Eventing peeps. Question - time off for a horse?

ArcticFox

ArcticFox

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Hi all

My 9yo ISH has just finished his event season. He has run at 11 events this year. Three being at Novice level so he has been pretty fit.

I'd like to give him some time off. No riding, just out in the field and in at night, to wind down and have a rest.

Originally I was going to give him until Xmas but that's nearly 3 months which seems like a long time - is it?

I don't have arena lighting so even if I tried to keep him in light work he'd only be ridden at weekends and lightly hacked out. My plan was to bring him back into work over Xmas and aim to start heading out to some small SJ shows in Feb just to get him out and about. Nothing taxing. But this would start him to get ticking over for the event season beginning in late April.

What are your thoughts?

I'm now swinging towards giving him a month off then light hacking whenever the weather is nice!


Interested in your own plans :). Thanks in advance

Cx
 
I wouldn't give 3 months off - a month off work and then hacking until you have daylight to commence full work again would be my choice.

It puts a lot of strain on a horse (heart, lungs, legs etc!) to come from unfit to eventing fit so maintaining a low level fitness can only help. Besides, eventers are normally clever horses and I think going from competing most weekends to doing zilch can be a bit boring for them, especially if they are stabled.

HTH :)
 
I'm recently bringing back a mare (now 8yrs old) I just got into work, she has had a good three months off but a year before she had done heavy work for a few years (4yrs-6yrs) and then light work for a year with her new owner. I'd say It will take me a month or two to start getting her fit again, with riding everyday (with 1-2 days off a week, not all hard work) So I think it would be fine to let him have a 1-3 months off and possibly hacking him out when the weather is nice/when you want too!
 
I tend to give mine 6-8 weeks off after a full season, with shoes off, out as much as the weather/ground permits. By approx. 5-6 weeks, I find they are often getting decidedly bored! I then start walk exercise early December, so that if we get bad winter weather, the odd few days/week off doesn't put the fitness back too much. Normally aim to restart events mid March.
 
Thanks so far. I did think that perhaps 3 months was too long, so the 6-8 week plan is great. Then I can ride at weekends and keep him ticking over. He hates the wind and rain so there are still likely to be weeks without riding him unless I use an arena locally for a bit of a play.

I won't take his shoes off as my farrier is currently working on his foot balance and has recommended he keeps them on so thats fine.

He usually gets bored and starts jumping out of the field so i guess 8 weeks is likely to be the maximum anyway. :)

Nice to see what others do though. :)
 
We used to have jumping ponies and they were always given October off, (back in the days when there was a definite summer/winter season), then just pretty much do 2 weeks work and pick up where we left off with the work being sporadic if the weather was rubbish but they were fit enough to cope and jumping once a week kind of kept them fit. I am already struggling with daylight hours to keep my two ticking over, so they probably only getting 3 or 4 times a week but again if they are out all day that's plenty I suppose.
 
I normally give my horse 4 weeks off after the event season, but this year I'm going to have to give him 6 weeks off, as my other horse can start walking road work the day after my last event, so I won't have time to ride both during those six weeks, I aim to start riding at the beginning of December, four works road work, then aim to start hunting mid February, to start eventing mid march, I am lucky as my horse is an exracehorse, who doesn't take forever to get back up to event fit, unlike my other horse who is IDxTB.
 
I'm giving my lad from mid november to the start of january off, shoes off and on holiday in field. He's been doing a lot this year and I am looking forward to him having time off and getting to relax.
 
Mine is only at BE90 level, but she hasn't had any time off since last Christmas, so i plan on doing Pulborough and then giving her a month off after that. She will mostly be out in the field, but come in when the others do (to avoid her being left out on her own) I'll then get her fit enough for winter indoor stuff before really getting her fit for the start of the season next year (she is IDx and so takes quite a bit of fittening work to get and maintain the level of fitness required for Intro/PN).
Partly to give her a break, and partly so i can really crack on with getting some work into the other two.
 
I like to remove shoes to help redress the damage to the feet shoeing causes and twelve weeks is the shortest time you need them off to give benefit but I work mine while unshod so perhaps that's worth a thought .
J has been shod since April he's hunting now he will go off mid November rest until after Christmas and work shoeless until mid feb then shoes back on.
when I was eventing a lot I found twelve weeks rest in winter did not leave you with a really unfit horse they came back to fitness easily , in summer however they seem to let down more .
 
Mine will probably have a few quiet weeks after our last event, just the odd hack, but she never has a total holiday as she becomes a total moron in the field!
We will probably do the odd days hunting too, so she needs to be kept pretty fit. She enjoys working though, so hacking and hunting are her holidays!
 
thanks all

will be leaving the shoes on. I have regular talks to my farrier and vets and this is the current plan.

Will give him a month off, then start waiting for nice weather and just hack him out. think that will help me too as I'll be itching to start again soon on him!

Can't hunt him as he doesn't cope well in groups of horses. which is a shame as I'd love to go out hunting (although I hate getting cold!!)
 
Ours are kept in work because as soon as the clocks change I cannot ride in the evening so limited to riding at weekends. I feel being ridden at weekends is tantamount to having a holiday. Due to no facilities, I cannot get them fit from scratch in January/February so again it has its advantages keeping them in work and then just adding a few extra sessions a week before eventing. I think it is better for their bodies and for their legs because so many people rarely do the basic fittening work properly.

Mine tends to get a small break in August which suits me better.
 
Not aimed at OP but in general shouldn't all horses get an annual break from shoes? In all good farriery texts there is mention of 12wks break to recover from the damage that all shoeing causes. There was a recent feature by a good farrier in Scottish Farmer about how " back in the day" they'd be dead over winter, apart from hunters, while hooves had a needed break and that since that has changed ( with shoes on year round) they have noticed a vast increase in navicular, wld, etc, etc
 
I think its good practice to give them a rest. It allows the foot to grow bigger as shoeing can restrict it but it also depends on where you are, the horses workload, the wet/dry ground, etc so your vet/farrier are the best people to discuss it with I would say.

I'm not sure if the navicular/wld is relating only to shoes being on all year (happy to be corrected if research has been done on this) but horses are generally in more work these days all year round so that must have some relevance.
 
LEC said:
I think it is better for their bodies and for their legs because so many people rarely do the basic fittening work properly.

I think this is the key comment. For me once you start having longer than 4 weeks off you need to go back to some pretty serious "by the book" fittening work. It is for this reason I just give 4 weeks off and this year it will be in December as I am on my holidays too!
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Goldenstar said:
My vet is definatly of the opinion that shoeing all year is at the bottom of a lot of the foot trouble they see.
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My horses are shod all year round and they do a lot of road work, I don't think I have ever had a days lameness from either of them (in a combined 20 years of ownership and hard! work). I think having seen the dismal efforts of some farriers I am not surprised there are so many lame horses but to blame the constant wearing of shoes when it is not really the cause.
 
I think your comment I do a lot if road work also contributes to your horses excellent soundness record .
Too many people ride on artificial surfaces day in day out which if think contributes to a lot of soundness issues.
 
I had a fall at Richmond and as I had fractured my radius mine has had his 3-4 weeks off early. Now I'm ready to get back on and will just do a bit of hacking and schooling over the next few weeks, nothing major as I think he is 'over' his break. Being a twit in the field at the moment ;-)
 
Our driving ponies have from the last event (mid sept) till Xmas off in the field unshod :) They tend to do about 5 or 6 3DEs a year, staying away for 5 days each time, often travelling over 5 hours, with 21km marathons pulling their own weight.
 
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