What do I do with a yearling?

garfy

garfy

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Oct 22, 2007
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I've got ayearling gelding and I'm at a loss what to do with him now. He'll lead, tie up get his feet done stand while grooming him and stuff but what else should I be doing. he's nippy and occasionaly rears up on the way to the feild but I'm putting this down to babyness. I've tried doing ground work like getting him to go back and move over (he'll do this no props in the stable) in the school but to be honest I feel like I'm reaching around in a dark room for the light switch and he really dosn't like it, he rears up and **** about.He's getting a bridle put on for 15 mins a day to get him used to the bit (under instruction of YO) and he seems quite happy with that. I've put a sursingle round his belly and he doen't bother. but what else should I be doing please help.
I have asked Yo and other people but the common answer is to give him a smack and be all aggresive with him. I don't want him to be scared I want him to be happy:rolleyes:
 
i would leave him to be a horse. sounds to me like he's getting stressed (i had a mare who reared when stressed). He can lead, tie up and is ok for feet so leave it at that :) aggresiveness is no way to go with such a young horse :(
 
AS long as you are leasing him in, and out, he ties up to be groomed and his feet handled leave him alone to grow up. Do too much too soon and you'll spoil him.

I leave mine alone in the fields to play. All they need to learn is to tie up, lead and have their feet done. Loading into a lorry comes in handy too.

They don't get a bit in their mouth until 2, only if they are to be shown and are entire, otherwise they get bitted at 3 and a half four years old. There is no rush to bit a yearling gelding.
 
I would try to persist for a while try making it fun, I dont always suggest this but I have a giant yearling and I use good old bribary with her. Try making being in the school fun as it may be the school he doesnt like if he is ok in the stable.

I would use the odd carrot when he behaves, perhaps let him off and let him follow you around for abit. If he is naughty I wouldnt smack him I would try growling at him, tone of voice does tend to work. Also dont challenge him with it, keep your eyes low and ask him to move back by placing you hand on his neck and pushing whilst taking a step towards him.

Hope this helps and if not I am sure other people will have good ideas.

Danielle
 
I have a yearling colt at the moment; he ties up, loads, leads and picks his feet up. He'll be left alone to play and grow up a bit and then in the spring we'll go over it all again. He'll be introduced to traffic in the spring and he'll be bitted - purely because he'll be shown next year and two year old colts must be bitted in the showring.
 
A yearlings idea of fun is to be out with his pal, not bein overloaded in an indoor school.

remember theya re babies, not ready for uni. intil they have done kindergarten.
 
Well i personally would be concentrating on getting him to STOP nipping and rearing. His age is no excuse for that, but if you do too much with him and he gets stressed you will ruin him. He needs to be taught the basics and manners as a yearling, everything else can come later.

I too have a yearling i have recently bought and at the moment all im doing with her is getting her to be polite around all people, so she'll step back to let them in a field/stable, she will stand to be groomed and made a fuss of, picks up all her feet and she will lead politely and with no silliness (she's always been very good with this but you need to do it daily really), and as i plan to show her, im just getting her used to trotting up nicely next to me, which she thinks is GREAT fun :rolleyes:

I have done a small amount of lunging with her, literally like, 3 times and only a couple of circles. Im working on getting her used to voice commands for walk, trot, stop etc etc just so that i dont have to haul her around by her head when im showing her :D I plan to get a bridle to start getting her used to about Christmas time ready for the shows in the spring, but really unless you plan to show your horse, like someone else said, theres no need to be bitting him yet.

I've recently started putting rugs on her cos i dont think she's been rugged before.

Really, like the other people have said, make it fun! The horse should look forward to having his grooming and "training" but dont do too much too soon or you'll scare him!! My Una gets so excited when she sees the grooming kit and headcollar come out, she's so silly!
 
Do something interesting with him. Take him for walks in hand if you possibly can. You can also teach him to back up, walk and trot in hand, 'stay' while you walk away from him and then call him to you. Make sure he stands still when he's tied up and also when you leave him untied. There's lots you can do just by playing with him. Groom him, make sure you can pick his feet up with no trouble. There's lots of things, you've just got to use a bit of imagination. I used to use the Winter for playing with my youngsters. it also helps you develop a firmer bond with them.
Dont make it like work though, make it fun for him. You could also scatter some an apple (cut up) around his field (if he is turned out on his own) so he he'll find bits as he walks around. Personally (and this is really my thought each person is different) he's too young to be introduced to the bit yet. I've never done it before my ponies got to their 3rd birthday. However, each owner's situation is different. Perhaps your boy is strong.
 
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Ditto.

Be careful not to do too much too soon.

Very often owners have in their heads how things should and shouldn't be, how he should & shouldn't behave, etc, ratehr than stepping outsied of the box and looking objectively at the whole suitation from his point of view.

People will always claim that they would never let their youngster get away with this, that and the other, but never forget that your horse is a mere baby and you simply have to allow for this whether you liek it ornot, bearing it in mind every time you handle him.

Therefore yes, he outght to respect you, but come on - school children aren't taught one thing about correct behaviour/dicipline and expected to rememebr it forever and never cross the line, because they will be pushing and testing these boundaries all the time. You simple have to remain in ontrol and be patient, consistant and persistant in your handling/training. Repetition is essential to reinforce the objective.Make sure that all training sessions are short and sweet - a maximum of 20 mins at any time (2-3 sessions a day are very useful) and always end on a good note. Praise your youngster when he does well and yuo need to become aware of when you need to ingonre unwanted behaviour (i.e. high jinks and playfulness) and when to assert yourself more and correct your horse (i.e. when he actually bites, kciks, refuses to be led, etc).

Try to make sure that your horse does not get bored. It seems that your horse becoems bored easily and so he pranks around to entertain himself; keep training sessions fun and don't complicate things. be careful that these sessions do not turn into a chore. Learn to recognise the signs of when your youngster is tired and/or bored.

I strongly recommend that you read/buy Michael Peace's book "Think Like Your horse" where there are some incredibly helpful and useful tips and advice on exactly how to train and handle young horses, and on instilling the basics/establishing a good early education in your youngster.

I also can't emphasis enough how important it is NEVER to hit your youngster. If anything destroys any trust you have earned in minutes, it's this. This type of 'discipline' causes more problems that it is worth and does not solve anything - horses do not understand it and they will learn to fear it, possibly becoming headshy and mistrustful of you. Please, just don't do it!

Good luck and remain positive!

:)

xx
 
puzzles said:
Ditto.

Be careful not to do too much too soon.

Very often owners have in their heads how things should and shouldn't be, how he should & shouldn't behave, etc, ratehr than stepping outsied of the box and looking objectively at the whole suitation from his point of view.

People will always claim that they would never let their youngster get away with this, that and the other, but never forget that your horse is a mere baby and you simply have to allow for this whether you liek it ornot, bearing it in mind every time you handle him.

Therefore yes, he outght to respect you, but come on - school children aren't taught one thing about correct behaviour/dicipline and expected to rememebr it forever and never cross the line, because they will be pushing and testing these boundaries all the time. You simple have to remain in ontrol and be patient, consistant and persistant in your handling/training. Repetition is essential to reinforce the objective.Make sure that all training sessions are short and sweet - a maximum of 20 mins at any time (2-3 sessions a day are very useful) and always end on a good note. Praise your youngster when he does well and yuo need to become aware of when you need to ingonre unwanted behaviour (i.e. high jinks and playfulness) and when to assert yourself more and correct your horse (i.e. when he actually bites, kciks, refuses to be led, etc).
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I dont know if all that was aimed at my previous comments or not, but i have to disagree. I've done a lot of work around youngsters as well as adult horses, and i believe that age is absolutely no excuse for bad manners like that and it can easily be trained out of the horse if done now. If you aren't assertive with the horse and let him know that the behaviour is absolutely not allowed, you will end up with a pushy, bad mannered and dangerous horse. He may be a yearling, but that is exactly the time when boundaries need to be set and discipline established if you want the horse to grow up into a pleasant adult.

And although i dont advocate hitting a youngster, if he is persistantly biting then a small slap on the nose might be necessary? Even with those baby teeth he could do a lot of damage. Horses aren't like people, they wont hate you if you tell them off, their brains aren't developed enough to think like that. They will become wary of people if consistently shouted at and beaten, but a gentle tap on the nose and a firm "no" will just reinforce that he must not under any circumstances bite people!!

But i do think it is all up to the individual owner, i know a lot of people are into this new "natural horsemanship" stuff, and if that works for them then thats great. But i have always believed in setting boundaries and ground rules whilst young, before moving up to the more complicated stuff. And that has always worked out very well for me :)
 
yearlings are mouthy, that's how they are. comes with the territory.

if he tries to bite, would push his head away, put an elbow in the way, or gentle poke to side of jaw to get him away or bite him back.
 
Don't get me wrong: I don't not accept disrespectful behaviour, but there is a fine line between actually misbehaving and being - well - a child.
Yes horses are very different from humans and I'm not concerned about the horse 'hating' me, but children often accidentally/ignorantly break rules, because they have not been taught them properly/they do not understand/were not aware, etc - does that mean they should be punished as if they had deliberately done so?

If you are a teenager having a 'hyper' day, or have a temporary attitude that makes learning difficult, would you behave and perform better with a teacher who quickly punished you and comfronted your feelings - none of which actually solved how you felt, nor the situation and would cause you to feel resentful and unwilling to cooperate - or would you ratehr have a sympathetic but assterive - not aggressive - teacher who instead directed you in a way that encouraged you to settle down willingly, when you were ready and want to work for them so that you were in the right frame of mind to work with that teacher

The attiitude of horse and handler is so important!

Horses, being prey animals that work in herds rather than independently, have a natural and genuine desire to comfrom and not to waste energy muckign about when doing so could cause a threat to themselves and the group.

I also believe in correction as opposed to punishment as this way, the horse learns what the correct/wanted behaviour is, whereas punishment merely teaches the horse the wrong way which doesn't exactly direct him towards the right way).

Ps - No, my post was not a reply to yours. I hadn't read all of the other replies when I wrote it :)

xx
 
Horses, being prey animals that work in herds rather than independently, have a natural and genuine desire to comfrom and not to waste energy muckign about when doing so could cause a threat to themselves and the group.
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My point exactly, they are animals who would live in herds with a pecking order and discipline for bad behaviour. Have you seen the mares in "wild" herds disciplining the youngsters?! Scary!!

I dont think you can compare a horse to a human, they dont have the same level of cognition at all and so wouldn't be "feeling" the same way as a human. If a horse is not corrected when he does something wrong, he will assume he can get away with it, which is why establishing rules is so important :)

I dont claim to be an expert, far from it, but i have done a lot of work with "problem" horses and youngsters and have found that the most important thing is finding what works for the individual horse. My gelding was a horror as a 3 year old, he'd had no training or discipline and he needed some quite strict handling to get him to be polite around people. And now he has wonderful manners and is a joy to be around. Una on the other hand, is a very polite, calm and laid back girl. I've not had to so much as raise my voice at her and her manners are also impeccable.

The point im trying to make is that you shouldnt rule out one way of training a horse, if the youngster is pushing his owner around he absolutely should have a smack, im not saying hitting him hard, or beating him, but just to reinforce the word, which he well then learn means that he mustn't do something. Its all about finding out what works for him, but it sounds to me that he is trying to be top of the pecking order, above his owner, hence the nipping and objecting to walking to and from the field.
 
Hmm, true but it may help people to understand better if they can relate to it more. :)

I don't use smacking as I prefer other methods, but whatever floats your boat :)

xx
 
Relate to what, sorry???

If your horse was biting you and wouldn#t stop biting you, im fairly sure you'd resort to a tap on the nose to stop it ;) I personally think people can go OTT with these natural horsemanship things to the point of thinking of horses as people when they really are not.. But as you said, whatever floats your boat!

Garfy has had several different opinions and suggestions, im sure she will do what is best for her horse and hopefully not get injured in the meantime!!
 
Our filly is now 16 months and is turned out with our gelding and mare (not related ) They do a pretty good job of teaching Faye how to behave. We only lead her in with them for tea. She stands while tied up for her feet to be picked out, behaves for the farrier and vet. she loves to be groomed and we can touch her all over without objection. We introduced the hose on a very hot day which she's fairly good with, although she thought the hose too near her head was the silliest idea ever and a wet sponge was much more preferable.
She backs up when her feed is put in the stable and leads well on the lead rope. We use verbal instructions like whoa, walk on and trot on when we lead her to field and stable so they become familiar when she is older and formal training begins. Sometimes we take her for a 5 minute walk around the farm or around the school to let her investigate her surroundings close up. She loads and travels without worrying. Occasionally she has tried to nip but she just gets an 'accidental' elbow following by a reassuring rub.I'm not an advocate of smacking or verbal aggression, I just stay quiet but resolute if she gets a bit excited because if I get excited too, my rekconing is that it will re-enforce the fact that she needs to be worried.
She's happy to wear a rug or surcingle, though she remains shaggy and unrugged, I like the idea of her being free to move like babies do in the field.
Other than our input around tea time, Fox and Malachy do all her training, they have better qualifications for bring up babies(both having had foals of their own).I watch with amazement at how they manage to move her exactly where they want her if they percieve danger, some unspoken, invisible language, they control her every footfall. They are doing the job for me right now and so far she's a calm, well manered, inquistive, friendly foalie.
Good Luck with your little one, garfy.
 
My yearling gelding is 16m too and we at exactly the same stage as Colettybetty (was actually quite freaky reading it as it's so similar). He gets about 30 mins of friendly human interaction every day and is a baby horse for the other 23.5 hours! :)
 
your horse is telling you he's bored and being over handled. He needs horses to teach him horsey equiette, I have usually ten yearlings every year to produce to county show standard and do as little with them as possible as I've found that handling them too much brings problems of there own . Once they understand leading, tying up, feet up etc I hardly handle them only when neccesary. There are things that only horses can teach horses that we can't he needs to be in a herd and be a horse.
 
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