3-4yo too young for breaking in?

Spotty_Pony

Spotty_Pony

Save the animals!
Sep 25, 2006
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I think that horses should be broken in at 5-6 years of age. My next door neighbour's pony is almost 4 yo, 14hh but will mature at 14.2hh and they're jumping him!!! I reckon they've broken him in too early, let alone jumping!

They keep him on the bit the entire time! I disagree with keeping a pony's chin to his chest without a break for hours on end.

What are your thoughts? I think youngin' should be broken in at 5-6 years of age... at least.

Ground work, fine. Backing...?

Thanks,
SP
 
Depends entirely upon the sort of horse/pony, its mental and physical capabilities, who is riding/driving it & what they are going to do with it and for how long!

I break in my cobs to drive at 3, but they don't come under any pressure! They are lightly ridden from 4. My heavy horses don't start till they are 4. If they are going to be ridden this starts at 5 as they don't mature till they are 7/8!

I esxpect it is all different with TB's etc. They mature a lot faster.
 
they keep him on the bit the entire time....its a natural thing for a horse, reeling its head in is not and is very very different from true collection.

alos, please dont post the same thing in mre than one forum, it uses up space.
 
I think its fine depending on the type of horse. I don't break horses in (will do when I'm more exeperienced) but I've brought on a lot of youngsters. I think heavier horses should be left for longer because they grow into themselves slower, but finer types are fine to be broken at that age, and jumped - if it was damaging why is there a circuit for 4 year olds in the BSJA?

My cob is 5 and she's been broken to ride and drive, and jump. Jumps 3 foot/3 foot 3 without a problem and she's very good at it, and she goes along on the bit most of the time, not because I'm constantly asking (I do work on it though, but on hacks and even on the lunge without sidereins or anything) but because she's got self carriage, she's been broken in well and just moves like that naturally now, it's not cruel.
 
i broke my cob in in the summer as a 3 1/2 year old. I only did light work and no work on the bit. He is turned away over the winter and i will bring him on next summer to school him and start to intorduce him on the bit.

However, i keep my horses on a livery yard which breaks in young horses and they have to break most of their horse in at 3 yr old as otherwise they grow to big and strong minded and they actually do better being broken in younger.

As for jumping it depends on the horse. I wont start jumping my boy until he's 4 1/2 at least. However there are alot of ppl who seriously jump 3 yr olds to get the ready for the bsja 4 yr old championships.
 
Most people break their horses between 3 and 4yrs. A lot are backed lightly at 3, and then turned away for the winter.
I think you have to see each horse as an individual, and if you know your horse well, you should know when he's ready.
I don't agree with jumping a 3 yr old, but I'm sure some are ready to be jumped carefully at 4 yrs.
As long as your neighbour isn't doing too much work, I don't think she'll be doing much harm.
 
most of the problems do occur when a horse is worked to hard to early. However most good show jumping horses are only jumped hard from the age 4 - 13 ... After that they have a rest time. My friend recently bought a 15 yr old Grade A showjumper which had a problem with its legs due to being broken in to early. it had been rested for 4 months and it is now jumping 1m10 courses again. Sure its not what it was doing before but he is a complete schoolmaster and is a great confidence giver. The vet looked at him and said he was fine to work.
 
all horses mature differently at different rates and how well they develop can be down to how well they were cared for as a youngster ie getting the right feed to allow them to mature properly.I agree that horses should be brought on slowly.I backed my friends youngster earlier this year just before he was 4.He is now 4 and a 1/2 and enjoying gentle hacking.He will be starting his proper schooling under the watchful eye of an experienced instructor who is fantastically good with youngsters and who won't push him too hard or too fast.Everything we have done with him so far has been done slowly and steadily at his pace not ours.We have started to introduce him to poles on the lunge and once his flatwork is going nicely the poles will be introduced to him under saddle but all this will be done at a pace he is comfortable with. He is a healthy and happy youngster who comes to us from a whistle in the field and sulks if he is not being brought in to do something other than being fed.He is going to make a fantastic horse in time as he has a very nice temperament and tries to please.If he was unhappy in his work he would be turned away for a bit before being brought back into work again but with this horse I don't think its likely to happen as everything has been done so slowly and he really is genuinely interested in his work.
On the other hand I know of a girl who does bsja who backed her horse at 2 taking him unaffiliated jumping at 3 before taking him bsja at 4.At 6 the horse broke down with some serious tendon damage and at 8 he is dead.He never did come sound although his death was due to an accident in the field and not because of his lameness.The same girl now has another youngster who is 3.She is already jumping her at 3' unaffiliated aiming to bsja her as soon as she is old enough.All her training work she does with her is either on the lunge clamped down with side reins that are too tight or spent jumping.She never hacks the poor mare out or does any proper flatwork sessions with her which is a shame.This girl is quite successful at what she does and feels backing them at 2 is right.I do disagree with her opinion but what she does with her horses is her business.
 
i broke my horse in as a 3 yo i dont c a prob as long as your sensable on the amount of stress u put on the horse physicly.
i was riding a 7 yo that was broken at 6 and i found her very set in her ways and difficult to teach.
 
Spotty_Pony said:
Well, it is damaging, but by the time the damaging occurs, the horse is usually old & crippled! Not many people would of thought to trace it back to when they entered the event and link it to that.
Click to expand...

my friend has full history of her 30 year old pony.
and he was broken at 3 and jumping almost straight away.
as i said, he is now 30, and is not atall "crippled" does light hacks 4 times a week, and loves every minute of it.
he only stopped jumping about 2 years ago, and he has only been lame once and is one of the healthiest 30 year olds i've seen.
 
Theres a pony (my fave ever actually) at the RS who's 28 and practically crippled due to being jumped too young.

He's such an honest thing, they asked too much of him and him being how he is just did it for them, even though it probably hurt. They had him for years, broke him at 3, started jumping him straight away, and then when he broke down sold him to the RS who dont use him anymore.

He's on all sorts of painkillers and is fine when on them, no lameness, but as soon as he is off them can hardly walk properly. Thats what jumping too young can do to them. Especially if all they want to do is please.

Breaks my heart to see him like this when it could have so easily been prevented. :(:(:(
 
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