"I have recently bought a rising four-year-old who i intend to event when she gets older. At the moment she’s just back in work so we are doing some hacking, lunging and schooling in small proportions as we don’t want to do too much at the moment. My question is what are you usually doing with your four-year-olds at this time of year and what should we aim for this year? She’s an ISH about 16.2hh, was backed in September and turned away at the start of December for a break. Then she was brought back into work two weeks ago when we went to see her with view to buy. So she has been in work since then, doing a bit of schooling and hacking four days a week. Nicole."

H&C expert Jenny Rudall replies: "Hi Nicole, Sounds like you are really taking your time with your mare, which is excellent, and as she was only backed in September there is no rush and it sounds like your light mixture of hacking, lunging and schooling is on the right lines.  I like to do loads of hacking with youngster as it's fun, will build up strength and get them used to loads of spooky things and I make sure from the start they walk through puddles, etc. I also go out with an older sensible horse to help teach the youngster manners.

There are several things you could be doing and everyone works youngsters differently and the correct way really depends on your horse's strengths and on your own experiences. The key is to be sure to keep it to a level you are comfortable with.  Patrick Print once told me that, “It should take longer to take up an Irish youngster than it should to school it,” and I do think he is right. Some Irish horse take a lot longer to grow and develop mentally and physically and short schooling sessions work well. 

Depending on where your schooling is, you can think about starting to introduce pole work and jumping either on the lunge or on board, depending on how strong she is. Find a good instructor who can help you from the ground develop her over a fence and round a small course. If you are not confident jumping yourself I would strongly recommend you find a very experienced rider to teach her, as you only get this opportunity to do it right from the start once.  Jumping has got to be fun and built up in a correct way and should never be a negative experience.  I often find that an ISH four-year-old at the start can have weak canter, so if you want to start getting her out and about you can think about taking her to shows with some other horses, not even to compete but just for the experience and then build up to some Walk/Trot tests that many venues hold.  The walk/trot test may not be everyone’s cup of tea but I think it is a good unpressured way to introduce a youngster to dressage if you plan to event.

Then maybe over next couple of months start to think about some little clear round shows as her jumping develops and some XC schooling when the ground is good enough.  With lots of hacking experience she will find the XC schooling fun; keep it small and simple to start and take a sensible horse for that all important lead if needed.  Do not worry if you meet along the way four-year-olds that seem to be more developed as they will have been started earlier and if a horse is strong it can be moved along quickly and at four could already be doing young event horse classes.    

I hope this has given you some ideas to think about and I hope you have lots of fun bringing your horse on; we would love to see pictures of your progress. Jenny."