Question: “I have a question about 3-year-old green broke horses…how hard should they be worked? If they are coming along good, is it a good idea to keep pushing them into new situations?”

Answer: “How much are you thinking is to much or not enough? Different individuals can take more than others.

Are you working their body to get to their mind, or working their mind to get to their body? In other words, we can put the miles on them to work their body to get control of their mind. Or, we can give them brain puzzles to solve and work their mind to get control of their body.

We can mentally challenge them, but not discourage them. We can physically challenge them and condition them, but not stress them.

Many young horses are trained hard for futurities, but are worn out between 5-10 years-old. The old timers never rode anything under 6-years-old to wait for the growth plates to close. Dressage riders typically don’t work them until they are 4-years-old. In either case, horses worked less at a younger age typically last longer.

Just food for thought, hope it helps.

Martin”