When Young Horses Should Start Their Careers
When Young Horses Should Start Their Careers
The answer may surprise you đź‘€
At what age should young horses begin their careers? Depending upon whom you ask, you’ll probably get varying answers.
Racehorses are often backed prior to their second birthday and gallop as two- and three-year-olds, with some continuing into their four- and five-year-old years and beyond.
The FEI Young Horse dressage tests call for four-year-old horses to be able to lengthen and collect their gaits; five-year-olds to be able to perform medium gaits and simple lead changes through the walk; and six-year-olds to be able to half-pass and perform flying lead changes.
USEF Young Jumper classes require five-year-old horses to jump between 1.0 meter (3’3”) and 1.15 meters (3’9”) and six-year-old horses to jump between 1.20 meters (3’11”) and 1.25 meters (4’1”).
Do those tasks sound pretty strenuous to you, especially for horses whose bodies are not fully developed until around age 6?
I thought so too, until I talked to Dr. Chuck Arensberg, VMD.
Of course, there’s nuance to when each individual horse should begin their under-saddle careers, but Dr. Chuck has some surprising evidence to share on young horse development according to workload.
Check out the No Bucks Given Podcast, hosted by Maija Luttinger of Freely Forward Bodywork, to hear what Dr. Chuck has to say! The episode is called “Young Horses: How Much Work is Too Much (or Not Enough) When Starting Horses?” and is available wherever you listen to podcasts.
