Another thread got me thinking. Who is starting their own young horse… And I don’t talk about people who do it for a living but people who start their own personal horses… Who sat on them for the first time themselves and got them started under rider. Just curious Thank you!! I will start, I started one last year with my hubby, I was the first one sitting on her but then he was the one who trotted her for the first time, but now I am training her. And I just sat on my 3 year old today for the first time. And I guess I will be the one doing the first trotting as well. I have a friend holding the lunge while I do this…
I’ve started mine 
it’s such an interesting process - some pick it up no problem, others find something scary every ride 
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I always have. The ones I bred have stuff done to them so regularly that getting on their backs is no big deal. I think when you have them every day and you know them, it’s not so scary. You know how they tend to react to things. I get over their backs bareback for the first time in a safe space with someone there so if they are startled, I just slide off. Once you get through those little things, everything is a progression. Since I don’t get on them until four, they have had a whole bunch of things I’ve done to them and they’re used to how things work. Riding is just a progression of the same old, same old.
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I have started three. One I purchased as a weanling, another was two and the third was 3 years old. Two of them were easy one not so much. Bucked me off twice so I got some help. A friend got on him for me once. After that I managed to continue. They turned out OK. Have also retrained quite a few OTTBs.
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Mine was a 4 year old who had been retrained under saddle for a few months after his racing career ended. The rest was all me. I’d rather shape new clay than repair someone else’s broken flower pot.
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My daughter is starting her 2 year old now. He is doing lots of ground work and learning skills like trailer loading and being ponied behind a well trained horse on short trail rides. She now rides him at the walk around her property. He is an Irish Draught and is very laid back. Next year, he will go to a professional for his official being put under saddle. My daughter used this technique for her now 9 year old Irish Draught Sport Horse. He is a versatile, good citizen, who events, trail rides, and does just about anything else that she wants. If you have a relaxed young horse, it is worth considering a lot of the work yourself.
I used to be a professional and started many for clients. I made the decision to go back to school and work a 9-5 job when my homebred was 2.5, effectively becoming an adult amateur.
I started him at 4 on my own (with ground help, but I did all the riding). As a 5 year old I did enlist the help of one of my trainer’s assistants when he was giving me a hard time, but he was WTC by then. She continues to come to my place and give me a lesson once in a while or pop on him to assist as needed.
Let me tell you, I ride my own horse a heck of a lot different than I ever rode a client’s horse. Weird phenomenon.
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Please explain?
I also start all my own. Same as most of the others; I’d rather mold the clay and have everything ho-hum by the time we get to riding. I also used to be a professional, but I didn’t/don’t ride my horses differently. Everyone gets the same outcomes tailored to their personality, etc. I may be misinterpreting that comment though.
I get that comment frequently when I take lessons on my own horse. “Ride him like he’s one of your clients’ horses.” I tend to be a little easier on my own horses, which I think is better than the opposite, but once in a while, I do need to be told to get stern with them!
And for the sake of this thread, yes I start my own because I want a blank slate, and I also start horses for others.
I start my own.
I hate climbing up the first few times (I had one that was kind of a lemon - something wired wrong in his head, and that’s always lurking in the back of my mind), but beyond that I absolutely love it!
I’m just starting my 3 year old mare. Actually, I sat on her twice and then broke my ribs in a freak accident on another horse and it’s been killing me to have to stop my progress with her. Not that a couple of months off are going to do anything negative whatsoever to her!
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Well for one, I can’t fire myself. I can take it much easier on my own horse than I did clients horses. Not that I ran my clients horses into the ground, but there was always a clear agenda: make Dobbin a good citizen for his owner. Even slight shenanigans were corrected with “Ok, good canter, but that balancing buck as you step into it will terrify your mother. Lets try again.” Or “No, you must stand still a the mounting block, before, during and after mounting.”
I was also financially motivated to ride every day, rain or shine. A good horse and good clients translated to me giving lessons to client on good horse.
Now, if it’s hot or I am tired I may skip a ride. Or he walks off at the mounting block once in a while. My 6 year old just mmmaaayyy be able to make it through a training level test. Maybe, that left lead is a little sticky. There is no one to hold me accountable for his progress.
When I do go to my trainer’s she has sometimes told me to “Sit up and ride your horse or I will put so-and-so assistant on him”. Not that it’s really her call, but takes away any baggage I have about being too soft. I am about to “get fired” and I just ride. Fixes most issues, not all.
Does that help?
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I started my most recent horse. Bought him as an unbacked two year old. I could only do this because (1) my trainer is watching like a hawk every step of the way, (2) there’s nothing complicated about him (3) he’s not a particularly outstanding mover and (4) he is ridiculously forgiving. He was meant to be an ammie horse. He’s schooling first level at five with scores in the upper-60s, capable my trainer believes of easily being a decent quality third level horse, and probably capable of PSG.
Yes, thanks…just curious. 
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Of the horses I have owned as an adult:
#1 - paint mare I bought from a friend as a 3yo, had about the equivalent of 60 days under saddle, still crow-hopped at the canter and I turned her into a nearly finished WP horse in the 2 years I had her
#2 - QH gelding bought at 2.5 - taught him everything as he barely new how to tie and pick up his feet. Got him pretty well broke, but he was never really sound to go past training level work. He is 13 and retired with a broken knee now, but only one other person has ever been on his back.
#3 - Arabian mare I won in a raffle at 3 yo - She didn’t know a thing so I did her ground work and started her US W/T, but was really too big for her tiny 13.3H frame, so I sold her at that point.
#4 - Appaloosa mare bought as another know-nothing 3 yo. Did all the ground work, backed her and had her jumping 2’3" and getting close to ready for first level doing all the riding myself with just the occasional lesson but sold her fall of her five year old year so I could by Fancy Horse…
#5 - GOV mare bought as a 2.5 year old with slightly more ground manners education than #2-4. I did all the ground work on her last year, backed her, then she bucked me off quite spectacularly. Got a trainer who got her in a wreck and traumatized her, so she has been out with another trainer since winter getting her head right, and I’m hoping she’ll come around to being ammy-friendly enough for me to take her back.
#6 - Appendix mare I just bought this spring as a 4 yo - had a pretty good start on her in general western riding, but still not solid in the canter. Her previous owner gave her a general light start, and then had a pro on her for 90 days. I think any future horses I might buy will be at this stage, or I’ll pay someone else to do the backing and first W/T/C work to get them to this stage after my experience with #5. I won’t lie; it’s nice to be able to just go out and throw a leg over, but at the same time, she doesn’t have a lot of training to figure out and correct as she’s still learning almost everything for the first time.
I have started all my young ones…a grand total of 4 over the years. The last one I started is now 15 and will be the last, I am pretty sure. I am now 62 with a lot of skeletal infirmities:sigh:. I very much enjoyed the process and only had one I needed some help with. She was very unbalanced and when I tried to start cantering her more than 6 months after the starting her, I couldn’t get out of her way and I ended up on the ground 3 times. Nothing hard or dirty…but uncomfortable for me:uhoh:. I sent her to a trainer and it only took 2 weeks to fix the issue. I just needed someone that wasn’t riding defensively and could stay out of her way. Other than that, I have done all the starting work on all of them and they all turned out to be solid citizens. Have I ever gotten very far competitively? Not really but it hasn’t been the horse’s fault…mostly life getting in the way. I have gotten three of the four to second level.
Susan
I too start my own and am backing a 3 year old now. I don’t know if he will be my last but I don’t think there are too many more left in me. I’ve been pretty lucky especially with those I bred and put in the ground. Don’t get me wrong. I love the training process more than anything else. I started backing babies before I was an adult. It started out of necessity and it continued to be the most cost effective choice for me. Still at closing in on 54 and being the sole supporter of adult children and aging parents, I realize I have to take fewer risks.
I was the first rider on my last horse (although my friend and his coowner did all the ground work to het him to the point where someone could swing a leg over).
The horse I am riding for someone else now is an 8yo who was technically started, but sat so long she was basically greenbroke walk/trot when she was purchased this spring. It so much fun riding them at the stage where they improve leaps and bounds every ride, and I like making sure everything gets installed “just so”.
Also I am continually reminded that the second one is much easier than the first - learned a lot from horse #1!
My daughter is 17 and rides her 7 yr old home bred wb that she started as a three yr old, working with a trainer, but she has done all the work. Now she is starting her next horse, another home bred three yr old, and continues to train her first horse.
It is so rewarding when they do well and its because you did a good job bringing them along.
The second is coming along easier because she has more knowledge of the process now than she did with the first.
I use to when I was younger and bounced better. Not anymore. I ride on my own, so starting a baby means ON MY OWN. No one to help me. As I got older, I decided it is worth it to pay someone to start the youngsters. I help - so there is 2 of us - much safer, much more effective. But I’ve started several and sold them, and all of them went on to be wonderful dressage horses for their owners.
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