Anyone ride their horse everyday or twice a day even!?

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djlynwood

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Mare poor mare has been ridden for anything up to 2 weeks without having a day off especially as trying to grab every bit of decent riding weather.

When we have had some sunshine at the weekend I have ridden her twice on Saturday and twice on Sunday, both 40min hacks but wouldnt do two schooling sessions in a day.

My Mare seems to be happy and never detests when I tack her up. She is a busybody though and does like to be doing something.

I currently have three lessons a week, one flat and two jumping. In between we either practise our homework or hack.

I sometimes get remarks from other liveries like 'are you riding again?!' 'dont you ever stop!' these are the ones that just plod around the school!

Is it bad to ride everyday or twice a day occasionally?
 
I don't think it is 'bad' if the horse is fit and if not, soon will be, then carry on!

I only ride a few days a week and just hacking, I know my horse is not really fit, but he can cope with the work I give him.

When I was a teenager I used to ride my mare twice a day everyday, I was obsessed! And I am talking a half hour hack before school and then a 3 hour hack after school in the summer! We were both as fit as fleas! Ahh, happy days!
 
I'd rather see a horse in more work assuming it's physically capable, than just plod round the school for 15 mins a day!

I ride whenever I have time. Sometimes I ride every day and sometimes I am too busy and don't ride for a few days. My main horse now is quite young and green so I tend to give him two days off per week. Generally I'll hack him both weekend days then maybe school on the Monday, day off Tues, then work him Weds and Thurs followed by day off Fri. All depends on my other commitments. When my older horse was in full work I've ridden him every day for two weeks on occasion, he never complained. He's also had times where he's been on the walker in the morning then ridden in the evening.
 
I'm sure my teenage horse was ridden pretty much every day for the 6 week summer holiday. As long as they're not being galloped and jumped for hours I can't see the problem.

Paula
 
Great, dont feel too mean now!

Guess Im still in a honeymoon period as Ive had her 18months now.

She had no muscle when I got her and we have slowly built up. We have been doing our current regime since March and she looks and feels great.

We are always doing something different and have a few clinics and a camp lined up.

My instructor would certainly tell me if it was too much.
 
I regularly ride mine every day for a couple of weeks without day off, days off normally only happen when I have a particularly busy day, or if the weather's truly awful (visibility too rubbish to hack and ground too wet to ride as I don't have a surface). Reasonably common for me to work him twice a day too, often lunge/freeschool/hack one end of the day, school/jump the other. He's doing less at the moment as it's so blinkin' hot, and I don't do heat :cool:
 
I ride my two every day, most days we hack for 1-2 hours, with plenty of trot & canter (depending on how good the ground is) :) They do have the odd day off if the weather or ground is particularly awful! I don't think it does them any harm as long as they are healthy & enjoy it! :)
 
I can't cope with heat much above 20 degrees, but before this week my horse was being worked every day, and usually twice a day. One daily session is a 45 minute road walk (usually mornings), and the other session (usually evenings) is 40 minutes of faster work, to get his heart rate up, usually schooling or lunging and sometimes canter work up hills.

He is a very good doer, and I manage his weight this way. I'd rather keep him fit as opposed to have to restrict his food.

This week, however, he's only done hacking out at 6am. A week of lighter work wont do him any harm, and hopefully the temps are due to drop a bit next week, so normal service will be resumed then :D
 
My mare's turned away atm but when she was in work she would do 10 days of work then have a day off, then do 6 days of work followed by 1/2 days off then back to 10 days work. We would also do one day a week of fast work in the field at about 8am then she would go for a 1hr 20min hack in the afternoon. She quite enjoyed being out twice a day and it really helped fitten her up.
 
I quite often exercised twice a day (lunge or school am, hack pm) but I do like them to have a day off every week or so. Assuming that they are turned out of course, if a horse had to be in for any reason I'd replace the rest day with a light hack or walk in hand with some grazing time.
 
My horses go out three times a day for approx 30 mins at a go, walk, trot and canter when they are "at work" doing historical riding displays, but this is never more than two days a week. The rest of the week they have a day off, a days lunging and three light-ish hack/schools. All as fit as fiddles and keen to work.
 
I used to ride my pony 2 or 3 times a day when I was on holiday. During term time, he was ridden in the morning, as he was on full livery, then again by me in the evening, and he loved it. When I only had one, and she was stabled more, I used to ride her twice a day.Now she lives out not so much, but she would probably love to be ridden twice a day again.
 
I used to ride my first pony every day, some days even twice if I had time. She was extremely sharp and forward going and thrived from being worked. If I left her a day without being worked (even though she went out in the field for 9 hours a day every day) it would blow her brains which then resulted in me being out in the school or out on a hack for a very long time, so was easier to keep her worked every day. As the months went by her pace slowed down a little which I found very handy actually.
 
lol i used to get very similar comments- i tried to give him a day off at least every 10 days, and he was fine!!

what youre doing doesnt sound excessive in the slightest, and 2 40 min hacks is nothing in a day- i used to school for 40 mins, then go for an hour hack, then sometimes go for a shorter hack in the evening as well :)

even on his lighter days, he would get 10 mins lateral work followed by a 2-4 hour hack (depending on how much time i had)

carry on!! your horse will just get fit and very keen :D i LOVED my super fit TB XD it was fun :)
 
I usually ride everyday, mainly at least 1 1/2 hour hacks but we school out on hacks as he's so stuffy in the school. Also we're on a ridge 700m above sea level so lots of hills round here!
 
I ride every day mostly for physio for myself (spinal fusion 18 months ago).

We just potter really for 30 mins (5 mins warm-up, 20 mins work and 5 mins cool-down) in the school. Sometimes we go out for a blast and I am always surprised at how actually fit my horse is considering he only does 30 mins a day.

I left him for 5 days, unridden, and he ate all the pies and was ginormous!
 
I am lucky enough to be able to ride six days a week which I do. Some days I will have lesson in morning and then I will hack out in the afternoon. My horse is always willing. Have to wonder at some liveries who only ever ride 15-20 mins in school and when hacking think the horses legs will fall off if gone for longer than 30-45mins.
 
I ride every day. I have to say that at one time I rode six days a week, all day as a job. The horse I rode then was fantastic, no issues with anything. I took on a real headcase after that and within a few days she to was superb.
My view is the more they do the better they get.
The down side is, a horse used to putting in 20 miles plus a day consistently, can be a handful if they stop getting the work.
 
My boy loves his work and in all honesty seems to get frustrated when he has more than a day off. I gave him a week off earlier this month, he went mental when he saw his tack for the first time, couldn't wait to go out!
 
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