How to Safely Condition Young Horses

Should young horses be left in pasture to grow up or brought in to begin their training? While arguments can be made in favour of each plan, the ideal approach is actually somewhere in the middle. In order to enjoy athletic lives later on, youngsters do need regular exercise, but the structure of their training should differ from that of a mature horse. Primarily, it should be shorter, slower, and avoid concussive skeletal forces.

Physiological studies have shown that horses receiving appropriate exercise in the first three years of life are better adapted — and commonly sounder — during their riding and driving careers later on, when compared to horses that were not exercised until their third or fourth year. As soft tissues like tendons and ligaments grow in these initial years of life, they are highly responsive to exercise stimulus. This means that while they are forming and growing, they can add power and elasticity and resilience based on input received from exercise. In other words, exercise leads to the development of higher quality tissues. For most breeds, this opportunity of responsiveness diminishes significantly after the third year.

Rather than being detrimental, early exercise has a protective effect on the horse’s musculoskeletal system over the long term. It develops stronger musculoskeletal structures (ligaments, tendons, muscles). This in turn allows bones and joints to mature without undue stress. Further, early exercise helps muscles make adaptations to aerobic stimulus, leading to more efficiency down the road. During this phase, muscles become adept at metabolizing energy — storing oxygen and using fat as a fuel source. Their capillary networks enlarge and mitochondria density improves. This sets up the mature horse to meet the demands of discipline-specific training without strain and poor muscle function.