What do you guys think of these colts? Pics on page 3,6,7,8 & 12 - Page 3

I agree with Pat.  The horse is too young to have work done on him.  Handle, light ground work - not too much longe to keep the tork off of his joints and lots of patience to let him develop mentally as well as physically.  We're fond, here in the US of riding as soon as our feet won't drag on the ground - and the joint problems atest to that.  In Europe they don't push and horses are working for years after sound.  It's mental growth and not just physical maturity.

The stallion thing has me mystified. I'm not being rude, I really just *do* want to know why you would want him entire as apposed to a gelding.  My thoughts- they tend to live a lot longer as geldings, are more reliable in temperament, and are easier to house.



Quarter horses are all over the place here.  They are very easy to find. It is pretty much standard that if you aren't showing, you wait until the summer after their 2 year old year to break them in to walk trot and canter and move off the leg, then use their 3 year old year to refine and put rate on them.

I don't think he looks too thin, it's more important to make sure he has a low parasite load and is getting good rations.  Some of those late yearlings look skinny no matter what you feed them on.

That gorund he is on looks unforgiving. He and Ma must have pretty tough feet.

No kidding, right?!

On the colt.  Hard to give any kind of conformational analysis from those photos.  The most I can say is he's not hideous, and most likely not spectacular either.

Here's the way I look at the question of what age to train a horse under saddle:

How long do you want the horse to stay sound?  If you don't care about the horse himself and just want a horse to ride for a few years before you sell him, then by all means, back him at 18 months and ride the crap out of him.  If you have a modicum of interest in the horse's well being, wait until he's two.  If you want him to have a long productive life under saddle, start him lightly at the age of three, with no really hard work (cutting, etc.) until the age of five or so.  All horses, regardless of breed, reach skeletal maturity sometime during their fifth year, with ponies maturing a bit earlier and draft horses a bit later.  The ONLY reason you see so many Quarter Horses and gaited horses started so early in the United States have to do with money and futurities.  It's definitely not for the sake of the horse.

In case you're wondering if I practice what I preach, I currently have a 4 year old TWH mare who had two weeks of ground work at the age of two, 30 days of almost exclusively walking work under saddle at the age of three, and light trails since then.  She's ready to move up to more work at the running walk now, and I plan to get her cantering well under saddle next spring.  I've had her since she was 5 months old and hope she lives as long and productive a life as my totally sound 32 year old gelding.

Nice but as everyone has said, he's too skinny.

There's usually quite a difference in the way QHs are ridden vs. TBs on the track.  TB's are ridden by typically very light riders with very light tack (of course you know this ), in a relatively straight line for a relatively short period of time. QHs, especially cutters and reiners, are often ridden by heavy men with heavy saddles, doing hard work like spins and stops that put a lot of stress on the joints, often for a half hour or more at a time.  This makes them arthritic in the hocks and knees at a very young age.

As I said above, all horses develop at roughly the same rate skeletally.  Just because a horse is "big" its two year old year, does not mean it is physically (or mentally, but a lot of people don't seem to care about that either) ready to be ridden.

I've probably ridden as many stallions as I have geldings and do not mind the difference.  I like that keeping a horse entire means you have to pay attention to his opinions and respect what he tells you--kinda reminds me of my Dobies that way--so I entirely "get" keeping a horse entire WHEN you have the experience to do so.

That said, I do think you are better off with the 3-yr-old.  Mentally he should be ready to work and actually enjoy it.  Since you are not worried about showing, if he is serviceably sound and has an attitude about life that you like, I would not worry about being "perfect".  If you've got a good vet whose opinion you can trust and a good farrier who really knows feet and legs, get your second opinions from them!  If they find no serious faults, that is what I'd want to hear if it was me looking at this fellow.  Is he sound enough to do what you want to do with him and smart enough to learn to do it; do you like his attitude about people and life in general; is he someone you can get along with over the long haul--these are the questions I'd be asking myself.

Conformation-wise what matters is are his faults going to interfere with what you want to do with him?  Because ALL horses have faults.  The key is to make sure that his faults won't hold him back so much that they won't allow you to enjoy whatever you want to do with him.

JMO


Rusty

edited to add:  I should have mentioned that for some reason I don't quite like the eye on the 2-y-old.  I don't think I quite trust him.  Of course, these are only photos and the animal in the flesh may be quite a different matter, so take that with a grain of salt.  Between him and the QH, I'd take the QH.  He's got a sweet eye.  But the Andalusian/QH is the one who is ready to go to work.  Again, just my opinion.

I'd also say no to the paint. He's pretty...but that's about it. I don't like his eye.