Start riding a colt young or waiting till fully grown?

Question

i have a stud colt that just turned 1 y/o this month. hes already a little over 14 hands and should be about 16 hands fully grown. he already leads and drives. what is yalls opinion on riding young horses? what are the benifits of waiting?

Answer 1

you dont ask a child to do an adults work, so why ask a foal to do a horses work?

Musels ans limbs, take time to grow and develop, so you will be stopping the growth if you start riding him now. DONT DO IT PLEASE! Unless you want him lame before he is 6.Ground Work is VERY important so just do loads of that first. and let him be a foal and have fun! Just dont please for your horses sake

Answer 2

The benefits of waiting are a healtheir horse.

It is not good to ride them till they are at least 2 years old.  Riding before than can cause joint problems, back and leg problems, they are not able to really handle weigth yet.  You should read Fugly's blog.  and unless you plan on breeding him and he is a quality stallion,  I would geld him.  no matter how sweet he is now.

Answer 3

I personally think a horse should not be ridden until they are AT LEAST 2 years, preferably closer to 2 and a half years. They can be saddled a bit before this, but if you get on them to early, their backs could get seriously injured and could sag. I would definitely wait a while. :)

Answer 4

the best age to ride him at is 3. by the time he is 3, he will be fully grown and wont suffer any back problems like if was ridden any younger. i think 3 is the best age.

Answer 5

I'd wait til he's AT LEAST 2.  Starting around 18 months, their growth plates in their knees begin to ossify (become solid) and therefore are more sturdy, but they won't be done til 2+ years old.  Usually by 2 years the knees are pretty well closed.  You can always have xrays done to be sure, as you can't really tell just by looking at them.

Riding them too young is not good on their joints (legs) or back.  Usually waiting til 2 and a half years is good..it gives them time to fill out.

Answer 6

no not til he is at least 2 years old

Answer 7

make sure he is over 2 before you even consider getting on him. 2.5-3 years is usually good. you could start introducing tack and everything before then.

Answer 8

I would not start any horse until they are at least 2.5 years old, at the earliest.  Your horse is just not developed enough to take it yet, he's still a baby.

Answer 9

you should ride him when he turns 3.. unless you can make a permanent damage to his back therefore most of his body and make his neck harder to put in a nice position. also remenber young horses are wild little cratures so ride him with a hard had, etc.. and a western saddle is easier for you not to fall

i wouldnt ride such a young horse because of his or her back damege that ma be caused by starting to ride so early

the benefits are real big. A HEALTHY HORSE

Answer 10

A yearling is far to green and still a baby. I'd recommend waiting till he's two and a half or three. You run the risk of tearing the poor guy up and severely stunting and compromising his joints if you get on him to early. Also, he's still a stallion so you may prefer to geld him before riding, in fact, because you are asking if it's okay to ride him RIGHT now, then I would have to say, geld him and then send him off to a credible trainer when he's 3. Any earlier and he'll be broke down by the time he's 6.

Answer 11

I say go for it. i mean obviously dont put a bit in his mouth or anything.

Answer 12

Riding young horses is not a good thing. Their bones have not fully developed and set. You should wait until he is about 2 and a half or 3 would be my guess.

David

http://gentlenaturalhorseman.blogspot.co...

Answer 13

I board my mare at a training barn and I allways asked why the owner would not accept any horse under the age of four its because" horses are more mentally mature at four, Their bones solid eneough to hold up & their attention spand is longer." I am in the process of breeding my mare and my plans are at 1 to start putting saddle pads and bare back pads on my little one but I will not get on or put a saddle on my horse. I would not do it not only for saftey of your horse but also yourself.

Answer 14

Sorry, but if y'all own a yearling and y'all gotta ask what the benefits are to waiting, y'all probably don't spend much time listening to advice, right y'all??

Answer 15

Really?  You have to ask?

It doesn't matter how tall he is, it matters how developed his bones are.  And at one year old they are not developed enough to carry extra weight or endure high levels of work.  You will damage him permanently.

Answer 16

For an adult to start riding I would wait until they are 2 and even then ride them only 15 to 20 min and not much longer then that. I broke horses 5 years back and got the horse use to weight on their back by leaning across their back and after they were use to the weight on their back we would  stick my sister who was 6 at the time on their back and after the horse was use to that weight we started leading the horse around with my 6 year old sister on. The horse was  a year and 4 months when we started putting my sister on her and leading her around but we only did it for 5 min a day. when she got close to 2 we started putting my 10 year old sister up on her so when she turned 2 she wouldn't have to get use to an big difference in weight on her back.  Even when she turned 2 i only took her for short rides. Because they say you shouldn't do any real heavy riding until the horse is 3.This technique we used helped the horses break out a little quicker b/c the horse got use to the weight on their back early on and we worked it on up. All of our horses we had  you could  slide down their neck and they won't freak and kids could run under them and they wouldn't freak out. Not saying that we let the kids run under horses all the time just saying that our horses were well trained. I would get your horse use to you  leaning on his back at least.

Answer 17

I agree with Galloop 100% !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do NOT get on mine until4yrs!!!!! The bones & joints have to fully grow!!!! DO NOT RIDE A HORSE THAT IN UNDER 2 1/2YRS!!!!!!!!

Answer 18

The longer you stay off his back   the better he will be  My stallion was not broken in till he was five years  giving him all the extra time to develope muscle and to make sure his knee joints properly formed. He is eighteen this year and still has a perfect back, he is only lightly ridden and does not serve mares anymore. It also made him easier to break in as he was nearly over all that coltish behaviour and was easier to handle its just my opinion  A racehorse trainer that i used to ride for broke in his horses  colts included when they were 21 months old  his horses turned out fine  so maybe it just depands on the horse and or trainer/owner.

Answer 19

Okay if he is a year, and 14hh I would start getting him used to a bareback pad and when hes fine with that get him used to the saddle. I would do lots of groundwork for respect before doing any of this.  In my experiences when a horse is 1.5- 2 light riding is fine, as lond as its not heavy riding. In my experiences of waiting can cause more problems. You have to teach them respect form stage one, waiting to get them saddle broke when they are bigger older can be worse. Hoep this helps!

Answer 20

don't ride him yet, my colt (just gelded) is big, and my trainer said atleast a year and a half if he is big enough, a  trainer and a vet should look him over.  

Definately work with him though or he will be too much to handle once he gets big.

Answer 21

i know your very anxiouse to ride him and im sure he could carry you but hes not ready yet you will ruin your little colts chances of living a long and healthy life and if somthing happens to go wrong are he goes back to the pasture in any pain he will remember that as his first experiance at being under the saddle and probably never enjoy carrying you again work on the ground and get him  so ready and comfortable with you that by the time you do get on him it wont even bother him and the future of you and your colts relationship will be a lasting and rememberable one with years of good times

iv got a 4 month old filly that iv started small amounts of training every day seince she was born and are relationship is very good she trusts me to do anything with her the other day i walked her and her mother far away from home and she had such a good time she lets me pick up her feet give her a bath cross tie her and many other things we have started on her ground work and shes catching on so fast she can already lung move away from pressure and walk trot canter at a voice comand shes going to be the best horse i just know it but i have to wait tell shes at least two and a half years old even though some vets would tell you its ok to ride them at two iv heard to many bad experiances and dont want to risk it just enjoy him being a yearling and master all the training that he needs to know

       remember even getting them to pick up there feet is important so work on the little things that matter and ride the mare are another adult horse that would like to take you for a ride

Answer 22

no dont ride him yet wait till hes at least 2 in a half years old bc if  you ride him to early his back will ware and sang