Do you give your horse a day off each week?

FestiveSpirit

FestiveSpirit

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I had a RC dressage training session on Friday evening where Bob was absolutely awesome, I came out with a huge grin all over my face. Stupidly however I decided that I would still go dressaging this morning (one Prelim test, one Novice) and he was quite obviously tired and was VERY unco-operative! So we did the Prelim test and withdrew from the second test.

Just wondering now about either giving him the day off tomorrow, or just going for a quiet hack? So, do you give your horse a day off each week, or do you give them 'down time' by just going for a relaxed hack?
 
I give Mick a day off a week, sometimes 2 but never normally 2 days together.. But, last Saturday I did 2 rounds at Vale View arena eventing, so he jumped 66 jumps in all.. He was off Sunday anyway as we went to Belton, and feeling guilty I also gave him Monday off. Big mistake. Tuesday all I wanted was a gentle hack - walk & trot for 4 miles. Not a chance, he was like an idiot.

I suppose it depends on the horse. Mick has masses of energy even at 13. If I hunt he only gets one day off afterwards, otherwise I pay the price.

I would take Bob for a gentle hack to chill him out.
 
Yes- well sort of!

Mine (TBxID 12 yr old Eventer) is stabled 24hrs until hopefully next week when she'll live out until oct (all being well and will be a gradual process of course). So her routine is ridden 6 days, with 30 mins turnout morn and eve on a sand area to play/roll sometimes with one other livery but usually on her own and her sort of 'day off' on day 7 a lunging session. Within reason I do let her have a good run around on the lunge, buck etc to let off steam. I only do this on the lunge to let her play AND because she is always easy to stop if for instance others are schooling in arena next to the one I'm in and she is a sane horse to ride/handle (even though stabled all through winter). AND I have 2 boys under 3 so need one day 'off' riding a week! I've done this for 3 years now and it seems to work well for us!
 
That's a good point MM - Bob is a typical TB, with a memory like a goldfish, so tends to forget everything he has ever known if he has more than one day off in a row :D I'll see how he is tomorrow, we will either go for a quiet dawdle around the lanes or he can just chill out in the field :)

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, I wish I had given him today off, he was so fabulous last night (medium? Yes, no problem :) Counter canter? Sure, where would you like it :)) that he deserved it :):):)
 
Danny has 1-2 days off, simply because he gets bored and mentally tired with the work. We also have a nice hack once a week if we can :) He's still a baby though in my eyes (nearly 6...) so that's fine :D
 
Good points- forgot to say out of 6 ridden -2 are hacks and 1 doing canter laps for fitness around school- nowhere to canter out (too wet on bridleways) so only 3 are eitherschooling/jumping/lessons etc
 
Mine always get one day off (traditionally sundays as its the day after hunting and it's stuck even on non hunters and out of season!!) As MM says though, never more than one day in a row, all mine are total idiots if they have more than a day off!
 
They have a day off after an event, and i try to once a week but i have a '4 day strict prep' before an event so if i do ride him up till then solidly i dont worry too much; he has a nice hack 1/2 times a week and often gets 2 days off :)
 
nope, horse dosent get a day off :) His work during the week though is mixture of hacking, jumping and canter work, normally with 1 to 2 sessions of flatwork.

Day after an event I will go for a hack on him, normally short one about 45 mins (obviously after trotting him up) and in walk.

He goes out in field everyday, although not the day before an event!
 
It depends a lot on the horse and the rest of the system, I think.

I worked for someone who never gave his event horses a day off - at the very least they hacked in walk (even the day after an event) or free longed. The horse I had at the time wasn't turned out except in the indoor school (inveterate, dangerous fence jumper :) ) so he did something every day (often two sessions when he was doing a lot of fitness work) even just to get out and about. He was pretty laid back (in some ways anyway) and needed to be very fit for his job so would have had to do a fair bit of work no matter what. That said, he rarely did the same thing every day and we tried to mix up both the mental and physical stresses of his work.

When I have horses in training for short periods or with a specific end date there is always pressure to work as many days as possible. But I've been surprised many times how often horses have progressed "standing in the field" as it were, because they had to have a few days off for whatever reason. Because of this I now try to build in a few extra days off which the horse may or may not "use" and sort out what program works best for each individual. I have one right now that does one ridden day, one longe or similar, one day off and that seems to suit him best, as he doesn't need to be fit and he gets stressed easily.

I think what you do the day before a show is very individual. I've sometimes shown horses straight out of clinics/training days and had it go wonderfully, other times the it's seemed a bit much. (Of course, that depends on how the clinic has gone, too!) Multi-day shows are far more common - almost the norm at the higher levels - in North America and figuring out what tests to do on what days can be quite an art. I had one mare that was generally lazy but also very inclined to want to do things her way, do two tests on the first and second day, then one on the third day and she just got better and better. At the same show the gelding, who was much fizzier, had to be scratched out of his second test on the second day because the first test felt like it might have gone better if I'd got off and carried him. I think because he was so mentally busy he took a lot more out of himself than the mare, even though he was technically a higher energy horse.

It can be physical, too. I find many horses are actually more tired/sore the second day after a huge effort (which I think is borne out by physical data) but obviously that's not the same for all. And mental effort seems to knock them out even more sometimes, or at least in a way that can't be sorted out by some gentle exercise. Also, improvement also brings stress so sometimes the "bad" days are actually demonstrating how intense the changes in the horse are.

Out of curiosity, what did you do the day before your RC dressage session?
 
TarrSteps said:
Out of curiosity, what did you do the day before your RC dressage session?
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We did an exercise which Tabledancer had showed us, practising lengthening and shortening canter strides around the arena. I thought it would be a change from our 'usual' flatwork session, and Bob was actually very very good in the session so I cut it short :)

ETA - now I have read your post again (which is really interesting, thanks!) I wouldnt say that the canter work exercise was either physically or mentally particularly stressful or intensive (we spent quite a lot of time walking and trotting whilst a physio did a work-up on another horse in the arena) but I noticed yesterday that Bob was hardly spooking at all in the Hartpury main arena, which normally he finds very spooky?

Last night I got on and thought 'this session is going to be good' whereas today I got on and thought 'uh oh, this session is going to be hard work' - I was right on both counts! I shall give this more thought to work out the best routine for him :)
 
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Was this the one with counting strides between the poles? She's obsessed with than one. :D ;)

I had one horse that used to gallop the day before dressage and that seemed to really relax him mentally and physically. He also often jumped a bit before (either right before or in a morning session) a dressage school and I've heard of quite a few people doing this, even with some quite high end horses. I suspect things like that can also work because of varying demands, saddle fit, rider position etc. so the horse uses some energy but is not stressed in the same ways.

As you say, live and learn. It does sound like you had two very good schools this week so unfortunate that today couldn't have been another but still, Bob seems to have been over all a very good boy. :)
 
my mare always has a least 1 day off a week but as tarrsteps said she is a sort of horse who progresses in the field if i try to keep practicing stuff she gets worse but a couple of days off and she is amazing, but it took a while to learn that. Before a comp i tend to give her a easy day but the days before that she works hard it trial and error x
 
LOL, yes that is the one :D I like it a lot, but unfortunately everyone on the yard thinks I am slightly mad as I canter around saying out loud 'one, two....':D

I totally agree with you about how good he has been this week, in particular I was grinning like the proverbial Cheshire cat last night as I drove home, and TBH today really didnt matter that much - there will always be another day/competition, and I know it is all there waiting for me to learn to press the right buttons at the right time :):):):)
 
Thanks it is a struggle with time and with finance. I do have a fantastic mum, husband and brill friends who do the early feed/hay and sand turn out for me a few mornings and of course I return the favour to them. Never get a chance to stand around and chat or help out any more at events (i use to BE fence judge or dr write at top events) miss it all soooooo much!
 
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