HORSES IN TRAINING

Horses need jobs!

Horses in training at a horse breeding farm are usually young horses (yearlings, two-year-olds, or three-year-olds) undergoing a carefully managed transition from young, handled stock into "broken" riding or driving horses ready for competition or sale. The goal of this training is to prepare them physically and mentally for their future careers, often focusing on developing confidence, ground manners, and basic riding skills.

Shield H Quarter Horses has a number of horses who are at various stages in their training at any given time. 

From weanlings to our older horses, we strive to give our prospects the best opportunities to showcase their natural athletic abilities. We believe that good, responsive ranch-bred horses have the ability to have successful performance show careers, regardless of their breeding.

WEANLINGS

Our weanlings are halter trained each fall once they are bought home from the summer pastures where they frolicked with their herd mates and mothers. We ensure each individual is handled with care where they learn and understand the fundamentals of leading, standing quietly while tied, giving to pressure, and developing the skills to handle hoof trimming with the farrier.

YEARLINGS

Yearlings are typically kept in the stall barn and/or corral until the summer months where they are turned out to enjoy their freedom prior to starting their formal saddle training which begins in the spring of their 2-year old year. Many of our prospects are started under saddle here, but a select few go to a professional trainer for more intense training, with a focus on the reining and/or ranch riding disciplines. From there, these horses are either sold and/or are shown in the competitive AQHA and/or NRHA shows.

OUR TRAINING

With that outlined, we believe horses benefit greatly from doing real jobs around the ranch. We work to ensure our young horses learn how to move their body parts, read cattle, and are exposed to ATVs, dogs, wildlife, and traffic. We use our ranch-bred horses to track cattle when we gather cow/calf pairs each fall, setting them up for success for potential careers in team roping, breakaway, and calf roping. Our prosects have no problems crossing water, traveling through thick brush, or over downfall timber… these experiences result in great trail horses for our clients. We work to expose our horses to a variety of situations, developing their confidence with each ride. Giving our horses a purpose helps them associate their training with a task. We always strive to get our horses out of the arena, ride them on a loose rein, and refresh their minds to prevent burn-out and encourage them to enjoy their time under saddle.

Horses in Training Prospects