4YO Breaks

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Hi, I have just purchased a lovely 4yo! I’ve never produced a young horse before so it’s all a learning curve, of course working closely with my instructor and taking her at her own pace and listening to her but just want to know how often you give your horses a break? She will be for a general all rounder, the odd ODE etc but I want her for life ideally so long term soundness is my priority.

I know she came from Ireland end of March, was on 4 weeks schooling livery then with the dealer I bought her from for 2 weeks, she’s hacked alone and in company, schooled, small jumps and a small XC session, I don’t know what she’s done in Ireland.

I was planning on working her 4ish days a week, jumping every other week (just small and not much), mostly hacking then maybe a week or two off in August, same in Oct and then maybe all of Jan/Feb off or light hacking two time a week in Feb? Over summer she’s out 24/7 and winter in at night, out at day unless fields are frozen!

Let me know if this sounds good or what you would change, open to any suggestions!
 
I prefer to keep the work light but consistent and not give breaks. Every horse is different but mine was much easier if I did something with him several times a week but only for short periods: a short 30 mins hack, or 20 mins schooling, or 15 mins lunging, or 20 mins groundwork/loading practice etc. Whenever the weather meant that he had to have a break, we had to start again and he was pretty lively. So just in the interest of my own safety, I chose to keep going with him as much as I could without a break. I know I'm tempting fate by saying this, but he is now 9 and has not had any lameness or back issues so I think what we did was OK physically. Good luck with yours!
 
With a young horse, if I’m under the weather they have time off. So randomly for a few days to a week every now and then. I push through for the adults, but it’s a good excuse for the young ones to rest and I’m not always up for baby dramatics if I feel dizzy or sick!

Depending on turnout and exercise arrangements they might or might not have time off over the winter also.
 
[deleted user] said:
Hi, I have just purchased a lovely 4yo! I’ve never produced a young horse before so it’s all a learning curve, of course working closely with my instructor and taking her at her own pace and listening to her but just want to know how often you give your horses a break? She will be for a general all rounder, the odd ODE etc but I want her for life ideally so long term soundness is my priority.

I know she came from Ireland end of March, was on 4 weeks schooling livery then with the dealer I bought her from for 2 weeks, she’s hacked alone and in company, schooled, small jumps and a small XC session, I don’t know what she’s done in Ireland.

I was planning on working her 4ish days a week, jumping every other week (just small and not much), mostly hacking then maybe a week or two off in August, same in Oct and then maybe all of Jan/Feb off or light hacking two time a week in Feb? Over summer she’s out 24/7 and winter in at night, out at day unless fields are frozen!

Let me know if this sounds good or what you would change, open to any suggestions!
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I think this sounds good to me. I plan to do similar with mine, but I will give all of Jan/Feb off. I’ll likely go from mid Dec until end Feb.
It’s a personal thing but I think it’s good for their minds and bodies to have a nice long time off and what better time to do it than winter?!
Then I sort of re-back them just to make sure they are still cool with it all. Usually they are!
 
Jellymoon said:
I think this sounds good to me. I plan to do similar with mine, but I will give all of Jan/Feb off. I’ll likely go from mid Dec until end Feb.
It’s a personal thing but I think it’s good for their minds and bodies to have a nice long time off and what better time to do it than winter?!
Then I sort of re-back them just to make sure they are still cool with it all. Usually they are!
Click to expand...
Yeah I was thinking of doing all of Jan-Feb and then bringing back March or giving her a solid 6 weeks off then 2 weeks slowly back again and then March she’ll be rising 5
 
ihatework said:
I’m frequent break person with 4yos.

Fine to have a loose plan as to when, but it might need to change depending on teething, growing, mentally tired, weather etc!
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100% will listen to her and how she copes and feels this is just roughly for me as I’m a planner and like a rough idea 🤣 but I dont want to overwork her and have a few small goals I want to achieve by end of the year - intro, pole clinic, arena hire! She has a lot of filing out to do and possibly some growing as she’s 3/4 ID blood so I’m in no rush with her at all
 
My boy was 5 in march and he had most of the winter off. We only hacked out once a week if you were lucky. Only just getting up to 4:5 days hacking a week now. Will remain that for the summer till winter then slow it down a bit again. I like to give them time to grow.
 
I think little and often - so 20-30 mins max and then breaks when they need it. If she is struggling with something or finding stuff hard then a break works better than pushing through at that age

All mine get 6 weeks off once a year - to let all niggles and aches settle. They always come back better after a break

My 5.5 y/o started bucking going into canter - he did it three times on three separate days then I decided to give him a rest. When I gave him a good once over he had grown another inch at the bum and that had pushed everything forward - he had 6 months off then and hasn't done a single buck since - he's 9 now.

They will grow until 8 y/o so keep it very light work until then if you want to keep her for yourself and ride her for 20+ years.
 
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