TIMING AND RATE OF SKELETAL MATURATION IN HORSES

[fantasykiger]

TIMING AND RATE OF SKELETAL MATURATION IN HORSES
By Deb Bennett, Ph.D
www.equinestudies.org/knowledge_base/ranger.html

I found this article in my email and thought I would share it here. I have always waited to put my young horses under saddle and the old horses I ride were all started later in life. It is my belief if you wait a few years to get them under saddle, you can add extra years on to their riding careers.
Of course I am not raising futurity show horses and have no need for a finished 2 or 3 yr old horse either.

[nrly]

I am a firm believer of starting them after 3 under saddle for a year no person. ground work only, then closer to 5 with the weight of the body... But it is just my personal preference... I always felt if joints were not completly close and I rode I could damage them in the long run...Just me and my odd way of thinking, so with stormy she was closer to 5 when Jim climbed on her back with the saddle...but we did do allot of ground work desensitizing, and sensitizing....and I now have a very calm mare... Tiffany thanks for posting the site and this subject..should get allot of response....
nola

[desperatehorsewife]

Leg joints are completely closed up by the time a horse is 36 months. Light riding a 2 year old does no damage unless you've already got a horse with issues. And if that's the case, there's a problem with the breeding program and that breeding shouldn't be replicated.

I start all my horses as 2 year olds. I've had horses going strong into their late 20s without any break down issues. I don't head up into the hills for several hours, mind you, but I do mount and I'll ride 15-20 a few times a week just to get them mentally prepared for their 3 year old year. As a 3 year old, I head into the hills for rides that are 2-3 hours long.

The biggest issue with starting horses earlier than 4 is the type of riding, not the fact that you're on there. Lungeline work on a young horse can cause more damage than light riding

[kimk]

I couldn't access the link, but according to Dr. Deb Bennett, the last thing to mature and "close" on a horse ( of any breed ) is the spine, and that happens between 5 and 6, so I sure don't think being on them any sooner than 5 is all that great for them. Heck, they're gonna live to be 30...what's the rush? I personally am strongly against riding 2 year olds. I would much prefer to let them grow up and develop both mentally and physically.
Kim

[fantasykiger]

I am sorry you could not access the link. yes , she does discuss the spine issue.
All I can say is from my experience I have owned horses started at 2 yrs old and they did do just fine for a time then in there 20's they were done. One was put down at 23 the other a pasture pet pretty much at 21.
The others I have owned that were started 4yrs old or later are 20 and 26 yrs old still being ridden with no issues.
I also understand that how a horse is started, what is asked of that horse as a 2 yr old, how much weight they are asked to carry and the life they lead in those 20+ yrs has alot to do with it, as well as breeding, as to how long they will last. But I prefer to put the odds in my favor and wait for them to grow up a bit more before asking them to carry me around.
That does not mean they get out of training. We still work on ground training, I do very little lunging or round penning. They can still tag along on trail rides and such. Whether or not a horse is mentally ready at age 2 is very individual as horses go.

[angelsdream]

I don't start mine riding til 3 - at least long rides. I will have all the ground work done very early on and have them used to carrying a saddle around. I actually start ground working and manners as early as possible. The more handling that's done while growing up, the better riding horse's they'll be.

I do think Im going to try something different this go around with my foal. Im going to pony her on the trails everywhere starting next year hopefully before we ever start riding her.

I have seen some 2 year olds riding that you could tell by just looking at them they were soooo young and didnt need to be riding. My last mare that I raised from a foal - I waited til she was 3 to send her to the trainers and she was very big, over 15 hands and filled out by that time, but I still considered her young but she was ok to carry me as I only weigh 120lbs. I do think light riding doesn't really hurt them, say 20-30 minutes hear and there, as long as the person riding isnt that heavy.

[gotkiger]

My mother bought her mare at 18 months old and could and did jump on and ride around (without a saddle) it took probably 6 months to a year to be able to ride that mare with a saddle. I grew up on that mare. She is now 31 years old and still being ridden, she acts like an 8 year old most days and looks no older then 15. I love that mare. I now have a 2 year old that i have worked since she was six months old. She has had a saddle on her back since that time and i can sit on her and walk around and she could care less. I will be sending her to the trainers to assist me in finishing her but until she grows (she is only 13.2) she is for the nieces and nephews (oldest is 4). I think it depends on the horse. Yeah wait until they are at least two to do any real saddle work. But introducing it to them i feel should be done very early in life so there is no chance of them being fearful later on.

[sbutter]

I would be careful with any kind of weight like that on a young horse. They may not show any immediate signs of discomfort and may be completely relaxed about it, after all, they may be used to other yearlings goofing off and jumping on them. We have TB yearlings that look every bit like a two year old and seem very mature for their age, but they are still growing internally. If a short (as in age) yearling carries around something heavy or dead weight, it can stunt their growth. Their backs may also have more of a "dip" in them compared to all the other horses its age. Desensitizing can be a very good thing at early ages, but I would avoid anything that would stress them physically at that age. Its way to easy to mess up, just because their bodies haven't caught up yet. Its much safer to add "weight" to them when their bodies are more mature. We send our TBs in for 30 days to get broke when they are about two (if they look like they need a little more time we will wait). When they get back, we throw them out to pasture for a couple of months or even the rest of the year. They seem more ready to head to the track then the ones that go from being broke straight to the track. We give ours a chance to think about it and let it sink in. We also skip a lot of those two year old injuries that occur, just because they haven't finished developing yet. Even looking at it from the money stand point, we are ahead of most people by letting ours sit out in pasture for another year. The ones that go early have a tendency of breaking down and needing to stand out in a pasture anyway until their injuries have healed.

With Kigers being even a slower maturing breed, it would be much safer to lay off on the physical training until they are a bit older. You can play with their mental side at a young age as long as you don't go overboard.

[lilnagy]

One thing I discovered is how easy and fun it is to start an older horse; they have out-grown the mental silliness! I still am a big believer in lots of ground work for manners, and ponying, for young ones, but they remind me of trying to do math facts with an 8 year old; short attention span, and silly. With the older ones, I have had good concentration and hard work.

[Michelle Clarke]

We have some three year olds we bring up to start for training and you can see they are just not ready mentally. Putting them back out for six months to another year makes a TON of difference. I find this mostly in our Luso crosses. Being that I am trained in equine chiropractic methods, I just can't imagine riding anything younger...the more I learn the more I take it slower and wait on them. You can do so much damage, especially to the growth plates, that while your horse may live through the experience and you can physically ride it into the later years, I can't imagine the horse developing correctly. I surely can't imagine a horse like that doing any correct roundness or collection.

QH's seem to take early riding better than most breeds because of the large muscleing across thier backs, that'sl why so many people get away with it without seemingly breaking them down. Spanish horses in general, do not have heavy muscleing and that needs to be developed properly to protect the spine and bone structure before any serious riding is to be done. JMO.