or run. They stumble or fall and kind of look at you for reassurance. I’d always try not to laugh because I swear she could tell when I was laughing at her and it hurt her feelings. She’d get sullen and suddenly wouldn’t want pets or love as much.
Also as a 3 and 4 year old, whenever she was asked to do something difficult, she’d grunt. I could time raised trot poles and cavalettis with my eyes closed due to her grunting over each one. Then suddenly she turned 5 and grew into her very feminine show name I’d picked out for her as a tomboy 3 year old.
[QUOTE=Risuena;8670732]
A friend of mine calls the 4-5 year old ages “the wonder years”…as in “I wonder why I bought this horse??” :lol:[/QUOTE]
That’s exactly how things are going right now. I’ve seriously considered sending him back, but on the good days, I love his brain and his work ethic, so we’ll hang in there. His bratty behavior began at 4 1/2, and I’m hoping it’ll end soon.
I think we must remember how hard it is for a young horse to be balanced until he has the strength to balance under a rider. They vary, and we just have to keep it simple until they can do the task, as well as multi-training by getting them out and about until their mind grow up a little too. It takes ages sometimes so we have to make haste slowly. Calm, forward, straight - is that so hard? Yes.
Also a timely thread for me since I just hit the dirt for the first time from my 5 yo last night! In his defense, while he didn’t help things he wasn’t being particularly naughty.
What I’m finding challenging in this stage is that I’m asking and expecting a bit more from him than last year. In many ways he has improved and matured tremendously, but I feel like riding him through the things we are trying to master this year is relatively more challenging. Though that probably says more about me than him…
My baby is 4 this year, and man, it is frustrating, but so rewarding. I remember the first time we trotted… swoon. We haven’t ridden much in the past month (rain, work, rain, flu, rain, rain rain!), but he did really enjoy throwing tantrums during our rides. We would be happily walking, doing figure eights and serpentines (hello steering), I’d ask for a trot, and… NO. He’s the laziest 4yo ever, so all he does is stop, plant his feet, stomp, and toss his head. It would be awfully amusing if it wasn’t so frustrating! Thankfully we figured out a solution before the rain started, but he definitely makes me remember how long it’s been since I started a baby!
He’s growing really slow though, so we’re taking it easy, which is frustrating in and of itself. We are just starting to work on picking up the canter, which is a feat for a lazy boy! But it is rewarding, and I know I’ll be laughing about our current issues… in a few years!
This thread makes me feel so much better. Bought a big brat at 4 1/2. Now at almost 6 we are basically starting over from scratch due to physical/injury issues. The attitude is still there, and I’m having to re-do all of the physical conditioning and who is in charge part. The only thing helping him is that he grew a ton last fall and is less downhill than during his most gangly stages. But steering? Um, what’s that again? Changing gait without back-talk? He will finally (FINALLY!) stand still at the mounting block most days, but the ADHD is still in full swing.
My last 5yo was so easy. So easy! The one before that was very hard, but this one takes the cake.
This thread is making me bask in the glory that is the honey moon of the three year old year. I get compliments from everyone; farrier, vet, barn staff etc, on how well behaved he is. He’s a doll under saddle. He’s relatively solid W/T (with steering) under saddle, and at that I’ve done 95% of it with no ground person. He even looks like a normal grown up horse, hasn’t had an awkward phase for months now.
I’d like to hang onto this as long as possible. Most of my experiences have pointed to 5 as the terrible year, so we shall see what happens with this love bug of a guy.
[QUOTE=Risuena;8670732]
A friend of mine calls the 4-5 year old ages “the wonder years”…as in “I wonder why I bought this horse??” :lol:[/QUOTE]
I bought my guy last year in early spring of his 4 YO year. At 5 he is still in his “saucy” stage. I’ve had him at probably 8-10 schooling shows over the last year, and I still don’t know if I’m going to get the angel or the devil. He is a blast though, and the most amusing horse I have met–he’s into everything and always has an opinion. Here is a picture with his event trainer in a little 2’3" division. And another of him jumping a little higher at home.
Love that face! 
Yes, my Nick name of Barbaro for my 4 year old still sticks at the canter. Ha ha. He has no idea what collection is yet.
When we are done and I am trying to walk and cool him out, he takes one step, stops, I kick, one more step, stop, I kick harder, two steps, stop. Argh!
I can’t wait for the day he can walk one way around the arena without me kicking him, or clucking like a dang chicken! Ha ha
Funny how they are certain of when it’s time to quit for the day.
Mine does this whinny that starts out high pitched and whiny and then goes deep, and it is is “I am tired and so mad at you right now!” noise. It makes me laugh, but he does not think its funny!!
This thread is so funny to me. Thanks for sharing your stories! Obviously 4-5 is the “middle school” age of a horse, based on behavior & attitude. :lol:
Oh my god. I’d forgotten the squeals. Princess squealed when offended: squeals when asked to move over in the crossties, squeals when getting a smack for trying to push me around, squeals when leg was put on, etc. I used to warn other riders to keep an eye out for us, and then I just started telling them that if they heard EEEEEeeEEEEEeeeEEEE that we might be zipping past doing airs above the ground. it’s hard to hold on when you’re laughing, but it’s wonderful to have a warning siren for temper tantrums.
At 7, she is an angel!
My boy sticks his tongue out when he is nervous. Ha ha. Kind of like his wubby.
I know that he will end up really nice, his biggest problem now is growing up both mentally and physically. They both always seem to fight against each other.
One day he can do a couple perfect lead changes and then spook at the horse in the corner whith the scary fly mask on.
Or be awesome in the ring with 10 other horses but forget that he can actually pick up the canter! Ha ha
My big guy is just big, and has tossed in a week or two of naughty behavior about once every 6 months…at 4, then 5, and now 6. I’ve always been a do-it-yourself gal, haul out to lessons, but my young one, he is powerful, knows it and so I am working a lot with a trainer.
I’m having more pro rides than I ever thought I’d have on a horse, we just started entering him in the 1.2m 6 year old classes. Here is his first time at 1.2m, he had a rail, but makes that look reasonably easy. http://youtu.be/815gSI0Lfzw
The video of me riding him over some tiny XC Logs is much less interesting.
http://youtu.be/Gn1Zhlzbg7o
I’m not really big enough for him…Horse sadly outgrew owner!
He looks great!!
I do have my 4 year old nominated for the young jumpers. His dad is Roc USA who has a lot of jumpers out showing.
I am just not quite sure he will be ready for the 4 year old regionals in September. We are playing it by ear.
First Sally Wheeler undersaddle and hunter hack, then we will see about the 4 year old young jumper regionals! Pretty big step up so it will all depend on how he handles it.
Although today he jumped great for the first time at trainers with busy lessons going on and a lot of wind! Proud of him today!
Thanks. I wish we had done the 5 year olds last year with him, but I did not realize those classes were there, and he is a big guy and was a bit slow to mature, so I do not know if he would have been ready to jump that big. Physically capable, yes, but mentally ready would have been a big maybe.
They do have to be mentally ready - I’ve seen these young horses balk at going into the ring and getting a big walloping…they need to be comfortable at the venues first, to learn to enjoy their jobs before being overloaded. Not sure if I agree with these young horse classes overall. The Steward just looked, did nothing.
My boy sticks his tongue out of the side of his mouth. He does it when he’s thinking about something… or thinking about NOT doing something. It freaked us out at first, but after much $$ spend on vet consults, head x-rays, multiple dentist visits, and massages, he’s fine. He just does it because he can. SUCH a baby!
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