Young Horse Show Series (YHS) - Prep Farms

[Philliab]

Are there any farms specifically designed to prep young horses (ages 1-3)for the YHS shows that don’t cost an arm and a leg?

I’d love to send my young horse, but the big farms charge the same price for a young horse as a riding horse in full training. Any small farms offering this that a more affordable price?

Thanks!

[EventerAJ]

I’m not specifically familiar with how big farms prep for YHS. But I do know a lot about yearling prep, and I used that program to get my colt ready for FEH events and championships. Good prep helps a lot to make a young horse look competitive! BUT, it is a whole lot of work…honestly comparable to a horse in training…so I can see how big farms would charge about that rate.

When I managed a prominent TB farm, yearling prep started at $33/day. Horses were groomed daily, bathed weekly, handled by professionals and learned manners. Turned out at night, in during the day to keep coats dark. They were exercised 30min a day; alternating days between handwalking and walked/jogged in a Euro walker. Extra chubby ones spent 10 minutes working in a round pen. Some with growth issues skipped the walker (no tight circles) and were ponied instead in a big 20ac field with hills. It was a LOT of work getting the yearlings fit, but they (justifiably) looked like a million bucks after 90 days prep.

If you have the means and the time, you can certainly do the prep yourself. Start working 90 days out from show date, and handwalk your youngster 30minutes 5 days a week. If you have access to a pony horse, that’s even better! But don’t forget handwalking is still important for manners and to develop a loose, free, swinging walk at handlers shoulder. Add in spurts of jogging to teach obedience at trot, too. Once a week, do some work in hand on triangle turns. If you get bored handwalking, teach your youngster to ground drive…good exercise and great prep for starting under saddle later!

[pony_grandma]

Also letting them see a jump chute. It doesn’t have to involve height. Learning to stride and go forward is issue.

[Philliab]

Excellent information! Thanks!

If that’s what these farms are providing, I can see why they charge so much for their time. For someone who can do all that themselves, I’d rather wait and invest that money into his under saddle training. My issue is that I’m not on the East coast yet (currently farm shopping) so I was hoping to send my boy ahead without me. I think I’d better just wait.