Question: At what age is it best to start riding a horse and training it? How much should you feed it a day? Thanks you for your time. Sincerely, Denise

Answer: Hello Denise, You can start training a horse the minute it's born. Training it to accept, respect, and like humans, how to lead in halter, how to pick up it's feet, be groomed, load in a trailer, etc. As long as you have a clear understanding of what and how to accomplish a specific behavior (pick up it's feet for cleaning and farrier work) and you keep your training sessions to no more than 20/30 minutes a day. Training to ride should not begin until 2 years of age - when the bones and joints have completed most of their growth. And even at 2 years you need to be careful to go slow and not put to much stress on the joints. Jumping should not begin until they are 3/4 years of age. If you start them right they will be a pleasurable companion and mount for many years.

Feeding is generally calculated by weight of food rather than volume. Typically a horse should eat 20 lbs of roughage a day - oat, grass or alfalfa hay. The feeding should be a broken into multiple feedings per day - minimum of twice a day or better yet 3 times a day. This best mimics their natural feeding pattern in the wild where they feed pretty much all day long. You would increase or decrease feed based on your horses needs (easy keepers need less food and can get fat on 20lbs/day - whereas nervous horses (TB) move around a lot and might need 30lbs/day). Start with the 20lbs/day and then adjust up or down to keep your horse in good condition. PS - most horses unless they are in very strenuous training don't need pellet/concentrated feeds. Amber