20/01/2025
I truly believe in this! To rush a young horse is a risk I’m not willing to take, horses need time to develop, mentally and physically 🫶🏼
PUSHING horses TOO FAST
"Although breeders have created a better horse, the market has created a demand for a stronger, healthier, more powerful horse. It's easier to sell a horse that looks like a carefully developed eight-year-old, and not like a three- or four-year-old just beginning his career. If you force it, you can get a three-year-old to physically look like a developed eight-year-old.” Klaus Balkenhol
Too many young horses are not allowed to mature slowly at grass (and by grass I mean old pasture, with access to varying types of land for minerals, different terrain to challenge ligaments/muscle development and a variety of legumes/hedges etc to forage).
Instead, rising 3yos are brought into stables, put into an exercise programme and fed high levels of concentrates. They develop muscle mass, but not enough bone structure to support it. They look mature from the outside but they aren't . . . and when you start to work these horses, degeneration sets in. Elite sales and age competitions create pressure to push horses too fast too soon - with the lure of high prices as a “reward” for pushing these horses.
We do start our horses at 3, but only lightly. They will come in and have a few weeks driving in long reins, be sat on, hacked up the lanes and they will wtc in the arena a couple of times before we let them off again until their 4yo year. They are usually overlooked as 3yos because they don’t look like the ones at the elite sales - but that is because we choose not to produce horses in that manner, not because we lack the quality of horse. They are very commercial 4/5/6yos so we choose to play the long game for the benefit of the horse.
As 4 and 5yos, we continue in the same ethos. The horses alternate between periods of work and periods of rest back at grass in a small herd. When in work they aren’t drilled in the arena daily, they do lots of slow hacking and riding on different terrain. They do very few shows! They are let off to grass for the winters (Dec/Jan) of their 4 and 5yo years if they are still here with us. By 6 you have a well conditioned, mentally well adjusted horse who is ready for more serious work and competition.
Will we ever be rich? Probably not 🤣 but are we happy? Very ❤️ we are the custodians of these wonderful animals, we brought them lovingly into the world and by taking this approach to their growth and training (as well as being selective about who we sell them to) we hopefully ensure a long and happy future for each of them.
So if you want a 3yo that looks like an 8yo…. The elite sales are the place for you.
If you want a horse with carefully thought out breeding, from good, proven dam lines, that has been slowly and carefully produced - come to us. You will need to come with an open mind, have a little bit of vision, a willingness to be patient and the ability to trust us. But if you can do all that, you will understand why our small customer base keep coming back to us and become life long friends.
Horse first - sport second. And we mean that. Anyone is welcome to come and visit our farm in the west of Ireland and see these wonderful horses growing up happy and healthy 🙂
"The horse must perform from joy, not subservience. Praising a horse frequently with voice, a gentle pat, or relaxing the reins is very important to keep the horse interested and willing” - Klaus Blakenhol
Fully licensed riding school and own horse training available. Diy stables, full and part livery, Grass turnout, hay/haylage, straw, shavings
