Holidays for your horse?

[Lucy_Ally]

Spring is having a couple of easy weeks at the moment as I have decided to give her a bit of a holiday for a couple of reasons:

a) She hasn't had any time off since I bought her in Feb, and although she isn't worked masssively hard, I could do with a bit of a break too

b) We are having the old surface removed from the indoor school and a new one put in, so the horses have to be out 24/7. I thought it would be nice for Springy to make the most of being out before they come back to the winter fields in a couple of weeks and have to stay in at night.

She will be worked quite hard over the winter with much more schooling since the evenings are darker so this seemed like a good time and I am hoping we will both be a little refreshed ready for the long winter ahead

I'll still do the odd hack with her but nothing too stressful.

So does anyone else give there horses a break? Is it for you or for the horse?

How long do you give them? Are they turned away completely? Sorry for the nosey post!

 

[AmyMay]

I always gave Amy a holiday - and yes it was as much for me as for her.

I would turn her away and leave her alone as much as possible. She would come back in to work lovely and fresh.

 

[Benefice1]

I dont normally give my boy a 'break' because if i dont ride him for a few days he is then a hyper freak when i do and so all my hard work goes down the pan. I dont ride him excessively tho, about 4 times a week give or take. He does work quite hard when i do tho.
Went on hol in May for 2 weeks so he didnt do anything then so he did have a hol but wouldnt want to do it too often!!!

 

[parsley]

I can only ride weekends in winter and they live out 24/7 so I suppose that is their holiday. I do sometimes give myself a day off at the weekend from riding in winter as well though

 

[Kelly1982]

When my old horse was competing i used to give him a couple of weeks off living out 24/7 and he used to come back to work willing and raring to go. Usually every couple of months or so.

He used to let me know when he had worked hard enough by being a bit argumentative.

In the winter i dont tend to ride as much unless i have got a show coming up so i dont really give holidays then.

 

[pottamus]

My boy had a week off in July when I went on holiday but as a rule I don't really give him time off as such. He does less work in the winter because I have no endurance events so work slackens off in December/Jan but then I have to get him fit again for endurance events in March. But even in winter I will ride 4 times a week.

 

[GTs]

The polo ponies are generally in from March to Oct, and get the rest of the time off. They are pretty much turned out and forgotten (well people look at them everyday - make sure their legs are not bending where they should not be, they are standing and things like that!). They get worked hard so it makes sense.