An ambitious project

by Giuseppe Rosati (owner of Rosati-Colarieti stud farm)

A thoroughbred’s life is quite peculiar indeed. Compared to other breeds, thoroughbreds have extremely complex times. Aged only four-year old their agonistic career is practically already finished. They burn off really soon.

Nevertheless, the purebred does not receive so much attention until he is eighteen months old. Then, in a few weeks, he needs to learn everything in a row. He goes from the meadow to the stables, he moves back and forth, he is tamed and trained and, after a few months, he starts running. It is like going to the high school skipping first and secondary school! The stress caused by these operations is sometime devastating. Many horses could be ruined forever in the first months of training.

This is why our attention focuses on the thoroughbred aged from six months to eighteen months. This period is generally when the foal’s physical growth is taken care of, but usually no one thinks that this could also be a period for mental growth. In fact, even though the horse does not receive a long-time training, he is extremely receptive at this age. Therefore, if he does not learn correctly the fundamental behavioural lessons, it is inevitable he has it all wrong. This is the imprinting theory: some attitudes depend on environmental factors and are not reversible.

This basic idea has been carried out with the Pat Parelli method and in particular under the supervision of Instructor Rolando Heuberger who has been cooperating with us since 2008.

This is an ambitious project even because we are quite pioneers. The problems we are facing are neither little nor simple. Among the things to do there is the formation of specialised staff, the creation of an harmonic habitat among the various operators of the stud farm, the establishment of a census which could allow a monitoring of the foals’ progress. Besides, it is necessary to create a feedback system, once the horses leave, to understand the problems that the trainers might have and sort everything out. Last, but not least, there are the costs of the whole operation to meet. The cost of the instructor and the cost of the personnel dedicated only to the foals.

But there is no doubt that we are breathing fresh air in the stud farm! It is like everyone, both men and horses, moved from a passive status to an active and participative one.

All these operations need time and method. The first foals that have experienced this formative path will be running in the next months and we are going to see some practical outcomes.

Our projects, anyway, are not stopping here. Our idea is to keep the foals in the farm until they are twenty-four months old, to proceed with the taming and the pre-training in order to be able to offer to the market a more mature horse, ready to be trained.

The path can be long… but we won’t go back anyway!

You can see the photogallery here:

http://picasaweb.google.it/rolandoheuberger/09Rieti

OPEN DAYS 2012

Supercorsi 2012: ISCRIVITI ORA CON 100€ DI SCONTO

Opportunità di lavoro

Il progetto di Rolando all’allevamento Rosati sta andando avanti con ulteriori sviluppi… e proprio grazie a questi ultimi si apre una importante opportunità!

Si cerca una persona che, partecipando attivamente al progetto, arrivi col tempo a occuparsi in azienda del Foundation Training dei giovani cavalli, a 360° ma prevalentemente in sella.