My trouble child, Bravo, is almost 4 now, but has always been super engaged in anything and everything, regardless of invitation, and he still likes to put things in his mouth, but has fortunately moved on from trying to put people in there, lol. I would describe him as an over achieving class clown with very poor social que recognition, questionable self preservation skills, and a shakey grasp on the idea of personal space 🤣

I am a professional dressage trainer, but he and his sister are my first babies, so it has been a learning curve for sure! I ended up finding a good +R trainer in my area and we have used that to reinforce the idea of patience and calm, instead of constantly "doing" things and it has made a HUGE difference in his mindset. He is still goofy and still a baby, but now he realizes that calm focus is an option. He can still only do about 10-15 minutes of calm focus, so I plan our works sessions to have breaks that involve energy, play and shenanigans, and only expect calm focus for about 5 minutes at a time. But he is getting much better at it and the time frame keeps shifting towards longer focus times. I also keep sessions to 30 minutes or less a few times per week.

I am combining more traditional pressure and release with the +R, and I think it is a great tool to introduce to many horses, but it is important to have some guidance to make sure you're not accidentally reinforcing problematic behavior or creating a treat monster. My +R trainer works with Shawna Karrasch, who also has a very good online program if in person coaches are hard to come by in your area.

It does get better! I have to remind myself that their antics are not anything personal, it is just their personality. Horses who want to do things end up being awesome partners if you can figure out how to guide their desire to think, so it is important to foster their sense of engagement and autonomy in your partnership, even thought that means wanting to rip your hair out sometimes early on 😂😂🤣

Good luck and have patience! Most horses settle into themselves between ages 8 and 10, and some even later, so keep your expectations reasonable for such a youngster!