Normally I don’t show off horses for their 3 year old tests, but sometimes even I make exceptions. This year I have signed two of my babies up and they will be shown off either in Strömsholm or Avesta in June. The horses are Favourite June and Sir Shaggy Tau. I train them in riding and loose jumping but also training by hand and loose galloping. There are a lot of things a 3 year old needs to know to perform well on a test. The most important thing is that the horse is well prepared physically and mentally for the challenge. It is my belief that all 3 year old horses should practice towards taking a test like this. After that, it’s up to us to evaluate if each individual horse is actually ready to do it. Personally, I think the execution of the test is the least important part, it’s the preparations for it that is important to me. It’s important that they get a good foundation of basic skills to keep working from. We expect our horses to be with us for a long time so giving them a lot of time to develop and enough rest in between the intense training periods is the key to be successful later on. Planning is a big part of training horses but it is even more important to be attentive to your 3 year old’s behavior and response to the training and make adjustments along the way. A lot of things are happening at this age such as gear change, new impressions, maybe a new stable, growth spurts, the first experience with new horseshoes and so on. Make sure to add extra periods of rest if necessary. If you don’t have a lot of experience with young horses, you should always get help so you don’t train it too hard. It’s important that the horse is learning new skills in the correct way. All horses want to do things correctly, but it’s our job to guide them.
Favorite June
Sir Shaggy Tau
Favourite June or, as we call her, Fia is a soft and perky bouncing ball with great back leg activity. She is kind, sensitive and quick. She is breed and owned by Inger and Kjell Larsson. She is e. Fürstenball- Sir Schölling. Fia’s mother, Sirocco, has been ridden by my mother Gunilla Byström a lot before she became a broodmare. Fia’s sister, Donna June e. Sir Donnerhall II was also in training with me when she was 3 years old so with that in mind I’m really looking forward to getting to know Fia better and work with her as well.
Sir Shaggy Tau is e. Secret- Münchhausen. He is breed by Görel Nyman and owned by me, together with my parents Rolf and Gunilla Byström. He’s a different kind of horse compared to Fia. He is big and is moving at a slower pace than Fia. He has a very natural style in his gaits. He is lovely to work with, a true gentleman, and he has a great rideability . I always get happy from watching him in practice and I truly believe he will have a bright future.
