Getting Started

Re: Advice needed in starting a 3 year old

CheyAut — Sun, 28 May 2006 08:24:54 GMT

Hi! I'm late into this thread, but just wanted to tell you I think your horse is really cute, and I"m very glad you rescued him! I think you training him will be ok. Never do something you don't feel comfortable with, and work a lot on respect. Gelding is definately a good thing, and glad to hear your vet will do it well! BTW, I"ve read standing while gelding is less risky for the horse, but more risky for the vet! All my horses came to me as geldings except my 2 y/o stallion (mini that is/will be my breeding stallion) and hubby's 22 y/o mini stallion that we're leaving intact b/c he's old and has great manners. But my mini donkey I had to get gelded, vet did it while he was down and out. Recovery's not too bad, you do want them moving to keep down the swelling.

Good luck with your boy, look forward to reading about your progress!

Jessi

Re: Advice needed in starting a 3 year old

Sorraia_horse — Sat, 27 May 2006 05:42:35 GMT

Take a good look at the horse in my signature. Granted he is far from perfect, that's a five year old greenbroke Arabian. I have done pretty much all his training. I am also very new to horses and have NEVER trained a horse. He is also only my second horse, my first being an older well trained mare I had for only a year before she was put to sleep. Where my training is concerned I am now able to take lessons from a wonderful trainer, but before I moved my horse to his current location last August I had almost no help aside from books or forums like this. He was also given to me as a two year old colt who had no ground manners and knew next to nothing, basically he was thrown out in a pasture when he was weaned and left there, getting haltered for the occassional move from one pasture to another. Also up until he was moved I was only ever able to get out and work with him two or three days a week.

As you can see it CAN be done. However it is far from advisable. In all honesty it really depends on the horse and the handler. I am very lucky in the fact that my horse is so easy going, intelligent, and has bonded with me so well. I am also very lucky in the fact that I as a person am very sensitive and intuitive to the needs of others and have been able to communicate well with my horse. Through trial and error I have been able to train him over the years, leading up to eventually getting him under saddle. It did take much longer than it would have otherwise, but it's been done. His training continues, but so far so good.

Sounds like you've been doing good so far. The real question is how do you (who knows yourself and your horse better than anyone else on this forum) feel about your abilities to train this horse? Can you confidently say you think you can handle it? Or are you hesitant and unsure of your abilities? Based on what you have described about your situation, for the well being and sanity of your horse it sounds like it might be better for you to train him yourself, as long as you are confident in your abilities. You must also recognize the risks involved. This is a large, unpredictable animal you are dealing with. One wrong move can result in serious injury or even death to either you or the horse. I don't mean to scare you, but this is a real possibility. It can be done, but it won't be easy, it will take lots of work and lots of patience. If you think you can do it, go for it.

BTW, if you want, feel free to PM me if you care to hear more about my horse and what I've accomplished with him.

Re: Advice needed in starting a 3 year old

charooke — Wed, 24 May 2006 07:39:09 GMT

Well if he does not have any amazing rare good bloodlines gled him like now. Ive been traing green horse for 2 years now. and they can be verry easy if you do all the ground work with them and make sure there is some one there wen you are training is there anyone there that can help you traine??? If there is no one to help send him to a nother state and get him trained but go and check out the place first.

Re: Advice needed in starting a 3 year old

Caporalito — Sat, 20 May 2006 19:23:18 GMT

I just want to take a minute to THANK EVERYONE again for all your great advice, both about gelding him and starting him slowly. We will be gelding him within the next week or so, I just have to agree on a date with my vet, but I will keep you all posted and let you know how it goes. QHAllAround - I will be definitely following your advice about working him a little while he's "under the weather." Thank you very much. Oatbuck- thank you! Beautiful is not a word anyone has ever used to describe Cappy - thank you very much! To everyone else - thank you for the words of encouragement. I will go slow and remember to bring my patience to the field with me!

Re: Advice needed in starting a 3 year old

appaloosa33 — Sat, 20 May 2006 07:20:24 GMT

Patience is key with young horses especially. Sorry I'm not of much more help, but good luck on this challenge!

Re: Advice needed in starting a 3 year old

oatbucket — Fri, 19 May 2006 06:56:13 GMT

He is beautiful.Good luck with your training.

Re: Advice needed in starting a 3 year old

dressagerider_horse — Fri, 19 May 2006 06:56:01 GMT

I think that the way a horse is treated when they are first being started will have the biggest impression on them, just like human children. Normally I would be reluctant to say maybe you should think about starting him yourself but in this case I think it is the lesser of the two evils. If you start slowly, listen to your horse you could very well end up with a very nicely trained animal, plus since you did it yourself you will have learned more from him than what you could learn by watching a trainer do it. I started Tar Baby, and learned so much from him, plus I have the satisfaction of knowing that his manners, his undersaddle work is what I have taught him. (Maybe I should say what we taught each other.)

Re: Advice needed in starting a 3 year old

twister0302 — Fri, 19 May 2006 04:49:27 GMT

Oh Iv'e read about them

Re: Advice needed in starting a 3 year old

Caporalito — Fri, 19 May 2006 00:48:42 GMT

Hum.... what breed . Thank you Crystalized for the compliment!! You've made me a proud mommy! Well breed... ok, I would say that he is "Azteca", sort of . I don't know if any one is familiar with this breed but it is a wonderful breed! They should be a pure cross between QH and Andalusian. They can also be a cross between Andalusian stallions and "criollo" mares, which is where I would put Cappy. His Father I'm sure was not full blood Andalusian, but since most horses here have either some Andalusian or QH blood, I pretend he is Azteca!! The Azteca is the National horse here in Mexico, but it is really really dificult to get horses registered with them, and most people don't care. I don't know many people who have horses that are registered with ANY association. People just lump them into two catagories: "mutts" and "with fine blood"!!! I'll send a picture of my Hubby's "mutt," Pitaya, so you can see the diference!!

Re: Advice needed in starting a 3 year old

twister0302 — Fri, 19 May 2006 00:06:37 GMT

He's cute! What breed is he?

Re: Advice needed in starting a 3 year old

Jayne-Admin — Thu, 18 May 2006 23:49:29 GMT

I understand your reluctance to send her to a brutal trainer. My own Percheron mare still bears the scars from when I sent her to a "trainer" that was recommended to me. He was intimidated by her size and thought that brute force was the only way to get through to her. Of course, she naturally just fought harder!

I've been working with her myself and she certainly trusts me now, she wears her saddle and bridle, leads, ground ties, lunges etc. I'm about to start long reining, or driving her as part of her training. One thing I haven't done yet is actually get on, but I lean across her as often as I can to get her comfortable with having a person above her.

I've been taking it step by step, loosely following John Lyons Conditioned Response system.

I think as long as you take it one step at a time, making sure he is completely at ease with one exercise before moving on to the next, you'll be okay.

I certainly agree he'll be a lot easier to handle once he's gelded.

Best of luck with him.

Re: Advice needed in starting a 3 year old

Caporalito — Thu, 18 May 2006 18:55:53 GMT

OK! Took my a while to figure it out but I think I did it! Thanks again to all of you for your help! I will be checking out those books as soon as I can! Here are two pictures of Cappy today. He still has a few more pounds to put on and muscle to build, but he's come along way from where he was! Thanks again!

P.S. - My Hubby now has a question about his horse but I will post it on another thread in general discussions. ¿¿Can old horses learn new tricks?!!?

Re: Advice needed in starting a 3 year old

OdhinnsMom — Wed, 17 May 2006 23:41:09 GMT

I agree with QHAllaround - WOW is right. You have obviously done A LOT to win this guys trust, and you should start him yourself.

As far as the constant correction is concerned, a lot of that has to do with his age. He is just like a little kid, who forgets that he has to follow rules. It sounds like his nature is to just submit - which will make training him much easier for you.

Your books are good, and here are a few more I would recommend: "True Horsemanship through Feel" by Bill Dorrance, and ANYTHING by Ray Hunt or Buck Brannaman. Clinton Anderson is pretty easy to follow too, but I prefer Tom/Bill Dorrance, Ray Hunt and Buck Brannaman to any of the other trainers.

Re: Advice needed in starting a 3 year old

robison02 — Wed, 17 May 2006 22:30:21 GMT

Kudos to you for already putting in so much time and effort already! That's a big step in the right direction

Re: Advice needed in starting a 3 year old

QHAllAround — Wed, 17 May 2006 22:17:11 GMT

WOW! You two have been through a lot! I shouldn't be giving you training advice it should definitly be the other way around!

He looks great now! To get pictures in the body of your posts they will have to be uploaded somewhere like www.photobucket.com and then you link to them. I believe there is a post in the sig folder detailing the basics.

The gelding sounds correct. Around here the proceedure is done either standing or laid out. Different people prefer different things. Standing should be fine with appropriate amount of drugs and clean sterile equipment. I imagine it looks horrible, but it sounds like your vet is doing it the standard way. A few weeks sounds about right for recovery. I believe the vet will leave the wound open. While it's open you won't want to hose directly, but perhaps sponge that area to keep the ooze off his legs and the flys down (you can hose, but you don't want to get water up in the open part of the wound). Hand walking is good during this time as you want them to keep moving (reduces swelling and speeds recovery), but I'm sure your vet will go over all of this with you.