A youngster is called a yearling from 1st January of the year after his birth. Remember therefore that he may still be very young if born late (ie November) in the previous year, but still called a yearling - hence their level of maturity will depend upon how much you can do with them.
So, in this article we're going to cover what you can expect from a Yearling, and to be clear I am referring to a foal that has been weaned and is actually between 6-9 months old.
A reasonably well developed, mature yearling can be lunged a little, although only for a few minutes on each rein. As the joints are not yet fully formed at this stage, there is an obvious risk of injury if you do too much at this stage. An experience trainer will know how much to ask of a yearling or whether to delay the first lessons on the lunge until the horse is 2 or 3 years old. So if you are uncertain, seek advice.
Thoroughbreds destined to race on the flat are broken in during their second winter - while still yearling's. Many of them are lunged, long reined, backed and ridden and have started cantering before their second birthday. Most horses cannot be broken as yearling's, however because they are insufficiently developed. A racehorse can be reared with a view to racing at 2 years, but even then he may be too 'backward' to be trained for racing until he is a year older - they are all individuals and have to be treated as such.
The process must be carefully planned otherwise only the really tough ones will survive hard training without some damage.
All yearlings however should learn to obey your hand and voice and to tie up quietly. Before going onto lunge them, you should be sure to complete your horse's training 'in hand' so that he obeys voice commands and light hand signals on the lead rein.
By now he should walk and trot beside you without pulling against the rope. He should also stop when you ask him to by saying 'halt' or 'whoa' (only use one or the other of these commands, not both, otherwise you will confuse him) and should walk on and trot on when you ask him. He should stand still until you ask him to move on. If you press your outside hand on his flank and say 'walk on' he will not be surprised when you use your leg aids later on to give a similar signal.
What you have to be aware of is that all during this time your horse is still growing and developing. As such his behavior will also change, so don't be surprised if exercises and lessons he performed when he was much younger, even suckling perhaps, no longer work. His rate of growth will show you how much he is changing, and you must expect his behavior to change too, which is why you must make sure that you finish his hands on and voice training properly before you move on to anything more complex and challenging.
Remember the main schooling aim for a yearling is primarily to establish the relationship between you and your horse. With this in mind the important thing to bear in mind is that what you do with him is not as important as the fact that you do something with him at all - trying to do every exercise perfectly and overstraining him to do this is not the objective - working with him gently to get him used to you and used to doing some training is more important than the technicalities of how well he does the exercises.
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