Baby Steps

Producing your own horse from scratch can be incredibly rewarding, but it requires competence, time and resources. Here’s what you need to consider.

A young horse ideally needs a competent and confident rider to bring out the best in him. A just-backed horse teamed with an inexperienced rider can easily be a recipe for disaster, although this isn’t always the case if you find the right horse.

It can be a satisfying project to undertake, but it can also be frustrating, time-consuming and fraught with challenges. So, when is a young horse the right choice for an amateur rider and what are the points to bear in mind if you are looking for a baby horse to produce?

Time and temperament

Buying an inexperienced four- or five-year-old is often a more economical option than searching for a ‘ready-made’ horse, but even if the youngster has been backed, he may well have gaps in his education. He might never have been shod or clipped, for example, or gone to a show or hacked out alone.

Judy Bradwell has produced countless young horses to win on the eventing circuit and in the show-ring. She believes that the first question riders should ask themselves is how much time they have to devote to a youngster.

“Young horses need consistency; they benefit from frequent, short bursts of work,” she says. “The first year of a horse’s education is by far the most important – that’s when the foundation is laid.”

Dressage rider and trainer Jo Hamilton, who has 13 National titles and a clutch of young horse championships to her name, advises amateurs to carefully consider what they take on.