08/19/2024
Too good not to share!
“That horse was started at 2?! It’s gonna break down by the time it’s 10” something I see on every sale ad of a young finished horse.
Why does the industry start 2 year olds instead of 4/5 years old? So many reasons!
A 2 year old is a SPONGE! They want to learn they take in everything. They come along quickly with short work sessions and crave the right answer. They are less likely to buck and test the waters. They build bone density and in my experience tend to be stronger long term. Now, I’m not saying ride them Into the ground, no good trainer is. That will ruin any age horse. Short rides, or even starting in the spring and putting them out to pasture and bringing them back in the fall. They retain it all!
The people screaming to not start until 4-5 I tend to notice this main common denominator. THEY DONT START THEIR OWN! So let’s p**s off the trainer instead, since they’re not brave enough to do it themselves now. If you wait till 4-5 and start your own more power to you that’s your personal choice you probably worked that c**t since it was born. Most c**t starters will all agree the 2 and 3 years olds are where it’s at and not the unhandled 5 year old.
If you have ever started an older horse, they tend to be more stuck in their ways. For good reason. You just took a welfare horse that has never had to work a day in their life and said “time to go work for a living” when they’d much rather be fat and happy in the pasture. They tend to be lazier, balk the system, and just overall more difficult. Every older horse I’ve started had WAY more issues than the 2 year olds and I’ve seen more 2 year olds showing successfully into their older years than ones that were started later. I’ve seen more go lame, or just not have a brain cell to work with.
From an overall ethical standpoint here’s one to sit on. You take that 2 year old start them, give them a great education they are pretty exceptional citizens by the time they are 4. You have set that horse up for his life. He is more likely to go onto great homes because he is gentle and broke and probably shown by now.
Now, this is what I see happening ALOT with 4-5 year olds. They haven’t started them yet, so maybe they try themselves and got in way over their heads with their strong 15 hand toddler. Now they have an outlaw. “Well let’s just wait longer since they’re already 5” *another 2 years go by, now a unbroke 7 year old. Dumped at sale, “cheap project”, need experienced trainer, etc.
Even if they do start that horse by 4-5, broke by 7 with little life experience. Now, you missed the major shows or more than likely don’t show that horse or just settle and the horse never amounted to what it could have been 90% of the time.
I can’t tell you how many projects we have bought at 8-10 years old green, unbroke, or WILD. Why? NOBODY STARTED THEM AT 2 and set them up for success. You know where they were headed? No where good, because someone waited ”for the good of the horse” and never got around to it. That saying has put more horses in the kill pen than someone lightly starting their 2 year old ever has.
Thanks for coming to my Ted talk, I could write a book on this, but we don’t have time for that - written by Cassy Davis
*Pictured one I started at 2.
Breeding, Raising, Training and Selling Performance Horses in Northwest Colorado.
