Quizzical Quarters said:

Reese’s stable said:

Tanglewood said:

Just a question, but will this be your first horse?

Yes

Umm... I don't recommend a foal as a first horse too own, even if you've worked with some green and young horses.

FirstLightFarms said:

In my opinion, if you feel the need to ask these questions on a horse sim game site, you're not ready for a foal or even a young horse.

If you want the challenge of training a horse, find a horse that has a solid foundation- walk, trot, canter, and then you can train it in whatever direction you want. Jumpers, barrel racing, whatever it is you do. Even the most finished of horses still need training- it's my favorite part of this sport. There's always room for improvement. You don't have to start from the very bottom in order to have the room to train. You can get that even with the most trained horses.

Frankly, foals are boring. You get the basics of handling on them, and then it's just a matter of waiting for them to grow old enough to do something with them. You don't want to overdo it with the babies and sour them before they've even started their careers, so if you really want the training experience, get something more ready to get going.

Moon coast farms said:

Hope all that helps you!

Kuewi KNN Stable said:

Just as a reminder:

Please keep the conversation friendly and fair! No one knows the circumstances, settings or skills!

Admitted - I would not recommend to buy a foal as a first own horse. But sometimes it might work - and sometimes not ( unfortunately for the horse... )

Thank you

Trost District said:

Jeez. Everyone is being so hateful and half of the people didn't even read the entire post. I like my young horses, but older ones are safer. I started with a 20 year old TB, who had raced and played polo and was totally sound and sane. Then, I moved to a young roping mare that was not quite solid enough to rope, but fine for a kid to ride. Next, a mare that went 10 years after her "30 days" before she was ridden again. She is 16 now and runs a 9 second stake race. Since she is starting to get older, I broke her daughter to ride last year. That one is about to be 6. She runs an 11 second flag pattern and is working on her handle a bit before getting back in shape to compete in spring. Now, I'm doing ground work with a weanling and doing some saddling and lunging with my almost 2 year olds. They are very developed, not scrawny and lanky. They are halter bred with thick bone and pretty good muscle. They can start training before a thinner built horse can because they are sturdier, but they still need until their b-day before they are ready for any real riding.

In terms of starting them, horses are afraid of things on their backs at first. It helps to have them wear a blanket in the winter. They get used to the feeling and are more comfortable. One of my yearlings is very desensitized, and swinging her lead rope over, under, and around her as a weanling, making lots of weird noises, and showing her objects has made her very calm. Like with my adult horses, you can walk up to her with the blanket in the middle of the pasture and throw it over her back in a windstorm without a flinch. It took time, running the blanket on her, and practice to make her so fine with it, but she has never flinched at being saddled or even taken a silly step with it on. You can get a lot of advice from people who have had horses a while and don't mind sharing knowledge. My mom watched me learn by doing and stepped in when I needed it. You can get a lot of good tips from trainers on youtube as well.

I would recommend you get a 2 year old if you want to start riding at any time, maybe a yearling if you want to spend a lot of time on the ground first. Just make sure it already has some training, because the first good manners are the most important thing and set a horse up for now they will always be. It is best for an experienced horseman to get those first skills taught because they can be frustrating, and the last thing a baby needs is for the human to get mad at them. I hope this helps on your journey to having your dream horse!

P.s. If someone has a horse that is over a year old and not even halter broke, don't buy their horse and don't take their advice. A horse needs to at least be halter broke to do the hard basics, so that person either doesn't care too much for the horse, or can't teach it.