AQH - health!

[danieljas]

I'm writing from Poland. In my country western riding is still developing, so people have many questions about horse health.
A few days ago, Volker Schmitt stared in Reining - BREEDERS FUTURITY (Kreuth, Germany) on 3-years old Elite Be Aech Cody. Is it too early to start for that young horse?Is it too hard and dangerous work for him? What the matter with his health (tendons, legs etc.)Thank you. Daniel

[Katie_85]

No, three is okay to start the first stages of reining training. Mind you, he won't be oing slide stop and the like jut yet, more likely he will just be starting the basics, like learning cues and such.

[danieljas]

Thank you so much for your answer!
How you care of yours young horses (for ex. joints)? Do you intensify resistance yours horse tendons - some exercise?

Best Regards

[Katie_85]

Preventative methods, really. Young horses are not given heavy work to do (re:work with the weight of a rider for anything over say, 15 minutes) until they are physically capable of doing so. This will pretty much eliminate joint problems in the future. Or at least joint problems due to stress before maturity. We do use a supplement called Joint Rescue, which is glucosamine based, for arthritic horses and it seems to work quite well.