As someone who raised one from the day they were born, I know the struggle of those bratty teen years at ages 3-5. All I can say is cherish every moment, even the bad ones. My baby passed away just a month before she was 5. We had attended our first A rated show just the week before, nailed every lead change, but trotted down to the final 2’6 oxer. Rewind to age 3, we could hardly make it over a jump and encountered several months of a dangerous rearing habit. At 3, we also discovered the perfect canter transition and how pleasant and not scary trail rides around the farm were. At 4, we decided we should randomly stop at some jumps. On Saturday at a show, we would jump everything- though it was at 90mph with 4WD activated. Sunday with all the same jumps- wouldn’t go over a single thing. By 5, we had a bond like no other horse and rider team. Although I long for the days of perfect distances and seamless lead changes, I would still give anything for one more day of intermittent rearing and stopping at fences. I am forever envious of those of you that get to truly grow old with your horses and see the packer, grown-up years with them. Enjoy and best of luck to you all!
Agree - I’ve loved having my own homebred - I know everything that has ever happened to them and they come with no baggage.
All the stages have been interesting and the development of a young horse is very rewarding, despite the trials of young, inattentive, high strung, opinionated, etc. pupils. Seems everybody here had had those times. Patience is a virtue.
My boy did not want to play today. Everything was an involved discussion. Being caught. Leaving the paddock. Leaving the barn. Entering the arena. Walking our warmup. Doing anything that’s mom’s idea and not his own. Walking the cooldown. Leaving the arena. Walking back to the paddock. O. M. G! And our “workout” today was only 10 mins of trotting and about 2 of canter. I wanted him tired when we introduced the canter (we are rehabbing), but this was ridiculous.
I bought a 4 year old over the winter, who recently turned 5. I expected to deal with ADD moments, with silly days, and with freshness, but it turns out he really doesn’t seem to know how to be fresh. There are days we WISH he would be fresh, lol. He certainly has his ADD days, but overall his only “vice” seems to be general laziness!! He’s brave about things other more expeirenced horses spook at. I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop but so far, nothing, just a good workout getting him going and in front of your leg! So I’m currently remaining hopeful that his prior owners were the recipients of the “thug” phase :lol: Time will tell!
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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.
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Oh lord, please share your tricks for getting him to stand still at the mounting block!!! I had a nice ride on my baby yesterday after about LOSING MY FREAKING MIND trying to get him to hold still long enough to mount. He is extra food motivated and I’m not above bribery :lol:…
Don’t ride for 6 months? Sorry, I don’t know what did it. He was off due to injury and for some reason when it came time to leg up again, he was better about standing. We have been working on standing in general during his time off, but the results are mixed across situations in which standing is desired.
You may have something there with bribery, though. I spent a lot of time during his layup having him stop and stand in response to a specific noise cue and following it with a treat if he behaved. Like clicker training without holding a clicker. When he is really rude, he has to stop, stand, back, and then walk again calmly and halt again before he gets his treat. I did this to help keep his focus on me when other thighs were exciting. I don’t always have to give a treat anymore…just in high stress situations.
It took me 2 weeks of every day getting on my horse with a ground person every day before he would let me get on, stand still and then walk away. He would get so humpy it felt like I was on a 19 hand horse!!
That has finally past. Now his body just needs to catch up with his mind. We jumped him at my trainers for the second time today. He had some great jumps and others he literally tried jumping with his hind end first! Ha ha.
He looked so confused! But he has such a great mind and never got upset or scared and just plugged away until he really relaxed and got a couple really nice jumps!
So proud! ;). Such a nice baby and I can’t wait to watch him mature!
Had our first “baby incident” last night…freshly 4yr old warmblood, very quiet baby, will clearly be a stick/spur ride, decided he was done before lesson was over & was not wanting to canter giving a little crooked hop when asked to depart. Oh where oh where did my angel baby go lol
Sounds like a lot of these young horses have read the same go-to guide and a lot of these evasions are listed in the book.
When you get them to turn the page, they carry on, until they find another evasion to try and get you. But the less they win, the more they will be likely not to try the next one and accept their rider.
Seems my most common one has been the stop, or the spin on the trail.
Today my guy decided the white pony was a giant plastic bag. Ha ha
Had to get off and lunge because he was so freaked out any time the pony moved.
Funny thing is that his little brother and best friend is a pony!
But not a white pony. 
the angel of death. Ha ha ha ha
He is lucky he is so cute. 
Oh, this is timely. I have a just turned 4 year old who wasn’t even halter broke until last Oct. We are at the drunken sailor stage where she just can’t go in a straight line and also forgets how to turn. But all in all, I am very pleased with her and taking it VERY slowly. We can now get our right lead consistently without too much fuss.
The pony was a little better for mounting yesterday, but I had to wedge him between the mounting block and wall and have a friend bribe him with treats.
His go to evasion is to plant his feet and shake his head…he reminds me of a toddler having a temper tantrum :lol: That seems to be my biggest obstacle with him, getting him to go forward. He’s a quiet, lazy one…
IPEsq - I’m guessing it was the hard work you did during his layup that transferred to the mounting block. I’ll take a page out of your playbook and work on having him just stand still in random places and rewarding with a treat! Thanks 
I dunno…when he checked out of the rehab barn and moved back to normal boarding situation, he turned into a baby bulldozer pretty much everywhere except the mounting block! Either that or he refuses to move when I want him to go somewhere. I pretty much take my dressage whip with me everywhere, as that is the only thing he respects at the moment. I do still carry peppermints in my pocket when he deserves one.
I’ve also used Confidence EQ some during rehab, and I’ve found it really improves the standing still abilities, especially on the cross ties.
I wish my horse’s temper tantrum was just standing and shaking his head. We do that but only after the squeal, leap, buck, leap, buck, and flinging of front legs in the air :D.
Love this thread! I have a 4 yr old of my own who was started as a long 2 but primarily didn’t really get started until last year. He’s a good boy but pretty lazy with his feet. I want to start him in jumping and have taken him over some small cross rails. He is rather hit or miss on deciding of he really wants to try and jump but he’s at least very honest and always goes over. I want to up the rails to see if that would entice him to try more but I also want to make sure he has the muscle for it.
We are working on improving our flat as well and have started to really work on adjusting the different gaits. Any exercises though I can do to really help build those jump muscles to make sure I don’t ask too much? Thanks in advance!
Because I had no one to help me at the mounting block, I made this maze that she had to go thru to get to the mounting block. We did that for about a month and I slowly took pieces away until now it is just her, me and the mounting block and she stands 95% of the time. Yea!
My boy was great yesterday! Trotted in and cantered out of a little line and was great. The stride of this guy! Whew! We were crawling and got the 3 foot stride!!
As for some exercises I did that really helped his canter, I did side reins at the trot 2 times a week. Also once a week I would free jump and let him learn at a small jump how to use himself. Always working every other day so he doesn’t get sore or upset about working too much.
He went from not being able to canter more then 3 strides, to being able to go around 3 or 4 times in the arena!
Because of his growing and height, he still has his days, but he is much improved from 2 months ago!
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My boy was great yesterday! Trotted in and cantered out of a little line and was great. The stride of this guy! Whew! We were crawling and got the 3 foot stride!!
As for some exercises I did that really helped his canter, I did side reins at the trot 2 times a week. Also once a week I would free jump and let him learn at a small jump how to use himself. Always working every other day so he doesn’t get sore or upset about working too much.
He went from not being able to canter more then 3 strides, to being able to go around 3 or 4 times in the arena!
Because of his growing and height, he still has his days, but he is much improved from 2 months ago![/QUOTE]
YAY! That’s awesome he’s made so much progress! How long did it take for him to be strong enough to canter around the arena? Mine is at the 3-4 strides before he breaks phase…I may start lunging in side reins to help build some muscle.
Well you all jinxed me and we had some personality going on at the mounting block today ;). But, but! He seems to have learned shoulder fore and haunches in at the walk now. Got each one on the first try after several days of fumbling around with them. And we cantered a few minutes. There was some sass and whining, but he was back to his normal lazy out of shape pre-injury layup self.
I have had a few babies and love them. I have a two yr old warmblood that I am teaching to walk/trot in hand ( when we first trotted in hand he bit my shoulder ) but now he is great. I long-line him and take him for walks crossing streams ect. I appreciate his ‘try’ in everything I ask him and I compare him to a puppy - in his innocent behavior - his playfulness - we only work for short periods and I put a treat on a bucket in the middle of the ring as his reward for working with me and so he will never resent going in the ring to work. When I back him I will call a professional whenever I feel that I’m not communicating with my horse as I have had that happen and I’m reminded that my horse is never wrong - its always me!
When I put him in the cross ties I have to remove everything around him as he is going through a very oral stage - and yes, I think, oh how nice it is when I groom my older horse and he stands there like a statue!
He’s lucky he’s cute!
First off property arena jump school (he’s gone XC schooling once). And first time jumping hunter/jumper jumps with colours and fill. He wasn’t too bad, but he’s definitely not the bravest pony in the world.
