Longe Line and Yearling In-Hand Trail events are becoming increasingly popular across breed shows. This popularity has sparked an ongoing debate about the benefits and disadvantages of showing horses before they can be ridden.
Detractors often cite concerns over a young horse’s growing bones and joints, the fear of overworking or overfeeding babies, and the desire to “let horses be horses” by foregoing yearling events.
However, we spoke to multiple Congress and World Champion exhibitor Heather Osborne Caplinger to get her perspective on the benefits of showing yearlings and the preparation necessary to show them successfully at the highest levels.
The Benefits of Early Groundwork for Riders
Caplinger emphasizes, “Groundwork is the foundation of training for all horses. How you start them and bring them along will impact their trainability and willingness throughout their lives.”
She continues, “The building blocks of most training programs rely on teaching a horse to respond favorably to cues, be patient while tying (for grooming, farrier, or other medical treatment), and yielding to pressure. These skills are fundamental to any yearling training program, and they follow horses that graduate from our program for their whole lives.”
For Caplinger, the proof is in the pudding. She says the Caplingers’ program aims to show the yearlings’ success without hindering their ability to become long-term, successful riders.
“I honestly believe the biggest benefit of showing the yearlings in hand is that they have a head start when they go to the trainers to get under saddle.”
“By the time they get saddlebroken, they already know how to follow their nose and stay balanced in a circle. They know how to yield and move over to pressure. They already understand voice commands and verbal cues for different gaits. They know how to respond to their handler’s body and nonverbal cues. And they all learn that ‘whoa’ means whoa, which is a huge advantage to safely deal with them on the ground and from their backs.”
She adds, “We hear from trainers who have had graduates from our program all the time that they are incredibly willing and trainable compared to horses that didn’t have the work put in as youngsters. You may not need to show your yearling, but teaching them to be responsive on the ground and strengthening them through groundwork directly impacts their ability to work well under saddle.”
The Process
Brett and Heather follow a tried-and-true process for starting all youngsters in their program, and she believes this allows them to see the horses’ potential without overworking them.
She begins, “We start all our foals, letting them be babies and just living in the fields with their mamas (weather permitting). We try to give them the space to be horses and learn herd dynamics before we start messing with them too much. The babies are weaned in groups and continue living together post-weaning.”
“After Congress, we bring the weanlings into the barn in groups to begin their ‘preschool,’ so to speak. We will teach them to tie for 20-30 minutes at a time, stand for grooming, we’ll mess with their feet more, and begin acclimating them to clippers (mostly to the sound and not real clipping).”
“Then we take them two at a time into the indoor arena to start moving them around. I’ve found this works because, if you put too many together, they will just run amok like lunatics. But if you do it one at a time, they will become too lazy or nervous to accomplish much. We can assess their personalities and movement by managing them in these small groups. It gives us some idea of who to keep an eye on as a yearling.”
Caplinger says they will continue this over a couple of months with different groups of yearlings to get used to more handling and demands while also assessing their personalities and capabilities.
“When the beginning of their yearling year comes around, we do the process again, but in more depth,” she explains. “We will have them stand tied for longer periods. We will have them stand in cross-ties for grooming, and we will start exercising them more deliberately, which includes longing.”
“Much of the training for longeing involves teaching the horse the verbal cues, like kissing to lope, and also teaching them the arm cues, like raising your arm to have them move out. We also ensure they understand ‘whoa’ means to stop moving their legs and that they can hold their body properly around a circle without dropping to the inside or looking outside.”
Caplinger continues, “We don’t like to make the longing their primary source of exercise as we want them to build muscle on a straight-away. So, we include ponying off an older horse at first and then ponying them off the Ranger in the pasture at a solid working/medium jog.”
The Caplingers will also take the yearlings on field trips through the countryside to learn to load and trailer before heading to a show.
Do It Thoroughly Without Overdoing It
Caplinger chuckles, “We want our yearlings to know what is expected of them when they go to a show while still enjoying their job and time with people. You don’t have much control when they’re 25 feet away from you on the line – so, any horse going around responsively and happily is doing so because they want to.”
She continues, “So much about training is knowing the limit with any horse, whether under saddle or doing yearling groundwork. Some horses love working on the line. Others don’t. Some horses quickly get bored with the line and must learn new challenges to remain happy.”
“I’ve seen that the best longe liners aren’t the ones that have been longed into the ground, but the ones who are happy to work with you and understand their jobs. So, the goal of any groundwork program for young horses should be to teach them boundaries without making them hate being worked with.”
She cautions, “Sometimes a horse won’t longe the whole year because of growth spurts that impact their ability to move their best or because they get bored with it. When that happens, you need to listen to the animal and give them the time they needs. We’ve had multiple talented babies that we’ve decided to turn out because they needed time to grow physically or mentally.”
“If you don’t listen to the animal, you risk making the experience a negative one for their future as a rider. The communication in any training process cannot be one-sided if your goal is long-term success.”
If Caplinger could give one piece of advice about working with babies, it would be to remember that they are, in fact, babies. “The yearlings have a different attention span than aged horses, just like baby humans. Some young ones catch on quickly, while others take more time to reveal their talent. You can’t have a rigid training program when working with horses, but this is particularly true for young horses.”
She concludes, “Not every baby will show because they aren’t all mentally or physically capable at a young age. But just because they aren’t going to show in the longe line doesn’t mean the process of training a yearling isn’t worth your effort. It gives them a leg up on their saddle training in the future.”
“Again, you don’t want to overwork your yearlings, but you want to work them enough that they know their job, understand your cues, and can build physical and mental maturity.”
“I think the longe line is growing in popularity because many people realize that they can do it with their baby before sending them to a trainer – it gives a great opportunity for DIY amateurs or people who love horses but don’t love riding. We’ve bred them to want to work with us and, starting at a young age, can have so many lasting benefits for them when it’s done right.”
