What Can I Do With a Yearling?

from mares in heat. Some colts start showing an interest in mares at a very young age and some particularly precocious individuals may be able to breed a mare.
Although a colt is not technically reproductively mature until it is about 23 years old many a breeding accident has happened with a colt thought too young to be fertile. Gelding castration can be done as soon as the testes have descended into the scrotum.
If the prime reason for a horses existence is as a pleasure horse than the sooner gelding is done the better. Although some breeders may have reasons to geld later for the average horse owner a young gelding may be much easier to deal with than a young stallion who is more interested in mares than paying mind to its handler.
During this time the young horse should continue learning to be obedient to lead quietly stand tied for grooming vet and farrier. Very short training sessions on the lunge line or in the round pen can begin. It is important that a young horse not be overworked to protect the joints in its legs and back. As the horse approaches its second year it may learn to carry a bit and saddle. But a horse under the age of two should not carry any weight.
Short training periods to teach good ground manners while a horse is young will make the job of introducing the saddle and rider or harness and cart easier when the time comes.