Great post Cloudy. I've never owned a horse before and one of the reasons why I joined this site was to learn as much as I can about them. I've raised and shown dogs for quit some time and I'm learning that some of the same principles apply to horses as well. Please keep posting valuable information like this. Thanks so much! Janet

CLOUDY good idea...I have a colt that was born the end of May 2 yrs ago..he is 15 hands now..most would look at him and think he was ready to be ridden..but as said before his bones are not mature enough and I will NOT train him till he is ready..at this age he has already had alot of ground work done. As a foot note here..today a guy was here and wanted to look at him..Kota is alittle shy with straingers but I called him over he started to come then looked at the guy and stopped..I told Kota it was fine and he walked right over to us...as horse owners we need to raise them right and show them the respect they deserve that way they show us respect right back and trust us to do right by them. Linda

I like to bring this one back to the front, from time to time.

Cloud, once again, great article :) Thanks for the info.. rose

Ya'll go to the home page and click into articael about the horse refugee

I just enclosed the same information on the other forum page, not realizing that it had been posted here. I am a little curious as to why an arguement surfaced on the other forum post (Re: Riding a horse too early) when black and white facts were available on this forum post,without having to research such. Right now I am really puzzled. *Sigh* Thank you cloudryder for taking the time to pull up the information. *Smile*

re: riding too early...this explains a lot.

About the bosal and mecate, my horses are always started with the bosal. I like to keep mine in a bosal for quite awhile. I had an 8 yr old mare who responded far better with a bosal than with a bit, even though she'd graduated to the snaffle at 2, and the curb at 3. She never did like the curb, and always performed better in the snaffle than the curb, and better in the bosal than than with the snaffle. I took her to an equine dentist and spent a fortune on her teeth, and it didn't make one bit of difference. She just didn't like having something in her mouth and got really nasty if someone who was heavy handed tried to ride her. (notice I say tried...LOL) I see these people riding who jerk on a horse's head and it makes me want to jerk them off the horse and beat them. I wonder how they'd like having a bit put in their mouth and then having their head jerked around. I decided against putting my 2 yr old in training for cutting. Some say I should've, but I decided to let him finish maturing both physically and mentally. I figure if he would've been a great futurity cutter (and who knows if that would've panned out?), he'll make a better mature cutter. BTW, cav and kattzz, if you see this, Floyd is now officially an 'it', his resticles are gone and he's gotten over being mad about it. LOL I don't really notice a difference in his temperament, but I'm sure I would've seen more studly behavior as he matured that I won't have to deal with now. =) New pics should be coming your way soon since I plan to go up to the ranch and visit him in the next week or two.

Get posting.. I love it! Very informative and very well written. I worked for a couple of horse traders in Oklahoma and we'd see a lot of broken down 2yr olds that came from the local race track. You guys are right when they say it all boils down to money. This stuff is all big business and somehow the horse gets lost in it as a disposable commodity. Being traders we got to see the back end of that senerio.. we didn't like it either... but again.. that's business too. As far as the bit thing.. I also once saw the most amazing freestyle reining performance... I don't remember the performer's name, but he'd worked with Roy Yates... anyway, he came out and did a whole routine with his arms crossed using leg cues only.. it was amazing to see that horse slide, spin and do rollbacks without using the reins at all.. He got a standing ovation from the crowd.. YET.. the ride was disqualified.. because he DIDN'T use reins. Amazing.. I just don't get it. Wasn't that a greater test of skill.. oh well.. Good luck to all ya'll out there trying to compete and still make a difference. The horse business is kind of a catch-22... it thrives so it has become big business.. and because its big business the horses sometimes suffer. Raymie

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