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Elite Veteran
Posts: 682
  
Location: Northwest | Those of you who have picked up older prospects, how long did it take to get them solid enough to start patterning (in general... 6 months, 1 year, several years etc). Considering taking a chance on a nicely bred four year old who only has had about 30 days on him (didn't start him until he was a late three year old). I'm not interested in futurities, so I don't have a specific time frame I'd have to adhere to but I also don't have a main competition horse at the moment, so that is something I have to take into consideration. |
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Veteran
Posts: 173
Location: Oklahoma | My current "project" is 9. I have started several that are older than 6 and have turned out to be successful. Not 1D horses but Im not a 1D rider. But they turned out solid and went on to make excellent youth horses. All of them seem to have take to the pattern fairly quickly. with in 3-6 months. |
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| I have found older prospects to be a better choice for LOTS of reasons. THe main ones for me are " Mental" and " Physical". Older horses are less fragile mentally and can handle pressure a little better than very young ones. Also physical. Older prospects haven't had the hard hard days put on them that some 2-3 year olds have had. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 966
Location: Loco,Ok | According to where they came from. Some sent here so spoiled never turned around. Others no problem. |
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 Serious Snap Trapper
Posts: 4275
Location: In The Snow, AZ | I don’t consider four an older prospect. Lol. That’s still a baby in my opinion.
We bought an 11 year old, ranch broke gelding from an auction last year. He had a great handle on him to start with. Took right to the pattern from day one. Was loping a nice set within a few weeks. |
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 I'm Cooler Offline
Posts: 6387
Location: Pacific Northwest | Four is not even close to being old lol until I bought a yearling last month, my youngest horse was 18.
I also know a girl that bought an unbroke 6 year old and turned him into a 1D (clocks low 17s on a standard) in less than two years. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1516
Location: Illinois | The one I run now was an unbroke 7 year old stud when I bought him. Took me about 2 years, he was a nightmare to train for those 2 years. Best horse I could ever ask for now, but he's maxed out at the 3D. He's also not bred to run, at all. My 4 year old now still has only about 90 days on her, which started in spring of last year. So she's had 90 days spread out over the course of a year basically. With another 30 days of consistent riding she should be ready to start on barrels. |
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 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| I wouldn't consider 4 old either. My mare is four and I plan to start her later this summer since I don't have much interest in futuritys.
My current finished horse was an unbroken late 6 year old and he is the best thing that's ever happened to me. He was physically and mentally ready. The biggest issue with him was getting him to control his body. he wasn't coordinated and still isn't. He is very big but took me a long time to get nice collected circles and fancier footwork. I bought him August and had him 3d/4d by the following august. He is a 2d/3d horse generally. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 682
Location: Northwest | JLazyT_perf_horses - 2018-06-07 11:10 AM
The one I run now was an unbroke 7 year old stud when I bought him. Took me about 2 years, he was a nightmare to train for those 2 years. Best horse I could ever ask for now, but he's maxed out at the 3D. He's also not bred to run, at all. My 4 year old now still has only about 90 days on her, which started in spring of last year. So she's had 90 days spread out over the course of a year basically. With another 30 days of consistent riding she should be ready to start on barrels.
Thank you, those are the kind of time frames I was looking for! Just trying to get a grasp on how long it will take. |
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| We got our current 4yo last fall as a 3yo that had literally never been touched by a human. I worked with her consistently to where she was halter broke, loaded in a trailer fine to where we could get her home, and I rode her bareback about a dozen times. She was also worked with the saddle on her back, and stood great for the farrier to trim her hooves multiple times. This spring has been a new adventure. Every day out in the pasture is like groundhog's day with her, she's shocked whenever I show up with a halter. Once it's on her, she's good to go, she's still just hyper-aware and unsure. It's like she just doesn't understand the routine of it all, which makes sense, since she spent the first three and a half years of her life surrounded by horses running amuck. The plan was to send her off for 30 days early this spring, which turned into July, so that's where she's at.
She did get her first bath the other day with no issues whatsoever 
ETA: she's acting like she might be on her own seven year plan...
Edited by madredepeanut 2018-06-07 3:31 PM
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| My current “colt” is 5 and is just coming up on a year under saddle next month.
My open horse I got when he was 7. He’d had a great foundation on him at some point, was very broke and after a week of refreshing and getting to know one another we went to the pattern. This is my 3rd season with him and we are pretty consistently 1d/2d - I’m not a pro and I haven’t patterned dozens of horses on my own, there are things I would have done differently so I think he could have gotten to this point sooner if not for my learning process. |
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"Heck's Coming With Me"
Posts: 10794
Location: Kansas | I know it's far in the past but I think it was Ardith Bruce who turned a 15 year old into a rodeo champ.
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 433
Location: The Lone Star State | Got one that was barely broke as a 2 year old, literally untouched for 3 years until I got her 2 years ago as a 5 year old. She is running solid 3D at the big showsnow. Wonderful horse she just isnt top 1D material but was super easy to get going. |
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Older prospects, are they worth it?