I read an article reporting that Germany and Switzerland are to increase the competing age for Quarter horses to four years old.
This to counter the trend of working horses at too young an age. I would be interested to hear your comments.
Accepting that these conditions vary immensely from breed to breed, my experience is that many horses are indeed ridden too early.
I have Arabs and Boerperd-types that are slow maturing and we try to only start light training close to the fourth year, preferably later. The good breeders of Endurance horses only get them going properly after five or six.
On the other side, we see horses ridden by locals at way too young an age and they are damaged before long. recentlyhttp://thehorseaholic.com/switzerland-stops-riding-competitions-for-three-year-old-quarter-horses/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork

Depends on how you ride them, they can be started on ground training at 6 months, ridden at 2 years old two to 4 hours a day. mostly in the pasture like following some cows, and get a great foundation if you don't push them. They can compete lightly at between 3 and 4 for calf roping, team roping, barrel raceing, cutting, basically all rodeo events etc..

Some diciplines work harder on the legs and can't altogether be controlled by the rider. The knees should be closed before heavy work and an x-ray will determine that..But still the mind is really important as some horses handle stress better than others, its very important.

My horses don't get hard work outs until 4 and older, the first three years Im only concerned about them being confident in ME and get their trust. At six they are big boys and expected to challenge their very soul and the good ones are looking for a job, they love to work.

I like the idea of a 4 year old starting competition so I agree with that law..

Will never happen in the good ole USA, its all determined by MONEY..Race horses for instance are asked to run their guts out at 2 years old before their knees close, many are uthinized as a result, they are never broke, just taught to run their heart out. I would like too see that changed, but Im not the horse cop and I don't have race horses. boutht a few off the track and they didn't always work out because what a horse learns first it what he will always does best IMO...

I could write a series of books on the subject so Id say its just not that simple a question, to many varibles involved and how a horse is handle in the beginning will be his worth for the rest of his life..

The horse is a wonderful animal, kind, and true and every bad one out there became that way because some asshole thought he was a horse breaker..

Some interesting points. Thanks. Hopefully the horse industry, if not individuals, will become more aware of the issue of physical maturity from this debate.

I like 4 for a starting age of "work", by that I mean where they are physically tested by what they're doing. Just my opinion though, lot's of horses are used hard before 4 and turn out just fine and sound...some not so much. I've pushed my start of riding back to 3 but used to do it at 2 and don't think any of those horses had soundness problems. I just work on different stuff at 2 now.

...but I'm not racing or making money off horses and I'm not throwing stones at folks who are working younger horses harder.

A lot of crap in Europe we wouldn't tolerate. No chasing cows or roping allowed either. No reason you can't start a Western horse at two, work him lightly, it's the smart thing to do before they get really big and powerful. By the time he get's a little age on him, he's well grounded and you won't be. Just the futurity crowd strives to get every ounce out of a colt that he's not physically developed to do, lot of good horses ruined by some idiot in a hurry. Breeds have been arguing about this as long as we've been in the bus.

Grizz

We've always started breaking g them too ride between 20-28 months. It would depend on the horse. They would get rode lightly for about 6 months. Then we would progress from there. I've seen a lot being pushed too hard that arent even 2.

As far as Im concerned there is no such thing as a finished, broke horse until at least 8 years old, an most of the pro quality rope horsed Ive rode were 12 to 20 years old before I would call them finished.