Horses Too Young

 

I'm not a horse racing fan, nor a fan of any equine competition where young horses are stressed through training and performance before they ever mature. I understand that for many there is pressure on performing and earning checks to keep everything from food on the table to hay delivery coming through the gate so it's necessary getting horses performing as soon as possible, but I just think there needs to be some regulating of putting stress on young horses. 

 

Think about it.  Horses competing as three year olds may only have a true age just over 2 years as they may be coming 3 years in the competitive year. That means they have to have been started (in training) well before becoming a true two years of age.  So I was pleased to see a message posted from Cowboy Dressage World Switzerland that stated "Fantastic news for the welfare of horses coming out of Switzerland and Germany yet again! Their respective Quarter Horse associations have resolved to prohibit 3 year old horses from ridden competitions and futurities as of March 2016. Horses must be at least 4 years old before they are permitted to compete under saddle. The article states this is following a global trend and questions being raised about horse welfare. They also resolved that 4 year old and older horses can be ridden 2 handed in a snaffle or hackamore.  Well done Europe!! Come on rest of the world!"

 

I ran a large horse facility for six years or so and we would get calls from several racing stable owners at the local racing track offering free horses, mostly always Thoroughbreds.  Some of these horses weren't working out very well on the racing circuit and the owners just wanted to get these horses off their feed bill.   More often than not, these free horses were young and had some sort of injury.  I couldn't keep some of the novice horse owners from jumping at the chance of a free, well bred horse.  Often I would often go down to quarantine to check in a new horse only to find it lame.  Bowed tendons, damaged suspensary ligaments, non-specific problems in the stifle were common and would get worse once the anti-inflammatory and pain management drug protocols were no longer being given. Some of these horses had been pin fired as well.       

Often other problems wouldn't become apparent for years such a detioriating joints, bog spavin in the hocks, or just odd footfalls at certain gaits. 

 

The deal with starting horses in intense training while they are not physically (nor mentally) mature is that not only are injuries more common but physical stress and damage on developing bones and joints may create conditions that may not be apparent or become chronic until later years.    I really like the idea of starting horses at two or even three years of age.  Even though you may have been handling that colt since he was born, letting him learn pressure and release from a lead line, which is good for him, I mean starting in getting him broke to a saddle and getting a few short rides in the round pen.  Turning that colt back out and starting again the next year continuing his training and starting to put a handle on him.  Then at four maybe five he's being ridden a lot, and is what you call a using horse.

 

I am not going to change the industry, nor am I going to thin bad of all the trainers in those disciplines where horses are started, trained long and used hard while they are young.  I think just in a perfect world horses are allowed to mature before we ask too much of them.