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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
 
| Can you provide a brief summary of what you do with them /what they need for their 1, 2 and 3 yo year?
If you send them off, when and for how long.
If you have goals in mind for them as a 1, 2 and 3 yo, what are they? What do you teach them in these years and what do you expect from them?
The thought of a clean slate is getting more appealing all the time. Just curious what these first few years look like.
(I do know that keeping them from hurting or killing themselves is a REAL part of the process...)
Thanks!
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 Expert
Posts: 3782
  
Location: Gainesville, TX | John Lyons has an interesting book called Bringing up Baby that is a great help.
I like to do most of my handling between weanling and 1 year old in terms of making sure they can do the following: halter, lead, tie, brush, load and unload in a trailer, pick up all four feet and hold them, be able to have feet trimmed/rasped, wear a blanket, and be comfortable in a stall for at least a few hours a day (helps promote independence and less stress when you are hauling them later as older horses).
We leave them alone as yearlings, maybe lunge a few times and throw the lunge line around them.
As two year olds, I want to see them doing all of the above easily, being able to wear shoes, be saddled and bridled easily, be ridden and able to do basic stuff like walk, trot, lope, stop, back up, open & close gates, stall, and some lateral motion.
As three year olds, they are ready to start a job slowly and should probably have a rope thrown off them and around them.
I don't want to do much hard competition until they are at least five though they can be building some steam as four year olds. This is my ideal anyway with some flex. We have followed it pretty closely with my current 4 year old and all our weanlings.
ETA: Our vets say we have the easiest to handle and gentlest foals and weanlings of any they have to deal with.
Edited by oija 2016-03-24 11:39 AM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 912
Location: Alabama | My yearling knows how to tie, walk on the walker, lead, load, pony off another horse, have her feet trimmed, and lunge. We have also done some work with tarps, plastic sacks on a stick, blankets, bell boots, and she has been saddled once. My goal is to have her so "broke" by the time I can actually get on her that hopefully all I have to do is step on and ride off. 
Pic is from a couple months ago. She is all cowbred and a fairly sensitive filly so I have to do lots of desensitizing with her.
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 I too, shall remain nameless!
Posts: 2248
Location: Wearing a winter coat...... | My yearling eats.....poops.....and lets me pet him. He seems to be very fast when he runs in the field.....usually from me. He is good about being dewormed and brushed. I am happy with that. I just did a facebook post about this. I used to do so much with my young horses but now- they aren't handled much before the summer of their yearling year. This colt is by Blazin Jetolena and his dam is a mare who won quite a bit for me. I just tend to leave them alone longer nowadays. |
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 Heeler Hoarder
Posts: 2067
| They learn to lead, load, pick up all four feet at weaning and as yearlings they learn to tie. After that I let them be horses out on pasture until early in their three year old year. If I have Several in the same year I will send some off fall of two year old year for about 60days to a reining trainer. I'm not big on handling a ton when they are young. I think they learn more from just being out with other horses and learning how to handle different footing out on pasture, not to mention it promotes better joints and stronger bones then being kept up in a small turnout and stalled. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
| Thanks! You guys make it sound like anyone can do it...
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
| What about vet care --- anything special there as they grow? Like wolf teeth come to mind, I've seen those taken at time of gelding before.
What about tips to keep them from getting spoiled? If they run on a pasture I assume the herd kind of keeps that in check but what if you stall all your horses at night and so naturally spend a lot more time with them?
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 Namesless in BHW
Posts: 10368
Location: At the race track with Ah Dee Ohs | We take wolf teeth out when we are ready to start bitting up and/or riding. |
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Heeler Hoarder
Posts: 2067
| Wolf teeth out at gelding or for mares just before they ever have a bit in their mouth |
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  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | star1218 - 2016-03-24 10:23 AM Can you provide a brief summary of what you do with them /what they need for their 1, 2 and 3 yo year?
If you send them off, when and for how long.
If you have goals in mind for them as a 1, 2 and 3 yo, what are they? What do you teach them in these years and what do you expect from them?
The thought of a clean slate is getting more appealing all the time. Just curious what these first few years look like.
(I do know that keeping them from hurting or killing themselves is a REAL part of the process...)
Thanks!
Ours are pasture raised until we wean in Oct or so. Most are May babies. They are from parents that are easy to handle so born liking people. Most I can rub on in pasture. When I halter break I put them in a roundpen, rope them and teach them to give to pressure. Sometimes I am able to walk up the rope and rub all over them in 10 minutes or so. Some I am happy just getting close enough to loosen the rope and get it back off. Then day 2 I rope them again and give & take some more. Usually even the tough ones are pretty good by day 2 or 3 and I can get a halter on and start to get them to give to pressure and lead around some. Then we do feet and rub all over and then they get tied. I just keep doing this all winter and some get hauled to the vet for coggins or castration in the spring as yearlings. Then they all get turned out to pasture and other than checking on them and their water, they are left to their own devices. We get them back in in the fall to deworm and trim feet if they need. They are left alone except to deworm and trim feet until we get them sent off to be started usually as 3 yr olds in the spring.
My trainer loves them because they are a clean slate, but have had the basics down and are not wild. They enjoy people and that is important to me. I think bloodlines matter a lot as to personality. Some horses turn feral when turned out for that amount of time  |
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Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | Tn_Barrelracer - 2016-03-24 1:07 PM Wolf teeth out at gelding or for mares just before they ever have a bit in their mouth
I agree with this. Colts get it done at castration and most fillies are sold before they are started. But I did take a filly in for a coggins and to be branded (thought she was sold) and she had wolf teeth so they went ahead and pulled them for me. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 912
Location: Alabama | My filly comes into a stall at night and is out on a couple acres all day. I wish I had more land but for now I make the best of what I have. She gets her feet trimmed every five weeks like clock work as does everything on my place. She gets dewormed roughly every six weeks with rotating wormers. As she gets older I will stretch out the time frame between deworming. She will get her first full set of vaccines in May of this year.
Most days she is just a horse. I try to groom her at least twice a week at this point and tie her at least once a week for an hour or more. When she was a weanling I spent extensive time leading, tying, sacking out, etc. Now she's got all that down so I just try to reiterate at least one lesson a month. I plan to teach her to hobble this summer and lead from her flanks.
I think it's easier to get them in hand and well "socialized" for lack of a better term when they are weanlings then just let them be after that. There is a lot more likelihood of one hurting themselves or you when they are an unhandled two year old than there is as a weanling. I will do wolf teeth when she is two before the bit is introduced. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 788
| I make sure weanlings know how to lead, tie, let you work on their feet, and be brushed head to toe. Other than that they dont really do much different until they are 2. The only thing I can say about keeping them from getting spoiled is dont treat them like babies. Treat them just like they are grown. Dont let them do little cute stuff just because they are little. Its not funny when they get big. The only difference is you have to be more patient with them. |
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Heeler Hoarder
Posts: 2067
| Sockittoemred - 2016-03-24 2:29 PM
My filly comes into a stall at night and is out on a couple acres all day. I wish I had more land but for now I make the best of what I have. She gets her feet trimmed every five weeks like clock work as does everything on my place. She gets dewormed roughly every six weeks with rotating wormers. As she gets older I will stretch out the time frame between deworming. She will get her first full set of vaccines in May of this year.
Most days she is just a horse. I try to groom her at least twice a week at this point and tie her at least once a week for an hour or more. When she was a weanling I spent extensive time leading, tying, sacking out, etc. Now she's got all that down so I just try to reiterate at least one lesson a month. I plan to teach her to hobble this summer and lead from her flanks.
I think it's easier to get them in hand and well "socialized" for lack of a better term when they are weanlings then just let them be after that. There is a lot more likelihood of one hurting themselves or you when they are an unhandled two year old than there is as a weanling. I will do wolf teeth when she is two before the bit is introduced.
The ones we handle as weanlings etc aren't wild or unsocialized they retain pretty much everything they were taught. I will say a lot has to do with their breeding. The trainer prefers them that way as someone else said they are a clean slate to one that has been handled consistently since birth. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 912
Location: Alabama | Tn_Barrelracer - 2016-03-24 3:46 PM
Sockittoemred - 2016-03-24 2:29 PM
My filly comes into a stall at night and is out on a couple acres all day. I wish I had more land but for now I make the best of what I have. She gets her feet trimmed every five weeks like clock work as does everything on my place. She gets dewormed roughly every six weeks with rotating wormers. As she gets older I will stretch out the time frame between deworming. She will get her first full set of vaccines in May of this year.
Most days she is just a horse. I try to groom her at least twice a week at this point and tie her at least once a week for an hour or more. When she was a weanling I spent extensive time leading, tying, sacking out, etc. Now she's got all that down so I just try to reiterate at least one lesson a month. I plan to teach her to hobble this summer and lead from her flanks.
I think it's easier to get them in hand and well "socialized" for lack of a better term when they are weanlings then just let them be after that. There is a lot more likelihood of one hurting themselves or you when they are an unhandled two year old than there is as a weanling. I will do wolf teeth when she is two before the bit is introduced.
The ones we handle as weanlings etc aren't wild or unsocialized they retain pretty much everything they were taught. I will say a lot has to do with their breeding. The trainer prefers them that way as someone else said they are a clean slate to one that has been handled consistently since birth.
For sure! I was referencing the untouched 2 yo's we frequently see down my way. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1611
Location: bring on the heat, NV | It depends sometimes on the colt/filly. How much they retain etc. Weanlings if I have time I do it all with. Some babies it spreads out over the years a bit. No more than they mentally can handle some are just slow. Having good mommas makes those babies pretty sweet to handle :) .
My late may 2014 will be going off this summer or fall. Havent decided. He leads, ties, worms, fly masks and has been trimmed. usually I have them hauled around by now and lots of baths and blankets... just didnt happen. I have sacked him twice with a pony size blanket and we are progressing with that. Already knows the lunging basics.
If my broke gelding isnt a jerk I will hopefully get him ponying. Maybe haul to some halter classes.
Health wise- gelding and have wolf teeth pulled (check) maintain a balanced not excessive diet... always a struggle our hay can be hot so only grain he gets maybe ration balancer in the corral. Turnout with good role model horses. They tend to pick up on the buddies antics so Im super careful with who they spend time with.
Its a lot of fun and can be a real pain. They cant help but be babies and I always anticipate a stepped on toe or maybe a quick jump rope burn if things get western for them. I have an obstacle trail course that I can take them through to get a jump start on the boogeys. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 274
| I am a less is more until the end of spring of their yearling yr. Then they come in the barn and start being prepped for the sale...I like to let them be horses at an early age...90% of ours go to the track, so they will be standing around in stalls for the next few years...I think that freedom early on and getting to be in a heard helps give them a little drive to perform well and also helps them ease into a new career after racing if they did not preform on the track up to par. |
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