What Does a 2- or 3-Year-Old Horse Need to Know?

Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Winter weather, ugh. The rain, snow, and ice have definitely slowed down work with my horses, including the soon-to-be-3-year-old filly I accidentally bought last fall. So, cozied up with a cup of coffee, I recently started making a list of the things Atty has learned since I got her and what’s on our agenda for this spring and beyond. I call them “Atty’s Activities.”

Being an Oldenburg/Anglo-cross, Atty is mature of mind but young bodied. Her feet are huge and her joints still awkwardly large, but her body is small and her butt is high. With her having a 16.3-hand sire, I hope that my currently 14.3-hand filly will top out around 15.3. She has plenty of time to grow, right? With all that in mind, I’m putting off starting her (lightly) under saddle until next winter, or maybe spring ’15.

That leaves us with a year to learn lots of big-girl lessons that don’t involve riding.

I see these early lessons as a crucial time for all horses. The skills my filly gains now will carry with her for the rest of her 25-plus years on this planet, and I feel a responsibility to instill these early lessons thoroughly and with patience. Who knows, maybe learning to give to pressure on her legs will save her someday if she gets stuck in a fence; her experience ponying on trails will make her valuable after she retires from the dressage ring; or her quiet and confident response to scary new things will ensure her a long career as a priceless youth horse

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Michelle Anderson is the former digital managing editor at The Horse. A lifelong horse owner, Anderson competes in dressage and enjoys trail riding. She’s a Washington State University graduate and holds a bachelor’s degree in communications with a minor in business administration and extensive coursework in animal sciences. She has worked in equine publishing since 1998. She currently lives with her husband on a small horse property in Central Oregon.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
309 votes · 309 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!