05/22/2025
•On starting to ride•
This is a hot topic for me, because I think the age at which we start asking a horse to carry a rider says everything about the paradigm we follow and what we value in our horses.
I am not going to cite sources or teach anything in this post. I've done my research and work my horses according to what I found to be best practice. This information is all free and readily available.
The culture of accepting riding a 2 year old horse is very much based on a *disposable horse* model. I'm seeing people rotate horses every few years, usually before said horses turn 8 (or skeletal maturity)
I am not saying that these horses aren't loved dearly. But I am saying that based on the decision to ride them at age 2 strongly indicates that long term soundness is less of a priority.
Maybe they will stay sound carrying a rider directly on their open growth plates, or maybe they will not. But a pasture sound mare could always be put in foal, and there's always a cute new blue roan or palomino youngster to bring along in the meantime, right?
Just be honest with yourself when you make this decision.
Wolff's law is everyone's favorite argument to bring up, yet it is only a tiny aspect of a huge picture. Our knowledge has long since upgraded, and yet this is still the only piece of evidence that a person will shout about while sitting on that 3 year old. It is the same crowd that rides 3 year olds, that considers a horse old at age 10 and that is them telling on themselves and the longevity of their system.
Every year I lose business due to not starting client horses that are younger than 4.
This is a matter of integrity and ethics for me.
I have had the absolute privilege of being carried by my now 6 year old horse that I've raised since a yearling.
For her, I chose to wait until age 6 for a light start because she is hypermobile, because she had severe spinal trauma as a foal that we will always be rehabbing, and because sitting on a baby noodle horse does them no good even if they are perfectly healthy.
Most of all, I waited until she turned 6 because I train with the intention of keeping my horses for a lifetime. Because I believe a horse that is fully grown at age 9 should be in the prime of their life!
This statement brings me no money, and if anything is me shooting at my own foot.
It is hard for me to speak on this openly on social media, because thinking this way absolutely goes against the grain.
But that very thing makes it clear to me that it needs to be said.
I am showing my work to the world, and sharing that I started riding my filly at age 6.
I believe in this strongly enough to happily lose clientele and "popularity" because I can only work from what I found to be best practice. Nothing less.
Thank you for reading.
