Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's Your thoughts on this please

A lot of this is just the web culture. People post sexually explicit photos of themselves, poachers post photos of illegal deer, criminals want their 15 minutes of fame -- and 15 years to life -- by shooting video of their crimes. I suspect this couple got carried away. I've seen many people get on colts of this age but the person on the colt was able to reach the ground with their feet and keep much of the weight off. It's not necessarily wise -- it can be argued that it can be downright stupid -- but its hardly criminal. There are far worse practices going on -- like the actions taken to make certain breeds high step -- that should attract some of this vitriol.

Wouldn't doubt it. Kinda hard to compare starting a 2 yr old and putting one on a race track don't ya think?

Wouldn't argue about the actions taken to make certain breeds high step. When done correctly I have no problem with it. It's just many go above and beyond and it gets pretty cruel.

That said they could do away with all show race type horse events and I couldnt care less. I've no interest in spending a Saturday night at a horse show.

yes they race 2 year olds. They burn them up, break them down, throw them away and have another one in their stall the next day.
Race horse breeder are some of the best and the worst of breeders.

They will throw away some really nice horses if they aren't fast enough. And they don't give a $hit how much money they have in them either.

In that way they're some of the purest breeders of all; if it ain't fast it ain't nothing. Track rejects have made some dandy rope horses.

A gentleman I know based out of Ocala Fl. makes a decent living off those washed up or slow track horses. Picks up the ones that would make good hunter, jumper prospects for next to nothing and brings them up to the northeast to sell.

a friend of mine bought a tennesse walker that was a high stepper,He removed these shoes from him.they weighed 7 lbs each.

I'll talk about llamas because they mature at the same rate as horses. They're subject to the same foot, leg, and tendon damage as horses if worked too young.
Last year while packing I took along a young stud about 9 mo old. He just tagged along and was a general nuisance. This year as a yearling, he will carry a saddle only (about 5 lb). He wouldn't even get that but he needs experience in the middle of a pack string and I need to tie others behind him. As a 2 yo, he'll carry maybe 20 to 30 lb.
I have a 3 yo that'll get 40 to 50 lb this year. He's already the biggest llama I've got but that doesn't make his legs mature. He still needs to go light.
As a 4 yo, they can get a full load of up to 100 lb if they're in good enough shape to handle it. For most that are used only casually, 80 is better.