From: jlevy@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (janet.s.levy)
Subject: Re: Advice needed on training
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 19:35:25 GMT

In article <92209.121727KROBIN@MIAMIU.BITNET> <KROBIN@MIAMIU.BITNET> writes:
>I have been 'watching the flame war' on riding 2 year old Arabs.  I'm
>not taking sides on this because I'm not a vet and I don't know who is
>right and who is wrong in this issue.  BUT.....
>.....is anyone reading this a charter subscription member of Equus
>magazine?  The magazine introduced an Arab named _Equus_ as a baby
>and made a feature file on his progress until he had been racing
>a year (when he was 4!).  They broke him to ride at 2 and began his
>racing career at 3.  It's been a lot of years but someone wrote to
>Equus on this subject regarding this colt and the vet's response was
>that each animal needed to be evaluated on his own physical and mental
>maturity and assured their readers that this colt's bone development
>was sufficiently developed to allow him to be, not just trained to ride,
>but trained for racing, at this early age.
> 
>I know as a breeder of Tenn. Walking horses that it is not fair to
>pigeon hole people and practices with respect to horses.  Most people
>break walkers at about 17 months.  I break mine when my vet says 'this
>one's physically ready'.  I have to judge if his brain is.
> 
>Perhaps SOME Arabs are ready at 2...I don't know, I just said MAYBE.
>If you can get one of them to gait, maybe I'll buy one some day :-)!


I am very interested in this subject of when to start riding a horse.
There seem to be so many heartfelt but disparate feelings on the matter.
My own feelings have come to be that it is better to err on the side of
patience.  This belief has come from 30 years of reading, observations,
and carefully listening to the many sides of the discussion.

For example, it is generally viewed that Europeans wait longer than
Americans to start riding a young horse.  They wait until the horse
has physical and mental maturity.  In America, there are many pressures
to start a horse young such as 1) racing of two-year-olds, 2) futurities
in many breeds, and 3) the cost of raising a horse vs what you can recoup
on a sale price (and other reasons).  Another factor is breed tendencies -
many European warmblood breeds are slow to mature.

I wonder if there has been any controlled, scientific research into this
area.  If not, why not?  It certainly seems feasible.  For myself,
casual observation has shown me that the majority of the horses in
the boarding stables I have been at have a physical unsoundness of some
degree.  Many have arthritis or other joint problems.  I often wonder
how much of these problems can be attributed to conformation faults vs.
stressful work vs. being ridden at too early an age vs. standing in
stalls all day vs. ????.  

I have listened to the one argument that one must wait until the knees
close and the ligaments and tendons are mature enough to support the
weight of a rider.  I have also listened to the arguments in Equus
magazine which stated that muscles and tendons must be developed
young to have sufficient strength later.  Again, I lean to the former
view due to all the leg problems I see in Thoroughbreds, even those who
have never raced but only trained for the track, which seem to show up 
at about 6-8 years of age despite the level of work they are put to.  I 
once read about a farm in Iowa which raises Thoroughbreds just for jumping.  
These horses are not jumped until the age of 6!  Their horses are known for 
their jumping ability and soundness and fetch a high price.  Many are jumping 
into their late twenties.  (I don't recall the name of the place - anybody?)

I have also come to cynically understand that soundness is not all that
important to many equestrians.  While I value it highly - on a par with
temperament and athletic ability - it seems from the many horsepeople I
have known that people heavily into showing and the sports aspects have
a short-term view on the matter.  They need the horse to be servicably
sound for their chosen activity and don't really care too much if
problems develop five years from now.  By then they have moved on to
their next horse or can deal with the problem with various medications
or nerving.  I am not saying these people are cruel people - this is
just their view of the horse world - a very practical view.

My only personal experiment was with my Appaloosa.  I bought him green
broke, coming three.  I chose him, among other things, for his correct
leg conformation and largish feet.  I have a theory that this heads off
navicular problems.  For the first year, I got on him about twice a month 
to remind him he knew how to be ridden and went around the arena
for about 20 minutes.  I also trained him to pull a cart during this
time.  During his fourth-fifth year, he was ridden regularly and was
given his basic dressage training.  He was never jumped.  He was out at
pasture all day long and only wore shoes on the front during the summer.
This horse was totally sound when he died of poisoning at 13.  It was
not the best experiment however, since I never rode him hard at a sport.

As I said, soundness is an important thing to me.  I feel that riding
a horse at all compromises their soundness.  They are animals, designed
by nature to survive in the wild as runners, designed by us a bit more
to carry people.  Carrying people eventually wears them down, however,
and only the strongest individuals work painlessly into their twenties.
My wish is that people would be a bit more patient with their babies,
but I understand the reasons they are not.

Janet Levy
jsl@ihlpm.ATT.COM
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian