05/01/2025
I always rest mine a bit through off season (whatever the off season of their job may be). Feeling super excited to get back on Rosie in February. She is one that is hard for me to rest, because each ride is so amazing, but the importance of rest is not only allowing them to be a horse, but it strengthens the bond.
The Importance of Turning Away.
Over the years I have had the honour of guiding many horses and ponies through their foundation and early years stages of training “breaking in” ( I hate that word and its connotations on every level).
It is a process in short whereby you communicate with the horse by understating their language as much as possible and teach the horse to understand our human language: aids, voice command, gestures. It is a far more balanced and harmonial process if we can meet somewhere in the middle. But undoubtedly the horse gives us way more during this process than we give them. They are so much better instinctively reading our body language than we are at reading theirs.
I am not going to cover in this post bad-horsemanship: Horses broken by being bullied, frightened, overpowered, rushed. Human : ignorance, arrogance, negligence, naivety. That is all sadly for another day.
As a general rule. Horses didn’t used to start the process until their 4th year or the spring of rising 4 at the earliest. Allowing them the first 3 years to live in a herd a learn how to be a horse. How to forage, understand the seasons, not to injure themselves, understand the hierarchy of their herd and their place in it. Mostly these years go without a hitch, if young horses are turned out together they learn not to kick to hurt one another and use their horse language more as a warning. A matriarch mare will keep them in line, teaching them the ropes of how to behave.
A rising 4 year old brought in at this stage without too much human contact other than in the positive form of feeding, routine worming etc will be a healthy balanced one. During my time in New Zealand. We would corral the herd of 4 year olds, split any off that still looked too weedy (leave them for another year) and train them in the basics from tack to under saddle in 10 full days.
Keeping sight of some of their herd mates so as not to distress too much and allowing ad-lib forage in the process. I often spent 5-8 hours a day bonding with one horse and so by day 3 we can introduce tack. By day 5 have a little sit on, by day 10 they rode away under saddle in all 3 paces and halt to voice command.
I would allow a couple of days rest at 10 days.. not before. Weeks 3 to 6 I ride away as normal all the while introducing the horse to new scenarios often with a nanny horse their to hold our hand. After this time I consider the horse educated in the basics and if all of our time together has been positive I don’t see a need to keep drilling away at them. After all they have taken in a huge change of life in the last 8 weeks. They need some time to process the whole thing and decompress. As a rule I try not to keep a newly educated horse in work for more than 6 months before turning away.
The process above is based on an ideal whereby the horse has not changed hands, been transported from its herd/home and all it has know for its formative years. Passed through dealers, sales and other scenarios. Let’s imagine them as young children, separated from their family. scared, nervous and then having to learn a new language all within the space of 6 weeks to 12 months 😢.
So I find it very distressing when the market dictates young horses and ponies often just turned 3 being “broken in” and sold as riding horses, then consequently passed around from dealer to unknowledgeable buyer as ready to go. No matter how good natured or tolerant the horses, this level of work and inconsistency on a young brain and immature body is very distressing and going to lead to the horse displaying behaviour deemed by the human as naughty.
If you are reading this and have found yourself in a similar scenario please look at it from the horses point of view. If said horse is sub 5 and has already been moved 3 plus times since leaving the herd and moved to several yard with different trainers ( all using varying teaching methods and different languages). Your horses brain has been blown. They are stressed, tired, don’t know what you want from them, possibly suffering ulcers, pain (ill-fitting tack) and developing mental health issues.
So it’s time to turn away! If it’s gone sour. Stop drilling the process... More trainers, more jumping, more work. It’s going to end badly somewhere down the line. Give your horse a break. Try to end on a good note (a positive hack out). Turn them away for 3 to 6 months allow their brains and bodies time to process, decompress, trust in human nature again. Trust you again.
Side-note. Last summer I educated a pony for the purposes of a children’s riding pony. Did little bits of everything with him, creating a rounded, happy forward going cracking pony. Then turned him away for the winter 3 months – perfect. Upon advertising I detailed his full cv, personality, training and was proud to boast of his time turned away but had no interest in this pony now turning 6. I simply couldn’t believe it. A good friend of mine pointed out that the bit about turning away was probably putting people off. Honestly I couldn’t believe it and thought “am I being niave” but realised its the market that’s naive. They want a ready to go all rounder but priced out of the Holy Grail market of a 7 to 10 year old gelding. Then look around at a youngster but want to see it in work actively doing everything and expect it to be perfect regardless of age. It is this culture which is spoiling our young horses and ponies and their futures.
If you have knowledge, time, patience and a confident jockey. Buy a young pony and make them brilliant but novices and novices don’t mix. Do yourself a favour and save some heartache. DO NOT SET YOUR PONY AND KIDS UP TO FAIL. Seek professional advice and input with a young horse and remember everyone needs a break sometimes so don’t forget the importance of TURNING AWAY.
Horse Trainer / Independent Saddle Fitter Farmer Dickinson
