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 Mature beyond Years
Posts: 10780
   
Location: North of the 49th Parallel | Please share your stories of your late bloomers that started to come on later, like 7 or 8. Give me some hope! lol. I have one that we always knew would be a little bit of one so I'm just hoping she gets her act together this next coming year (will be 8). |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | I had a mare I bought as a 5 year old, nothing really anything special to look at. Pretty colored, but it took until she was about 7/8 to finally finish filling out.....build and height wise, and boy was she nice! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1094
Location: Idahome | Husband has a gelding that will be 9 and we are just starting to consider him a finished head horse. He was started at 2 and rode here and there because he was so small and had a pea brain. I started him on the barrels at 4 and 5 and his mind couldn't take it. Between 6 and 7 he grew up and filled out to be a big boy. He is primarily a rope horse, but I can jump on him without seeing a barrel for months at a time and he will usually run in the 2-3d for me. He just took time physically and mentally to grow up. I have his full sister now that will be the same way. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 349
Location: texas | yep my mare is a late bloomer, in her mind, not necesasarily her body...
I got her as a 4yr old and she was bat crap crazy, couldn't hardly take her outta the barn without her rearing up, whirling around, etc....
the breeder from the ranch she came from, he did tell us, " her bloodline yield late bloomers"
well I started her on barrels and started hauling, needless to say we have had to do lots of backtracking....lots of groundwork, I mean months of it with no riding, lots of foundation work, softening, etc.....
but I will say these last 2 years she has really matured, she is now 8yr and I think she will finally be able to handle the pressure at the races....
I have 2 young children and she has been desensitized to EVERYTHING, lol.... (powerwheels, toys flying at her, etc...)
wish I would have known now back then, but oh well u live and u learn....
as a side note, somebody told me " a mare will make u a better horseman" and boy is that true, I have learned so much and improved my horsemanship, never owned a mare until her.....
good luck
Edited by teamthompson 2014-12-22 5:35 PM
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 Firecracker Dog Lover
Posts: 3175
| My coming 7 year old is a late bloomer - also in his mind - and not in his body (and he is a TANK). Part of it I attribute to me not being able to dedicate the time a horse like that needs and part of it is just that he has been slow to mature mentally. He's tried me like nothing I've ever trained before but he makes me think about what I do with him and how I do it. He's not mean but rather playful and full of it - he's 6 and I still longe him before I get on him to ride. Sometimes it may take 5 minutes and other days it may take 20 minutes of longeing BUT - something tells me to keep going and so I do. Heck I may not have this horse really going until he's 8 or 9 but when he gets there I feel like he will be rock solid. He is more mischievous than any horse I've ever owned or been around - and he's kind of like a Border Collie crossed with a sporting dog breed - too smart for his own good and doesn't always know when to use it. Does that make sense? Anyway, sorry for going on but I empathize with you. I can report at the end of this fall I was hauling him a bit here and there and he is getting there - paying attention to barrels and not reading the signs in the arena - baby steps and progress. I aim to build on that this coming spring. Good luck to you!!! |
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