Ok, my young warmblood is again going through another growth spurt and has become completely unbalanced again. She was backed lightly as a coming 3 year old and worked on forward and straight. We started working lovely for the past 3 months. She got her rhythm, started to come nicely into the contact and her transitions were getting much more balanced, even the downward. This last month has been a devil of a time. She wants to over bend, fall out and totally lost her balance. She cross fires at the canter on the ground. My trainer told me the other day she is indeed going into another growth spurt and is completely croup high. She is weak in the hind end and poor thing can't balance for anything. Question is, how do you know if you should just let them have a few months off to grow and come back to work or to work them through the growth spurt. She is coming 4 yrs old now but still a big mare and growing. She is reaching 17 h. BTW, she has been vet checked and consulted with experienced trainers. All her issues are related to lack of strength and balance and not a soreness/lameness issue.
Young horse growth spurts and training
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I have a really stocky fjord who is rising 4 (may) we did a little with him towards the end of last year , lead him round with my daughter on him, but then turned him totally away, we had thought about starting him properly now but he is now loosing teeth like nobodies business which is making him a little grumpy and he is so bum high it would be unfair when he would be so obviously unbalanced. the issues for Alfie are obvious as I know we would be starting with discomfort which is certainly not a good place to start for us. At the moment he is unbalance due to being a wonky donky that he over reached quite badly resulting in vets visit so there is no way i could expect him to carry a rider. at the moment I wont even put the bit in his mouth as his back molar caps are coming out (Didnt realise how huge they were !!) but we are going into the school and doing some in hand basic manners work, to keep his tiny little brain stimulated:bounce:
So hard to know what to do with youngsters, but Ive had alf since the day he was born (i have his mum) so we are in no rush..........
It could be that you mare is loosing teeth which is also affecting her as well as being croup high? The issue doesn't necessarily need to be a lameness issue, having a bit in your mouth when you have loose caps must be uncomfortable and affect her way of going?. I knew Alfie had his front caps loose but the back ones were only visible when I happen to find one in his stable! Good luck......(she is a very big girl!)
So hard to know what to do with youngsters, but Ive had alf since the day he was born (i have his mum) so we are in no rush..........
It could be that you mare is loosing teeth which is also affecting her as well as being croup high? The issue doesn't necessarily need to be a lameness issue, having a bit in your mouth when you have loose caps must be uncomfortable and affect her way of going?. I knew Alfie had his front caps loose but the back ones were only visible when I happen to find one in his stable! Good luck......(she is a very big girl!)
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I can only speak from experience of my own WB, but at rising 4 he was physically very immature still. The things you are talking about - working consistently in a novice outline, maintaining balance through transitions, lateral work - he wasn't doing until he was 5 (nearly 6 for canter work). He also grew an inch between the ages of 5 and 6!
I think you are absolutely right to treat her as the young horse she is and consider giving her a few months off. Alternatively, maybe forget the serious side of work for a few months. Let her find her balance out hacking in all three paces, outside where there is plenty of space. I think it can be very hard for a big horse to learn to use themselves properly in an arena unless it is huge - a 20 metre circle is pretty small to a 17hh youngster who isn't sure how many legs she has
Don't worry about having a training schedule or meeting goals - if she is anything like my boy, once she finds her balance and grows up all the fancy stuff will come easily.
I hope this helps! And for what it's worth I think your horse is lucky to have someone so thoughtful bringing her up.
I think you are absolutely right to treat her as the young horse she is and consider giving her a few months off. Alternatively, maybe forget the serious side of work for a few months. Let her find her balance out hacking in all three paces, outside where there is plenty of space. I think it can be very hard for a big horse to learn to use themselves properly in an arena unless it is huge - a 20 metre circle is pretty small to a 17hh youngster who isn't sure how many legs she has
Don't worry about having a training schedule or meeting goals - if she is anything like my boy, once she finds her balance and grows up all the fancy stuff will come easily.
I hope this helps! And for what it's worth I think your horse is lucky to have someone so thoughtful bringing her up.
You are so kind. Yes, my gut tells me this girl is just a big awkward growing baby still. I am lucky too because my trainer is so focused on giving her time to grow into her body. I was soooo worried that something was physically wrong with her especially with the cross firing at canter and lack of balance in any gait. She tells me that there is no soreness/lameness issues and this is purely a time thing to let her grow up. She suggested I just let her free lunge in the arena without any contraptions so she gets some exercise and learns to go on her own 4 feet and find her balance just a couple times a week so she can have the whole arena and get some exercise since the weather conditions haven't been the greatest to be turned out here yet. I also have been watching a lot of the Laura Bechtolshiemer videos. They have a huge WB Teddy who took until basically his 6th year to be able to accomplish some balance. Her father said something that hit home with me. He basically says sometimes patience and forgetting about their young career now will mean their older career will go that much farther. Its hard to not want to start work, especially since she is so big and pretty and my ambitions are a lot higher than hers, but I think it would be a grave injustice if I were to pursue something she is physically not capable of now. Guess I will just have to shrug off my ambition for now.
poohsmate
Active Member
The growth spurts are something i explain to my clients who have young horses when i am saddle fitting.
They do not just grow front and back they will also come up unevenly at the front/back ie one shoulder may come up before the other etc'
This will have a marked affect on the balance of the saddle, and saddles that fitted perfectly one week can, when the horse has a growth spurt become a night mare to fit!!
Always something to bear in mind with young horses, if you are having saddle issues..:smile:
They do not just grow front and back they will also come up unevenly at the front/back ie one shoulder may come up before the other etc'
This will have a marked affect on the balance of the saddle, and saddles that fitted perfectly one week can, when the horse has a growth spurt become a night mare to fit!!
Always something to bear in mind with young horses, if you are having saddle issues..:smile:
Yes I know what you mean. When I bought her a year ago we started out with a saddle that fit her perfectly and within a month it was way too narrow. Got another saddle that fit great and within another 2 months needed to go wider. I am constantly checking to make sure almost every time I ride just to be sure.
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