Re: RC: Breaking two year olds to ride

[BMcCrary27@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/21/99 6:09:33 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
helgeson@lansford.ndak.net writes:

<< Lynette in ND who has an 2 yr. old arab gelding that I told my
 husband was too young to start riding. Am I wrong?
  >>

I don't think you are wrong.  Two year old Arabs may be mature enough in the 
body, but I personally believe that they need more time to mature the mind.  
Having raised several from birth, I have discovered that maturity starts at 7 
and comes on strong at about 9.  I am, however, a bit cautious about green 
horses, so I prefer to stack the odds in my favor.  Taking all into 
consideration, I would have some basic ground training done at 2, refresh it 
at 3, wait until 4 to ride, and compete at no less than 6 (and then take it 
rather easy).  At 8, the horse is ready to GO.  I know this is not 
economically viable if one is raising horses for a business, but this is my 
personal opinion, based on watching and riding the few we have raised for 
ourselves.  Perhaps if we had a full-time rider who could devote lots of time 
to the young ones, it might be different, but we haven't enough time to ride 
them consistently, day in and day out.

Barbara McCrary


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