From: Lisa
Dear Jessica, I hope you can settle an argument I am having with my friends. They think they know all about horses but some of them have only had their horse for maybe one year or two. They are yelling at me because I have a filly and I want to start working her so that she is really well trained by the time I ride her. You don't have to tell me I'm not supposed to ride her before she is 2 because I know that all ready. I want her to be very trained and quiet before I ride her. Don't you think that is a good idea, so that she won't buck and maybe hurt her legs.
I want to lunge her for a few months to start her training in the "right" way. My friends say no she is only a weanling but she is very big for her age and anyway she was weaned at four months old and now she is almost nine months old. So she is very big and strong and she needs to be trained. I plan to lunge her mostly trotting with very little cantering at first, and I will only do it for twenty minutes or maybe half an hour. What do you think about my plan? I know that some horses maybe would not be good to train now but my filly is very mature.
Lisa
Hi Lisa -- I have to tell you that your plan scares me. You waited almost a year for your filly to be born -- you were patient then, because you had to be. Now that she's here, you're getting impatient and you want her to do too much, too soon. Please be patient. Your friends are right -- but you don't have to listen to them, or even to me. Talk to your veterinarian about this! I'm sure that he has been working with horses for more years than you and all your friends put together, and he'll give you advice that you can trust.
It's a good idea to wait until your filly is a two-year-old before you put her on the longe line, even for a few minutes. I know that you want to be riding her when she turns two, but she really will stay more sound and last much longer if you let her body develop and grow more before you ask her to work. If you can do it, longe her when she's three and back her when she turns four. If you can't wait that long, and if you're willing to do just a little bit of work at a time, teach her to longe when she's two, not before, and back her when she turns three.
Longeing a weanling or a yearling is just asking for trouble. If you do this, you'll hurt your filly, and I'm sure you don't want to do that. Instead, please take good care of her and let her grow up before you ask her to do things that put stress on her leg bones and joints. Working on a circle is hard on horses, and when you put a very young horse on the longeline, you can break it down instead of building it up.
Let your filly stay out in the field and play. She's still a baby, and she needs to do baby things for another year or so. This doesn't mean that you can't work with her -- just don't do things that will damage her body and interfere with your riding later. You can teach her to lead really well, to tie, and to do simple in-hand work: to walk, trot, stop, and stand. You can teach her about clippers and trailers, and you can take her for walks and introduce her to all sorts of new sights. She'll learn to trust you and enjoy the time she spends with you -- and she'll be building her body the way a good baby horse should, by running free in a field with other horses.
And don't worry, you don't have to do anything strange with her to keep her from bucking. If you let her grow up a little more, work with her during the next year, and then teach her to longe when she is AT LEAST two, ("teach her" means gently, five minutes each direction, no cantering), you'll be able to back her lightly when she is three, and there is no reason that she should even THINK about bucking. Horses shouldn't buck when they are first backed. If they do, something is wrong -- it means that they are unready, unprepared, or frightened. If you start your young horse properly, her reaction to a rider won't be fearful -- more like "ho-hum". ;-)
Jessica
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