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[RC] City Slickers & age - rides2far@xxxxxxxxWhat breed is your sister's horse? No matter what the breed four years old seems a bit young to be putting through the kind of training she will need to even do a 25 mile. With Arabians their >>>>knees are not knitted shut until they are around eight years old. >>>>>>Just some thoughts there. D'Arcy I got a book for Christmas called "Horses of the Sahara". When you guys were talking about the Arab legend of the horse colors...it's got all that. It was written in the 1850's and documents as much as possible of the Bedouin's training, breeding, etc. etc. One thing that really surprised me was that they considered an Arabian horse USELESS unless he'd been ridden quite a bit BEFORE turning four! They said at 18 months they would put a small child on the horse with a rope halter and a switch, mostly walking. As it gets a little older they would push him a little more. They rode them quite a bit till age three...then didn't touch him between three and four, then at age four decided whether he was worth keeping. The French Cavalry officer who is writing book says he too had thought you should wait later but after seeing hundreds of horses brought along this way he had come to agree completely...if someone had a horse for sale he always asked them how earlier they had broke it to ride and if they said "He is like my own son, I fed him well and no one got on his back until he was four" he would immediately pass him by because he would be a quitter. If the man said he'd been ridden young he knew this horse knew how to work and would not be a quitter. They said a horse that was broke late would always have the disposition of a farm animal. There's LOTS of interesting stuff in this book. Bill had to give $60 for it used on eBay but I'm really enjoying reading it. P.S. City Slickers is such a shock to a horse that they almost don't know to act up. When I was there there was a monster truck and tractor competition at the same site, we started in a 40 acre field next to a 4 lane highway with no fence in between, we cantered along by roller bladers, baby carriages, through frisbee football games and dodged dogs on retractor leads. Oh yeah, then you also cut through the soccer complex during games. The vet check is tucked in behind their walmart. It's one of a kind. P.S.S. Making sure a 4 year old can do 25 miles is a good idea. Angie McGhee ____________________________________________________________ Protect your home before it is too late. Click here for homeowner insurance information. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/PnY6rw2Pph4na6MKZ7uYjfJcYqvM9OiDeCx9ai6G6ZJvvqlqBaJRu/ --- Begin Message ---
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