How many years of horse experience did you have before getting your first foal or unstarted horse?
First of all nobody panic 🤣 I know for a fact that it will be several years before I could even think about doing this, let alone afford it.
I have seen people work and train and teach and bond with young horses and it seems so cool, to develop that kind of connection…it looks like an amazing experience. I have taught young humans before and I love seeing them learn so that may have something to do with it 😊
So out of curiosity, how many years of experience did you have before you began to train a young horse? And what special skills do you feel are essential?
TIA! 🥰
EDIT: Thanks so much for all the replies! I still have a lot to learn, like young/green horses are very different from older/experienced horses especially how they learn, and that starting under saddle is a whole other side of training. Learning so much! 🙂
I rode in lessons for 14 years, did schooling shows, and learned a lot of general practical horse care along the way... and I still never really feel like I'd be comfortable starting my own horse. Could be a personal thing, but the more I spent at the barn while simultaneously learning my career and becoming an adult, I knew I'd never have the spare time or money that could support starting a horse. Nor do I think I gained the practical skills to do so.
I chalk it down to the logic of "let the life-timers, professionals, and those who live it 24/7 handle that responsibility". Starting a horse isn't really an experiment that you can take on and do well with powered by good intentions. Not to be a Debbie downer about it but I think horse starting is best left to professionals.
Oh I completely understand what you mean, you’re not being a Debbie Downer, just being realistic. Honestly makes me feel less alone in that not all horse people train their young horses themselves; I just see it a lot more in the barn crowd I’m in, I guess.
I have seen people work and train and teach and bond with young horses and it seems so cool, to develop that kind of connection…it looks like an amazing experience. I have taught young humans before and I love seeing them learn so that may have something to do with it
the cool thing about horses is that it doesn't really matter their age; horses are able to learn and "bond" with their humans no matter what stage they're at in life. that connection you get with a horse is possible as long as you put the work into the horse, regardless of it's age.
i'm 20 years into my equestrian experience and i wouldn't feel comfortable buying a baby (not without very drastic changes in my current lifestyle). some people at my barn recently bought babies (1 person bought a 2 year old, another person bought a 3 and 4 year old) and it was a very stark reminder of why not everyone - even "experienced" equestrians, are capable of breaking/training babies.
I’m going to add to this….I know a woman who swore up and down she needed to buy a foal and train it herself because otherwise she couldn’t bond with it.
Her and that horse HATED each other. The owner was not equipped to start a baby and the first 3 years of that horse’s life were a wreck. It was just an endless cycle of them confusing and frustrating each other.
The horse ended up hurting the owner badly and the owner dumped her at an auction yard because she was “just a mean horse”.
It was a very sad thing to witness.
That makes sense! I guess I sometimes see older horses that are spoiled or too old to train the bad habits out of them, being the one who starts the foundation means I could fix it early instead of dealing with a stubborn old man gelding (aka a couple of my fave lesson horses 🤣) seems really appealing. (Edit: Apparently I’m very incorrect in this paragraph. Horses of any age can be trained!)
I do enjoy teaching my lease horse manners and tricks, I guess that’s where this is coming from too…but I understand that starting under saddle is a whole different animal (no pun intended).
There is SO much to learn when it comes to horses, I’m learning so much from what I thought was a simple question hehe 😊
Edit: So apparently I was very in the wrong here commenting that some horses were too old or spoiled to retrain. That was my bad, I’m still learning, and thanks for the correction!
Ah wow! I didn’t think about how complicated the breaking part was, but all these replies make sense.
riding over 20 years, never have done that. i’ve had green horses before but nothing younger than 5. i’ve considered breeding before, i have worked on a breeding barn and have experience handling foals, teaching them ground manners etc, but would send the young horse off to a professional to be started under saddle for sure.
even my trainer sends unbacked horses off to another professional that specializes specifically in starting young horses. it’s a specialized skill set and lays the foundation for the horses entire education and it’s imperative that it is done 100% correctly. once they have that foundation, my trainer brings them along and trains them. there is also just a high risk of injury to the rider so it’s best to let the pros handle it.
I told another poster that I was thinking more of the foundation of training a foal, not the saddle starting part which is quite different. These responses are def helping me understand that the backing part is better left to the professionals 😁
One thing to also point out is the inherent risk/cost of buying a young horse. A lot of people here have extremely valid points of handling foals/backing young horses. But you have to remember you need to get that horse to be old enough to ride without them injuring themselves. Foals/yearlings are notorious for injuring themselves no matter what precautions you take. You could have your yearlong receive a debilitating injury that ends it’s riding career quite easily. As easily as getting cast on a stall.
I went over with several people the cost of raising a young horse in my barn. By the age of starting you have put somewhere between $10,000 to $20,000 into that foal if you are boarding it at another facility. That is if absolutely nothing goes wrong. You could get a really nice green horse for 10-20k (usd) that is more than likely past the age of trying to kill itself.
I prefer to raise my own foals but I always had pasture/other horses/my own property so it was feasible for me. Now that I don’t have the property I most likely will not raise a young horse because I can’t give it the mental stimulation/herd dynamics it needs in order to be what I want. Most horses in this area are stalled and have absolutely atrocious herd etiquette because they were never turned out when young.
As somebody who loves to start horses I agree to send it to a professional. I have always started my own. But I often send my older ones out for “finishing” because that isn’t my skill set. I can get them “there” but it takes me a lot longer than sending them to somebody who specializes in it for a few months.
Ah yeah, the price is def a huge factor! Fortunately I live in a place with lots of land, so at my barn horses are only stalled if sick or injured, otherwise they are out 24/7 or rotate day/night turnout. They also put the young ones together, usually with an older babysitter horse to teach them manners 😁
Why did we pick such an expensive hobby 🤣 Joking aside, thanks for the detailed response and info! 😊
I prefer to raise my own foals but I always had pasture/other horses/my own property so it was feasible for me.
Time and again I am reminded how privileged I am to be in this position.
I am a passable rider (ridden since before I could walk but never had any lessons and never done any showing). We've bred our own horses and have produced functional riding horses for the style of riding we do, which is farming/hacking in the UK. If I wanted a horse to be perfectly schooled and know it's lead changes etc (idk I don't do that stuff) then I'd definitely look at getting a professional trainer involved.
I helped with starting ponies when I had about 4 years of experience, I was 10 and my instructor was experienced in starting horses under saddle, and I was the stickiest kid at the barn. I started several horses under saddle in my 20s. It's actually difficult to switch between riding babies and riding well schooled horses. It's a completely different mindset. Like the difference between working with a 5 year old kid on a project and another adult. One, you give a ton of encouragement, tell them every little step, and only expect them to get about half of it right. The other you tell them once, and get out of their way just work on little balance corrections but mess with them as little as possible; you just focus on your own seat and sticking with them with as quiet communication as possible.
Accidentally micromanage a well schooled horse, they get super frustrated. Don't give a baby enough direction and encouragement, they get super frustrated. My eventing trainer would always comment about how much I talk to my horse, and that I had to remember not to talk during my dressage tests. It's the one habit from the babies that I never did get rid of, but my horses didn't ever mind verbal praise, so it's been fine.
Ah yeah, that makes total sense! I have only been riding for 2 years so I am still mostly on the older horses right now, and currently my lease horse is 22yo. I like the analogy between teaching different ages of humans and horses which makes total sense!
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