08/02/2025
Please read this. The upper part of the horse’s skeleton doesn’t mature fully until at approximately 7 years old and because your 3 year old is big, strong and can barrel you out of the way it doesn’t mean its physically or mentally mature, not remotely. It doesn’t mean it can be ridden as if it were a mature horse.
Please be educated and considerate around your expectations of young horses or run the risk of breaking them literally and no one wants that on their hindsight conscience, do they?
These images I took from Gillian Higgins of Horses Inside Out’s rising 4 yr old specimen clearly show un-fused growth plates and a very vulnerable un-developed spinous process. Too much work, too soon on vulnerable structures leads to a life of low to increasing levels of discomfort, continuous pain, loss of performance, injuries and early end of life. It's in your hands.
