Do you give your horse a day off? And why?

My competition pony has usually one day off a week, my youngster probably will have 2-3 when he comes home- and light work- mainly schooling or hacking/driving out for the other 4-5 days a week. Day off after show/competing as well.
 
Once a horse is fit and competiting regularly you will find that some endurance riders hardly ride at all between competitions.

There was a study done in Australia to see how long horses took to loose fitness and it was about 6 weeks without exercise. In humans it is about 2 weeks.
 
Yes mine is rising five so I've always given him time off currently he does 3 days on one day off to rest his growing bones.
 
The vast majority of my horses have the whole winter off. It's their relaxation time. I start to bring them back into work in the spring. I have a couple that I keep ticking over during the winter but even them I only ride them a few times a month. Winter is a laid back affair here.
 
Yes, he always gets the day after a competition off . . . and if not competing he gets one day a week off anyway.

He doesn't get long periods of rest, though (unless self-enforced due to injury ;)) b/c he has navicular and the best thing for him is to work/keep moving - even if that's just a gentle hack three or four times a week.

While he's competing, we need to keep his fitness up, so he works six days a week.

P
 
Orangehorse is right when s/he says some endurance horses hardly get ridden between competitions (once they're fit). As a rule of thumb, for anything over 30km, an endurance horse is given 1 day off per 10km ridden (although some say 10 miles!).

Mine certainly get time off after a competitive ride. They also live out 24/7/365 so their base level of fitness doesn't drop much over the winter, and I don't have the obligation to ensure they're exercised every day.

Usually (forgetting competition rides) mine will be ridden 3 times a week, a mixture of hacking and schooling, for 1/2 hr to 2 hours. Believe it or not, with endurance it's quality of training that counts, not quantity, and there's absolutely no need to spend hours riding every day (after all, there's only so many miles in any horses legs!).
 
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