Young Horse or Experienced Horse?

I was chatting with a fellow boarder the other day, and she asked me if I ever found myself comparing Donut with Nimo.  And of course, I do.  But not really in a way that would indicate one was better than the other.  It's more a matter of interesting observations.  Like Donut struggled with being bathed while Nimo had no issues with it.  Or it was very challenging to handle Nimo's feet while for Donut, it was much less so.  Every horse is different and I've learned that they are just like people.  They have idiosyncrasies and fears and things that make them happy.

One thing I do miss, though, is working with Nimo's finished self.  He was a tremendous amount of work when he was younger, but once he got older, handling him started to feel very intuitive and natural.  Not necessarily because he was the best trained horse ever (I can assure you that he wasn't), but because over time, I got to know him and he got to know me and we figured out how to communicate.  So I could feel when he was worried and adjust my behavior accordingly.  I knew where he liked to be scratched.  And both on the ground and under saddle, I knew the right amount of pressure to use and how to move my body to ask him to do things like move over or stop.  It felt very comfortable.

Working with Donut doesn't feel comfortable yet.  We still have lots to learn together before we have that same level of comfort.

Which brings me to the main point of this post.  Can you speed up the process of becoming comfortable with a horse by getting an older, more experienced horse that is already under saddle and knows its job versus getting a young horse that needs one or more years to mature before it can even be started under saddle?

I think most people would answer yes to this question.  They would argue that you get what you pay for, and when you pay significantly more for an older horse, you get the benefit of someone else's work, so you can get straight to your riding goals.  Whereas, with the young horse, you have to put in all the time educating them, so it could take years to get to the point of the person wants to be at.

A few years ago, I might have agreed with those people.  But not anymore.  I have had the opportunity to watch a lot of horses being handled and trained and competed, and then I've got my very own experience with Freya and a couple of other horses to inform me.  Admittedly, I haven't had her very long, but I have noticed some things that I think are important.

One thing I have seen not infrequently is a person buying a horse that is already under saddle and expecting that horse to do the same things for them that it did for its previous owner.  And then watching as the horse was pretty emphatic that it had no intention of doing those things.  Why?  Was it because the horse was misrepresented?  Was it because the original rider was so much better than the new rider?  Something else?

I suspect it is because I quite literally never see the new owner ever take any time to make sure the horse is comfortable in its new environment, that it has all the training it is supposed to have, and that the rider knows what she is supposed to know before she gets on.  Then one of three things happens.  The rider decides the horse isn't a good fit for her and resells the horse within a year.  Or the horse and rider continue to proceed, but the rider complains all the time that the horse isn't doing what it is supposed to do and there is no harmony, only an accident waiting to happen.  Or the rider realizes that something is missing, and gets help from a professional to make sure the horse and the rider have the appropriate skill set and the rider takes the time to make sure the horse gets the nutrition it needs, the environment it needs, the hoof care it needs, the medical care it needs, the tack it needs, and the conditioning and schooling it needs.  OK, so the last one is not something I've seen happen, but it is a possibility. 

Why doesn't that last thing ever happen?  I don't know, but I think part of it is this expectation that people have that older horses should already have the skills they need and be immediately ready to go out and do their jobs.  Which is an odd expectation, because I don't think these same people would expect a new employee at their job to just jump in and start performing at full capability.  So why would we expect it from a horse?

My personal experience with having had both young horses and older horses in my life is that in the long run, there is little difference between getting a young horse and an older horse.  Sure, you may be able to get on and ride the older horse sooner.  But unless that older horse happens to be extremely well trained (which also means you had a ton of money to spend on said horse) and you happen to be an extremely good and thoughtful rider and the two of you just hit it off right away, you are going to invest a huge amount of time figuring out where the gaps in the horse's training are, where the gaps in your skills are, and figuring out how to communicate really well with that horse.  You may go to competitions or on trail rides, but your performance will always be missing something until you get into sync with your horse.  And that process isn't going to happen overnight.

With a young horse, that effort comes about almost by necessity.  You are forced to put in the time just hanging out with the horse, and figuring out how much pressure to use, and what the horse's preferences are.  You go systematically through the training, starting with ground work and ground manners and work through initial bitting and saddling, before asking for more advanced things.  You don't expect the horse to just know everything.  You assume it doesn't, so you take the time.  And in 3-5 years, you have a wonderful partner.  Probably about the same amount of time as it would take to get to that stage for an older horse.  (Obviously, the time could vary by horse and person, but as an example...)

It's been awhile since I had an older, new-to-me horse in my life, but as I'm reminded by Freya, older horses need the same time and effort you put in to younger horses.  Freya does many things well.  She stands in the cross-ties for grooming and a bath.  She is easy to handle for picking her feet and trimming.  She was a saint for the dentist (I've literally never seen another horse be that quiet - no sedation needed.)  She can be led from point A to point B by a kid.  She loads in a trailer with no fuss.  She appears to be able to handle a low-key dressage show environment with no problem.  And she is great with Gemma.

Gemma and Freya at a dressage show over the weekend.

Super nice halt and salute!

So it is awesome not to have to feel like I need to work on those things with her.  But...that doesn't mean we don't have things to work on.  She can get impatient sometimes, so we have to work on learning to stand still under a variety of conditions for lengthy periods of time.  She and Donut are starting to get a little too attached to each other, so there is some mild separation anxiety for me to monitor.  Under saddle, her balance is the same as a young horse, but with the added challenge of her being pretty committed to keeping that balance (or lack thereof).  So I am trying to peel the layers off of the protections she has in place and convince her that she should try to move differently.  Based on the last couple of rides, I may have to actually do the work on the lunge and in-hand first to help her understand what I'm asking and give her a chance to express herself without me in the saddle.  (I was finally able to do the start of the Masterson Bladder Meridian technique a few days ago, and she gave me a ton of releases in her neck.  Baby steps!)

How many years will it take me to retrain her balance so that it becomes intuitive?  I have no idea, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out that it takes the same time as it takes for Donut, or even longer.  Right now, I'm still in the stage where I'm identifying the gaps in her skill set, learning how to communicate with her, and figuring out what I need to learn to help her.  I'm also rehabbing her hooves to a certain degree and working on figuring out what feed works best for her.  She needs to build some muscle over her back, and I'm fully in experimentation mode.  Thankfully, she is very food-oriented, so she is eating everything with gusto.  

If you are curious, currently on the menu are Speedi-beet (non-GMO beet pulp that soaks fast because I am lazy and have poor planning skills), Triple Crown Crimped and Steamed Oats (they are the best looking oats I've ever seen and they are non-GMO), MannaPro's Renew Gold (high fat/protein supplement for potentially helping build her topline), Mad Barn's 3:1 zinc/copper supplement (I like that it has the two minerals already balanced), Jiagulan (adaptogenic herb that may improve circulation for her feet), Hilton Herbs' Easy Mare and Mud Defense (she was stricken by a terrible case of rain rot a few weeks ago, and I'm determined to avoid that in the future), British Horse Feeds Cooked Linseed (I'll phase this out if I keep her on Mud Defense because it is already in that supplement), unsweetened shredded coconut, and Redmond salt.  (Yes, my feed prep area is kind of insane, although Donut is on a much simpler diet.)

And then I discovered that while she can be led from point A to point B with no problem by even a complete novice, it turns out she struggles with some ground work requests.  For example, she tends to anticipate and rush through the work instead of moving one foot at a time.  So we need to help her learn to slow down and place her feet with more care.  In my opinion, that is an essential skill for any trail horse, and it starts on the ground.  So we will be spending the fall and winter working on ground work patterns and obstacles.  Guess who else will be doing that work?  Donut.

In the end, I don't know that there is any advantage to getting a more experienced horse over a young one.  It is why I have decided to get young horses for my last three horses.  There are still issues to deal with, of course, but at least I know what I have done (or haven't done), so I'm not caught by surprise when the older horse that I assumed would know something doesn't know it after all.

But for some riders, like Gemma, it makes sense to start with an older horse, who has a solid temperament and basic skills.  She isn't educated enough to handle a green horse, and Freya works just fine for her.  They don't have to do anything fancy, and to a certain extent, I (and a couple of riding instructors) can work with them to improve their skills.  But it's good that I can work with Freya too.  Improving her balance will hopefully help her do more and be sound longer.  And over time, Gemma will gain the coordination and knowledge she needs to take advantage of that improved balance.

Do you have a preference?  Why?