Do you ride EVERYDAY or do you give your horse at least 1 day off?

charlie76

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Just wondering really. I tend to give my horse 1 day off per week but I find he is a pain for the next 2 days before he gets back into work mode again. Just wondering whether anyone rides their horse 7 days a week or does everyone give their horse at least 1 day off per week?
Also, do you ride/work in the school everyday (whether you give days off or not?) or do you try to hack? Again, I can only hack at the weekends and if I hack 2 days in a row he switches in to 'deaf 'mode for the next day or 2 even though I try to school whilst hacking
 

piebaldsparkle

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It more that I give myself a day off!!!
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JessPickle

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Monday- always day off
Tuesdays - 40 mins Schooling
Wednesday - 30 mins hack
Thursday - RS (He's on working livery) usually take him for 1 hour hack
Friday- nothing, occastionally a half hour private lesson/1 hour hack
Saturday - dad has 1/2 hour private lesson + 1 hour group lesson. Then do one hour jumping lesson
Sunday- 1 hour lesson in the morning, 1 hour hack or nothing in afternoon
 

barbaraNcolin

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If the weather permits then I try to ride every day but usually give a day off after a show. I school my boy every time I ride but if I intend on hacking then I do less schooling before I go.
 

Baggybreeches

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At the moment I can only ride 2 or 3 times a week, which means my horses are a pain in the butt every time I ride, but with a limited riding schedule I just hack out, its easier than trying to school when they are being silly, and you are much less likely to cause issues on a hack. When the mornings get lighter I ride every day, and yes I mostly hack then as well! I probably only school once a week, as my horses are pretty established, and I have no great ambition/and not enough time/money to improve them more!
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martlin

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If they get enough turn out, I ride/lunge 5 days a week, but at the moment the fields are so bad that I had to restrict turn out to minimum, therefore they are worked every day - hard work!
I hack once a week, should do more, but really dislike riding on roads, so do the bare minimum to keep neddies sane.
 

lialls

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Yess one day a week off. and usally watever takes my fancy with for the rest of the week. If my mare has worked hard in the school one day the next day we jst normaly go for a gentle hack tho. =]
 

ann-jen

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Sometimes I ride every day but usually give her 1 easy day per week where we just hack out or I ride 6 days and either use the horse-walker or lunge on the 7th day. She never has a day where she does nothing at all as I end up paying for it the next time I ride as she is so fresh (even though she's turned out every day and on no hard feed). She's just a horse that works better with every day exercise.
 

charlie76

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So, if was to ride him everyday, without a day off then that should be fine ( jump, flat, hack and schooling)?
Only, have been bought up with 'horses should have a day off' theory!
He gets turn out most days.
 

MontyandZoom

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I can only ride on the weekends since I have no school/lights/electricity/stable!!! It sucks in the winter but mine are at least out 24/7 so they aren't maniacs. They don't realise how easy they have it! Zoom moans if she has to school for 10 minutes a week!
 

Baggybreeches

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Horses should only have a day off if they do 'a proper days work'! Our family used to have horse drawn vehicles for just about everything, and the horses used to work from sun up to sun down 6 days a week! Todays horses wouldn't take any harm from being worked everyday (most racehorses are worked daily).
 

millitiger

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i tend to ride 5 days a week but my horse is only rising 5 so i don't like to work her too hard yet.

she hacks about 3 days a week and schools/jumps 2 days.
 

0ldmare

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No, definitely not every day. At the moment its more like twice a week. My horses lead a pampered and idle existence really
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Lill

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Blue gets 2 days off a week in general - thats purely because i am not at the yard on a mon or thurs night!
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ironhorse

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I like my horse to have one chill out day a week and just go out. When it was too wet to turn out, I was round penning her and then grazing in hand on 'off' day. Don't like her to stand in unless absolutely unavoidable.

We tend to ride 5 days a week (not hacking at the mo as still getting used to new yard before venturing out on the road - she hasn't been on the road for more than a year) and I lunge one day a week. If she's left more than one day in a row she tends to get a bit 'feral' - think she just likes to be busy!
An outing to a Trec last week really freshened her up!
 

4whitesocks

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He gets the day off after hunting, which usually means Monday's off and would usually have the day off after competing during the summer - I try to keep work as varied as possible though as he gets bored & stale so a mix of flatwork, jumping and hacking during the week with no more than two sessions at each if that makes sense
 

jumptoit

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My pure TB gets ridden every day once or twice because otherwise he goes completely crackers so his own fault really! My Part TB gets 1 or 2 days off a week.
 

trundle

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I don't bother scheduling a day off. i have the best intentions of riding every day, but something always comes up which means i can't ride that day, so i ride 5-6 times a week. Given that i don't ask her to work particularly hard most of the time, i don't think working every day is terribly arduous for her.
 

ester

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mine does something 4 days a week at the mo, including lunging in the mud or round the edge of a v. wet field in the week.

Just enough to keep him fit enough so we can have fun at the weekends by going jumping, down beach etc. 6 days in summer and he is always pretty fit at beginning of the autumn so just keep him ticking over.

He can get a little silly but I don't think that is because of not riding him just him being bored and fed up with winter
 

fornema

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I usually ride One of my ponies 7 days a week due to the fact she really gets silly aftere a day off so only gets a day off every couble f weeks or after a show. The rest of mine have a 6 day week usually
 

jcberry

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1 day off.
normally a monday or atuesday as usually have a clinic on mondays and sometimes a show at weekend, so its nice to let him have a break
mon - day off/ride depending on what hes done at weekend
tues - day off/ride depending if he had a day off yesturday or not
wed - usually a hack from the mothership
thurs - sometimes my mum schools or has a lesson or hacks again
fri - atm i have a pc jumping lesson or a clinic so after school he has that
sat - show or school
sun - show or school

etc etc haaa
 

jes_nibley

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My boy is much more chilled if he's worked 7 days a week! One of them might be a 'free lunge', i.e. lunged on a headcollar just to stretch his legs but otherwise he has a schooling hack every day - sometimes twice if he's feeling really stressed.
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I have no school and have restricted their turnout at the mo due to it being like a pond in all my paddocks!!
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Also, as I have no school so he has to be hacked, unfortunately hacking really really bores me! I understand completely that it's good for their minds to see more etc etc but I would much rather be schooling (in a school) or jumping or competing! Hopefully we'll get a school in the next couple of years...!
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