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Erin asked in PetsHorses · 9 years ago

Saddle breaking my horse.?

I have a two year old gelding and we're saddle breaking him bit by bit. He's great with putting the saddle and saddle rug on. We are going to try putting sand in bags and hanging them over the saddle, any advice on what else we could try to get weight on the saddle before we start sitting on him? Just so he doesn't get too spooked when he goes from having a saddle on his back to having a few extra kilos there too. Much appreciated!

Update:

Thanks for the handy tips! :D

Update 2:

And just to let you know...

This is for later on. We're not planning on getting on him anytime soon. This is just for future tips so we can look into it now and have handy advice for later. -_- But thanks for the helpful info!(:(:(:

Update 3:

And just to let you know...

This is for later on. We're not planning on getting on him anytime soon. This is just for future tips so we can look into it now and have handy advice for later. -_- But thanks for the helpful info!(:(:(:

7 Answers

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  • 9 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    Get some old pants, tie off the legs, & put sand in those. This way you can simulate having a leg thrown over his back.

    You can also just stand in the stirrup with his head bent toward you. That way if he tries to take off he can only run in circles.

    Do lots & lots of patting the saddle. Flap those stirrups too.

  • .
    Lv 7
    9 years ago

    As others have said, 2 is awfully young to be really training a horse to ride. Go easy with any lunging too because those joints haven't fully grown. The lateral torque from too much lunging puts too much wear and tear on baby legs.

    It's fine to sit on him and install the 'go from my leg' button, the brakes and direct-rein steering. But I wouldn't do much more than that and even limit trot & canter work to maybe once or twice for at least another year.

    As far as getting weight on the horse, you've gotten some fair suggestions here, but I like your sandbag idea best. Also, remember that it's often the height of the rider above him that freaks out young ones. To help assuade that fear, pony him off the back of another trustworthy mount.

  • 9 years ago

    Ground work and saddle breaking your 2 year old is great BUT DONT PUT WEIGHT ON HIM! His joimts N bones arnt fully devloped and u can hurt him! I have a 5 yr old that I just started putting weight on. But for the last 3 years he has had solid ground wrk an is making me a great stock horse. Dnt rush your young horse, horsemaship is a patient mans game. :) good luck

  • Anonymous
    9 years ago

    :O OMG, Hes 2 years old !!!!!!!! DO NOT DO THAT!!! He is NOT fully grown no matter what breed he is too young in my view, I have 2 horses a broken one and a unbroken one, A Dutch Warmblood who is broke 15-16 and a Friesian is not broke and hes 4 years old I am GENTLY going to start breaking him, YOUR HORSE IS WAY TO YOUNG. He is still a god damn baby you idiot!!! Im sorry but I hate it when people like you think you have to rush horses This could ruin some of his later life do the right thing and let his bones grow, and let him mature, hes a baby! Im sorry but if you dont realise your doing the wrong thing I hope that horse ends up hurting you, Then maybe you can realise.

    Source(s): My brain, and..., COMMON SENCE!!!!!!
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  • 9 years ago

    when we started to put a saddle on our horse, we put our arms on the saddle and ran on the spot to get the horse sort of knowing what the trot was like. After a while I sort of layed of the saddle while my mum lead him around at the walk. That sort of got him used to the weight on him. We did alot of ground work before we put a saddle on him so he was quiet when we did it. But each horse is different. Hope I helped

    Source(s): 2 years old is alright. i no lots of people who have saddle broke there horses in at 2
  • Janian
    Lv 7
    9 years ago

    He's two, why are you doing that?

    Let him be a baby, he shouldn't have weight on his back at such a young age.

  • 9 years ago

    leaning over him and walking him around is always a good idea, another one is getting/making a human sized dolly type thing and tying that on him and walking him around with that, as that will get him used to the weight distribution on his back. good luck!

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