[wilkins2]

Just wondering from the breeders here what you do? How do you find young horse trainers to send horses to or freelancers to come in to work with your youngsters?

Love the babies!

[acottongim]

It depends.. If I can get them sold first that is the best and fantastic. But for the few that I don't sell first (for whatever reason) I have sent them out to trainers. But I'm VERY lucky in that I have some very good friends who are trainers and that are local to me so the baby goes to the friend that would be best suited for that particular horses' talents and temperament.

I should add - I do all the ground work and they have usually been saddled and lunged etc prior to sending them off.

[exvet]

I'm very, very small scale and don't breed the type of horse that most do that frequent this board; but, that being said I train my own - stallion, mares and offspring. Some of my friends have hired people to come to their place to back/start their youngstock and send the very best out to the pro who will get them to the shows if they're not sold first.

[HyperionStudLLC]

We do both depending on the horse. Try to train most at home, but we have been selling foals successfully so we don't have much of our own to break when the time comes.

If you need help, let me know. Don't take other people's horses but can assist in finding people who can help if needed.

Cheers!

[NoDQhere]

We start all our youngsters ourselves. Unless of course they sell before they are old enough.

[RyTimMick]

I start my own if I have any of that age. Then I put them in the hands of better riders then myself to move them further along. I haven't had any of that age for two years now because I have sold all of my youngsters. Unless I need to keep them for breeding, I will sell my youngsters to the first good home with money. This has left me with nothing to sell domestically until my foals hit the ground this spring. I think it is wise to sell when a good owner (specifically a sport home) who wishes to purchase a healthy prospect. You never know what tomorrow will bring. I am essentially good up to the age of 4.5 years old. Then I bring in the better riders. This year, I had one come back on consigment and is off to her new home. So I was lucky to see one of mine working under saddle and competing.

Tim

[alliekat]

We have been blessed to sell all of our foals by the time they are weaned, however many are left here for us to raise and then back once that time comes. We also take in outside weanlings to raise till it is their time to start under saddle. We prefer to get time started with the basics and then send them to the owner's choice of trainer that specializes in their discipline of choice.

[Wits End Eventing]

Our farm manager, Sarah, is fabulous with the babies from the day they hit the ground. They all clip, load, trailer, put up with feet in buckets and crinkly plastic things before they are weaned which I think sets up things to go well moving forward. We try and get them out to some FEH competitions or shows yearly so they are used to that environment.

When they turn 3-years-old, we use a western guy, Jason, to start them. He was recommended to a friend of ours by Jim Koford and does a stellar job. After that, they go either to Hillary Irwin or Sharon White who do an excellent job getting them started. Some are for sale and some stay with either Sharon or Hillary long-term. Fun to see what they can do....since our first crop was 4-years-old this year....we still have a long time to wait for our first home bred going to a Rolex.....

[camohn]

Just wondering from the breeders here what you do? How do you find young horse trainers to send horses to or freelancers to come in to work with your youngsters?

Love the babies!

they are for sale from weaners on..so I always HOPE I can sell them before riding age. If not, I do the groundwork at home (tacked and barely backed) so when the trainer gets them they can get the most for my training dollars out of it as I can only afford to send em for 30 days. The guy I use is "expensive but worth it". Basically there are only 2 trainers in my area I would consider using. For that reason both of them usually have a waiting list too. I have tried less pricey trainers in the past, but I got what I paid for. They charged less.....but did a lot less too/didn't come home nearly as well started. I used to start them myself but a few things have changed.....I am getting older/have enough falls on my person to want to avoid more where possible and my day job which used to be part time is now full time and beyond....so not enough time.

[ThirdCharm]

I start my own, though so far the ones I wanted to sell have all sold before reaching riding age. Three of them have come back to me to get started, though :-)

Jennifer

[tveley]

It depends.. If I can get them sold first that is the best and fantastic. But for the few that I don't sell first (for whatever reason) I have sent them out to trainers. But I'm VERY lucky in that I have some very good friends who are trainers and that are local to me so the baby goes to the friend that would be best suited for that particular horses' talents and temperament.

I should add - I do all the ground work and they have usually been saddled and lunged etc prior to sending them off.

This. I do all the ground work and start them under saddle then send them to our pro trainers.

[MCarverS]

We do a mix of both.

I start a lot of the youngsters myself through our Young Horse Development Program, but we have sent them away to trainers to get the initial w,t,c put on them if circumstances are such that I am unable to do it myself. We are lucky enough that one of our trainers is also willing to come to our farm to train the horses, but it is usually with me on their back and guidance from the ground.

[Home Again Farm]

Most of mine are sold as babies. When I either keep one on purpose or still have one when ready to start, I am lucky to have a wonderful young horse starter in my area who does a superb job.

[Sunnydays]

Like Mary Lou, I sell a lot as foals. Those that are still here as 3 year olds go to one of two excellent young-horse trainers who each live within 45 minutes of my home, east of Toronto.

[Molly Malone]

If they don't sell as babies then they go to a breaker for 30 days as 2 1/2 or just 3 yr olds. Then I ride them that winter/spring/summer out on the trail (which does include schooling, just not in an arena) and market them August-ish when I have a good idea of their niche in life.