10 tips to tame and reverse a young horse

When I started writing my tips for breaking in a young horse, I thought I must be crazy, what did I know? There are plenty of experts offering advice and I was just a humble horse owner, not a trainer etc. So I decided that if my story helps someone gain the confidence to work with their own horse, I think they will find it a rewarding experience and will be beneficial to both the horse or pony and themselves.

Back, tame and train a young horse. Well it’s something we’re told is best left to the experts and to some extent I agree as you can do a lot of damage to a horse at such a young age but with the right support and information, I think you can do a good job.

It’s easy to say, leave it to the experts, but for most of us, our horses and ponies are part of our family. We are the ones who are with them every day and the ones who have built a mutual trust and bond with them.

I took a break from having my own horse for about 15 years. So I found myself, in my naivety, being the proud owner of a 2-year-old filly. I fell in love with her, what else can I say, but she was 16.1hh and very powerful. A lot could have gone wrong. I contemplated sending her away when the time came, to break up, support and educate her career. However, there were several problems with this idea. Number one was the cost, he just didn’t have the money to do it as the quotes he had gotten were exorbitant. Number 2 was that this was my horse, I had spent hours and hours in the barn with her, bonding, grooming and just sitting there to gain her trust. I didn’t want to fire her and lose all that. I knew she trusted me, she would follow me around the paddock like a dog, if she ran, she would trot after me. Pretty scary when you have a 16.1hh thoroughbred chasing you. I had never read a natural horsemanship book, but I realized that this is exactly what we were doing.

I also discovered that she had never been taken out of the yard, boxed, lunged at, or had a bite to eat near her. I figured it was going to be a long drawn out process.

Actually I couldn’t have been more wrong. Although I took things very slowly, I found that supporting her was extremely easy.

I used a lot of common sense, sought out lots of advice from local tack shops and yard folks, and read whatever information I could find, including everyone else’s advice on breaking in a young horse. Many of the techniques and equipment had evolved since I had my last horse. So I had to learn what to do with it all over again.

The things I learned and my 10 tips for breaking in a young horse are:

1. Take time to bond with your horse or pony, don’t be too quick to break it. You will need time to develop mutual trust.

2. Learn your horses’ moods. It learns their normal behavior and detects when something is wrong.

3. Spend time before trying to back your horse getting him used to the basic commands, both on the lunge and on the long rein. Standing, walking, jogging will be invaluable once your horse is backed up for the first time.

4. Insert the bit slowly, don’t expect to put it in your horse’s mouth and leave it there for hours. Try a few minutes at a time for several weeks and get a bit suitable for a young horse. I used a copper key bit.

5. Insert the saddle without straps, stirrups and leathers to start and remove again after a few minutes.

6. Before you even think about putting someone on your horses, get the horse used to using the saddle and bridle in the lunge or in the hand.

7. When charging the first few times with the tack, make sure the stirrups and leathers don’t move and startle your horse.

8. When introducing someone on your back, make sure you are the one talking to your horse, after all, you are the one building trust.

9. Try to have someone light be the first person to sit on your horse. Start with them lying on their horse and then gradually sitting up. Make sure each movement of the rider is slow and smooth. Again, make sure this is not rushed and is done over weeks.

10. Back your horse or pony slowly, get ahead of the animal. If they seem stressed or anxious or really misbehaving, stop. There is usually a reason.

It took me about 2.5 months to get my horse from just having a collar on his head to gently wrestling me over it.

I introduced her to everything little by little and talked to her constantly. It may seem like a long time to some people, but I was left with a well-adjusted horse that doesn’t get stressed or misbehave very often. She takes initiative from me and will try new things because I firmly believe that she trusts me.

Make sure you are safe at all times and have someone with you if you need more knowledge, but don’t be afraid and take the lead. wrong, they react to what we as humans do to them.