Yearlings can fly! Did you know that? No kidding, I have had yearlings both colts and fillies clear a four foot fence from just about a total standstill. And why is that? It’s cause for their body weight , the muscles are far more than capable of providing a great deal of ‘lift’ to the critter. So, make sure your fences are tight, and it wouldn’t hurt to have a good, strong, high strand of electric on the top of them!
Aside from their airborne capability- yearlings are – plain and simple- a trip! The fillies and the colts are coping with newly arisen hormones and cycles- which in many ways makes them just like adolescent human teenagers- subject to all kinds of mood shifts, about minus zero attention span, and bizarre behavior.
I have had fillies that seem to have terrible cramps when they cycle for the first few times- manifested as colic. Oh joy. Colts seem to from time to time- coinciding with the filly/mare cycles- have air blowing from one side of their brains to the other-making them ” airheads” and that is the good stuff! If not air-heads, colts can assume that THEY are the farm’s top breeding stallion- one with few manners at that. This is the time when all those walks and all that patience, and all that instilling of the basics comes to be worth it’s weight in gold!
Yearling stage seems to be when colts especially decide to rear when leading- not all of course, but quite a few actually. This must be stopped immediately. The cure seems harsh, but having a colt or youngster dance on your head is more dramatic. I had a colt at the beginning of my horse breeding program , who decided one day he would rear as we were on a slight downhill slope leading into the pasture. Scared me near silly. After consult with a very experienced breeder- whose words of wisdom I will never forget ” YOU pick the time and place of a fight with a horse if a fight is what must happen- don’t let them do it!”- I made my plans. The next morning, wearing leather gloves, carrying a lunge whip, with a chain over the colt’s nose we set out. Now I did not routinely use a chain over the nose- so this was new to the colt indeed. Off we went to the spot where the rearing had occurred- sure enough the colt started to get ancy- so I took the whip and lightly laid it on his side and moved him over, switched sides and moved him back – did that a few times and the rearing behavior ceased! IF he had indeed gone up, I was mentally prepared to smack him a good one right across the genital area! And believe me, getting to that state of mental prep was not easy! But it was not needed , for which I was grateful. By the way, that colt never again even attempted to rear.
I have had yearlings go airborne out of fright which is a totally different thing, but always be alert and pay attention when handling yearlings- their real life experience is somewhat limited, despite your hard work, and accordingly their behavior can be unpredictable!
Now the good things you can do with the critters. You can actually begin to do things besides the walking, and grooming! You can introduce the yearling to harness- if you have it- and teach them to ground drive. I do not suggest lunge work -too easy to create muscle imbalance yet in the youngster. And no need to bit the yearling either. At the most a simple hackamore is plenty- most often you don’t even need that if “Whoa” is already instilled in the yearling. The long lines attached to the halter will suffice. If you don’t have harness you will need as a minimum a surcingle with rings – a very inexpensive biting rig will do- made out of fabric, not leather.. Mind you, forget all the doohickeys for things like setting heads!! Just forget them…That of course applies to anything resembling a Check rein- or a running martingale. Or a tie down!{mospagebreak}
Having gotten the yearling used to wearing the equipment, which is not hard to do at all, and doesn’t take but a few times of slowly putting it on – do not simply slam it onto the back of the horse! Instead, first let the horse see it and smell it, do this introduction on both sides of the head, left and right eye must be able to see the thing! Gently lift it over the wither and slide it into place.. Wouldn’t hurt to do this both from the left and the right side of the horse- you do have to teach both sides!!!
If you like you can use a crupper, keeping the backstrap just tight enough to hold the crupper in place without it sliding around and rubbing under the tail. This is an important step- putting on the crupper. Lift the tail straight up- slowly do not yank it up, and put the unbuckled crupper into position- making very, very sure no tail hair is caught under the crupper. I do not recommend those monster thick cruppers you see on the show grounds- nope a standard crupper with a piece of fleece on it does beautifully. If you have no intention of ever using the horse in harness- skip this step altogether ! An surcingle alone is fine!!
I am not about to give detailed instructions on how to ground drive a horse! But carrying a driving whip and wearing gloves is important- you want to teach the horse that the whip is a tool for guiding and cueing, not beating! The gloves will save your hands indeed. It also helps to have another person at the head of the yearling to lead it forward as you cue with the whip and give verbal “Walk On” command- you should also visualize what is going to happen in your head! The colt will move off according to the person heading him/her and after a few session will associate the moving off with the verbal and non verbal cues you have given.
I would hold off on biting till the yearling is at least 16 or 18 months of age, and after you have had teeth checked. I used to just hang a bit- with keys or not- from the halter rings using bit hooks – and let the yearlings mouth and play with it in their stalls- even munch hay- never for a long time at all. I would stand with the yearling and apply gentle pressure to the bit from either side – and from both at once- just to let the horse know what that strange thing can do.
Now is a fun time indeed. You get to ground drive over all the obstacles you led over, and you should remember to keep your circles and turns wide- don’t make these sessions prolonged, but be consistent in this as in everything you do with a young horse! Is good exercise for you and super for them to learn and have fun while doing so. Figure Eight’s, big circles ( in both directions) straight lines- all kinds of stuff can be done. And don’t be too surprised the first time that critter turns around and faces you ! Those lines are long and take a bit of getting used to and you will- you will get the feel of the horse through them and be able to head off that ‘Here I am face to face with you’ move. Have fun!
Ina M Ish
iish@earthlink.net