Riding a very young horse

From: Jenny

Hi Jessica,

Thanks for your work on Horse-Sense, it's such an interesting and informative forum. I look forward to it in my mailbox every week! I have an Arabian gelding that will be turning 2 yrs. old this June. He is 14.3 hh and still growing; I do not know what his weight is. I am a slightly built, 102 lb. 15 yr. old girl.

I have already been on Kokomo's back several times and he has been walked around with me sitting on him (no saddle). Afterwards, he was not sore and showed no discomfort at having his back touched.

Kokomo is high spirited, but very intelligent and sensible too. He knows the voice commands "Walk", "Trot", "Whoa", "Back", "Over", and even "Canter" from work on the lunge line. He knows all about trailering, vets, and having his feet trimmed. I take him for walks on the lead rope around the countryside, which he loves.

I do not want to push him or really begin riding him until he is mentally and physically ready, but at this point, I am no longer sure when that is; because most everyone I talk to, horsepeople or nay, tell me that I should start riding him this summer, that because I'm "so small and light it won't hurt him". My question is this: Is it alright for me to begin riding Kokomo (without a saddle) very lightly this spring/summer? And when will he be able to safely carry a full grown man? Right now I am saving for a saddle. I intended to get a bitless hackamore to ride Kokomo in first, and move onto the bridle with a plain ring snaffle later.

I'd appreciate your help on this, because I *am* eager to start riding him, but I don't want to push him too hard too soon, or be swayed by what other people are telling me! :-) Thanks for your input,

~ Jenny (& Kokomo too)

You don't weigh much at all, and I'm sure that Kokomo will appreciate that in another year or so when he's grown-up enough to be backed! But right now it really doesn't matter that much -- even 60 pounds would be too much weight for a horse this young to carry around.

Your horse needs a chance to grow up a little more and develop a little more. Two years old is VERY young -- a baby, really. Kokomo isn't even two years old yet! And yes, we all know about racehorses running at two -- but most of them are broken down by age five, when real horses START work.

People make a lot of fuss about horses' knees -- there's always someone around the barn to tell you "Hey, his knees have closed, you can ride him now!" Just smile at those people and keep on NOT riding until Kokomo is ready for you. The knees close relatively early, compared to the rest of the bones in a horse's skeleton. Knees close between 18 and 24 months, usually -- but upper leg bones close later, hips don't close until 4 or 5, and the very LAST part of the horse's skeleton to develop and finish growing -- replacing cartilage with solid, hard bone -- is the part called the spinous processes, which are just exactly at and behind the withers. THESE bones aren't fully developed until the horse is somewhere between 5 and 6 -- later, with some Warmbloods. And where do we put the saddles, and where do we sit? Right. So just because Kokomo is tall for his age and breed, doesn't mean that he's a miracle colt that has magical, quick-growing bones. ;-)

Riding without a saddle -- don't do it, not until he's fully mature. You can probably start to ride him, lightly, when he's three years old, but please do it IN a saddle.

Did you know that it's actually harder on a horse to carry a rider without a saddle? The reason is that the saddle tree is designed to distribute the rider's weight over a larger area (the panels on the underside of the saddle); whereas a rider without a saddle has ALL her weight bearing down on TWO points: her seatbones. It's too much for a young horse to handle without sustaining some damage. This is also, by the way, the reason that large, heavy men can put good Western saddles on horses and then sit in those saddles all day, with no damage to the horse -- Western saddles distribute the rider's weight over an even greater area than English saddles do. If you put those same riders in English saddles, their horses would get sore by the end of the day; if you put them on the horses bareback, those horses would be miserable in an hour. It's a lot like going from running shoes to street shoes to spike heels -- the pressure is a LOT easier to take when it's distributed over that wider area.

Be patient -- you've done a great job with your horse so far, so don't let anyone push you into making a mistake now. Non-horsey people will just look at a pretty horse and say "Of course you should ride him, honey" -- smile and ignore them. Horsey people aren't all equal, unfortunately, and some don't know as much as they should about horse anatomy and development. You want this horse to become a great friend and a great riding horse and go on being both until he's in his thirties, right? ;-) So take your time NOW. Getting on them early means sacrificing time and quality at the other end of their lives -- or to put it another way, the "training bill" for what you do today will come in much later, and it's the horse that will have to pay it.

This doesn't mean that you have to leave your horse in the pasture for another year -- you can do a lot with a two-year-old, it just shouldn't be under saddle. What you COULD do, if you can find someone in your area who can help you, is teach Kokomo to drive. Horses were designed to pull weight, not carry it, and even two-year-old horses can learn to pull a light cart. He'll enjoy it, and he'll develop good muscles and grow strong, and by the time he's ready for you to ride, he'll be able to carry you easily AND he'll understand how the reins work!

I think you'll find that the time will go quickly, and perhaps you'll even have your saddle by the time Kokomo is three and ready for some light riding. ;-)

Jessica

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