Horses having a day off a week - laziness, or good for them?

kerilli

kerilli

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Just wondered what everyone else thought really - do horses actually NEED a day off (apart from after a competition maybe, and even then i think a nice walk hack is fine), or is it just an excuse for riders to have an easy day? most horses have 23 hours a day off anyway...
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If they're in work, i try not to give mine days off unless circumstances prevail. What do you do?
 
Mine always have the day after a competition off but other than that, it's sheer laziness on my part. I'm a bit of a fair weather rider through the winter- find it hard to get motivated!!
 
due to me being at school i cant ride everyday after school anyway due to it getting to dark at nights, but now the nights are pulling out weather permitting i always try and give him some sort of work, and then when im on holiday i always try and do something with him everyday wether its lunging riding loose schooling etc...
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I was always taught to give the dressage horses a couple of days a week off.

I think part of this is that ive always worked on very intensive yards where they arent really hacked so they need the mental break from the schooling.

Mine has 1 or 2 days off a week and i think he appreciates it
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I think it depends on the horse - the buzzy, lively type can often benefit from working 7 days a week, whereas the lazy ones are better with a few days off now and again.
 
Mine has one day off a week because I do a 40 mile round trip to the yard and need the break! However I always try and hack in walk the day after eventing (best way to check he is sound IMO) and competing in dressage or SJ does not trigger a day off for him, he has it to suit my plans!

That said he's having lots of days off this week as I have been working away and am away this weekend too!
 
I think it depends on the work they have done, eg competition's would always give a rest day. Intensive schooling I also would, unless it was a hack to loosen them off and chill them out.

I think each horse is different and the rider will know their horse and what they need. I believe in keeping a horse ticking over, especially as they get older. My mare is 22 is still ridden with no problems, I feel if she had been left she may have stiffened up.
 
It all depends on the horse IMO. My WB is much better off working everyday, but my cob needs a day off now and again. I sometimes give her a few days off and she is so much better for it. I do admit I hate and sometimes won't ride on days like today, eugh. Next thing my saving up for.....an indoor arena
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think this depends on the work they do but mine is not really working that hard... I ride most weekdays for around 30mins in the school (due to young baby who comes to yard with me my time is limited as I also do all my stable duties, so is my ability to hack out then) and then I hack out at weekends for usually 1 hour or 1.5 hrs. Sometimes I lunge her on a weekday too to give me and her a break and sometimes she goes in the horse walker if time is really tight or baby doesn't want to hang about...Usually there is a day in the week she gets fully off but to be honest she is much better with a little work every day and the above hardly wears her out I don't think (I very rarely do competitions so all is very light hearted...)
 
Dont think it hurts but i agree its prob more human laziness...i know im deff guilty of that lol. Stars had loads of days of this week as i dont dooo riding in the rain lol and then when its dark i cant get motivated. I tell myself 'im sure she'll be fine' hehe
 
I think it all depends on the horse and how they are going week to week. I am not sure if horses physically need time off although they might do mentally. If mine is sharp he is ridden daily for as long as necessary.

But, I work in the week, my horse is 20 minutes away from home so going there twice daily takes about 1 1/2 hours before I've even done anything, so I have a long day when I do him and ride him in the week. TBH I feel like I need a day off a week to actually be at home in the evening and cook a meal for my OH.
 
Mine does benefit I think. he gets stale and goes out everyday so its not as if he would be stood in if I didnt work him. He always gets mondays off, if after an event he gets ice tight washed off and trotted up then oit in the field. In the winter he will get another day in the week off too, purely because dont belive in schooling too regularly, 2/3time a week max as he gets lazy and stale otherwise, and then he gets lunged once and hack twice a week. in the summer, he will get worked 6 days a week as I do more hacking.

I think it gives them time to relax and helps with their mental and physical developement.
 
Our lad has a day off once a week, I suppose it's more for us than him.

He never has a day off after a show, a horse is an athlete & needs to work off any lactic acid accumulated in his legs from exerting himself at a show. I'm not talking a serious work out but they need light work to loosen them off. I would give my lad a day off two days after a show. Top human athletes do the same. They do light exercise the day after an event.
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It's very "old style Continental" to never give horses a day off. Puritan work ethic at work, perhaps? Or more that those systems tend to have little or no turn out and don't hold much with horsewalkers.

I hardly ever gave the horses days off when I was eventing, in part because there were just too many things to work on!
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But, since then, I've had so many situations where horses are BETTER at something I've been working on after a day or two off - mentally, physically, in their understanding - that now I actually try to give them a day or two not being ridden when I'm working through something. I find the best is to get what I need then let it gel for a day or two. My prior attitude was to keep banging away at it so maybe the day off is as much to get me off the mission as to rest the horse.:) Still, it's happened so often, particularly with horses making hard physical changes and for "latent learners" I build it in now.

If a horse had really had a hard time I might even give it a few more days. It depends on the horse as much as anything - they react very differently to time off.

What I don't do is give the horses a regular day off if I can help it, although when I ran a big barn I did because then we could have a reduced staff and a quiet day for everyone. Now I try to arrange the break within the workload and training schedule when I think it will do the most good. Again, some horses will really "get" something if they're ridden the day after a hard school, some don't.

The fact is most of us don't work our horses near capacity. When you think of the sort of days "working" horses put in an hour or so carting someone around is not much. I find the stress is at least much mental as physical and different horses react individually so I try to plan to suit the situation. I don't think, in most situations, it really matters either way to the horse's health or even its education, you might just get better results with a tweak in the schedule. It's another one of those things you learn by rote and develop by feel.
 
I think it's ok for them to have a rest a day after a show and then basics to keep them ticking over and fit during the week.

They shouldn't overdo work at home or they tend to get stale.

I don't think a day off is laziness at all. Depends on how much work the horse needs.
 
I think some of it depends on what you're trying to do with the horses.

Fittening for very high demand work for example then id tend to go for 6-7 days.

If you dont want them super fit, then obviously reduce.

For horses going through heavy remedial work in regards to their flatwork, then i prefer to try and split it up to allow the muscles down time between heavy bouts of change. Example being horses that have been star gazers, very hollow workers who start being asked to work more correctly. I tend to find with these that they benefit from the work being split up much more.

Ive also found horses are always the most difficult to work on the flat on the 3rd day of schooling
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Dont ask me why and maybe its my immagination but the third day is always the touhg one
 
George usually has a day off each week, but not at the moment as they can't be turned out, but on his 'day off' he gets lunged with no gadgets and I let him have a nice canter with no pressure to let off some steam.
 
I usually walk mine after competition, and then give them the following dayoff. But usually have 1 day off a week, particularly in the winter. If they have to be in all day due to poor weather I give them a loose lunge on a very large circle/oval.
 
I was always taught that like us humans horses need a day off to let their muscles etc to adjust otherwise they can never truly physically develop and mentally they switch off
 
Busy riding school horses need a day off a week I think but for my horse, if I'm honest, a 'day off' is just an excuse for me to not ride her for the day. Mysteriously often conincides with evenings where I've been invited out with mates.... funny that LOL
 
Blue gets Mon and Tues off each week because i can never get to the yard those days.

He also got yesterday off as by the time i got back from jumping Holly it was 8.30pm and we still had 3 to muck out and put to bed!

Holly i ride when i have time, usually at the weekends
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For fittening the boffins now think you only have to work them maybe twice a week to maintain fitness...any more may just increase wear and tear....
I'd always give mine around 2 days off a week...never worked in a yard where they didn't have time off...they often work better for it too.
But each to their own!
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I never ride on Mondays. I like to have a day off myself so I can catch up with the chores! They dont need to be ridden everyday. It would be different if they were doing eventing, but even then, at the level I do, I dont think it affects their fitness to have a day off.
 
Mine get regular days off purely due to the weather! I dont hack so all I have to work in is a paddock which obviously in often less than perfect (right now its frozen underneath with a layer of very slippy mud on top!), so often there's no point in riding as all I could manage somedays is just walking!

Otherwise, mine ALWAYS get the day off before and after a show. Unless its pure dressage, where I always ride the day before. Only because my 2 are better fresher for SJ / ODE / showing etc. but obviously not so fresh for pure dressage.
 
my two never used to get days off.

If Red has been hunting, we go out for a walk the next day, and as i only really hack and sometimes show Solo, he doesn't need the days off.

Although i'd like to think that it's me giving them a day off, it's more like im having a day off them!
 
I'm not sure I would call it laziness, but with A levels, social life and all 9 ponies they need a day off each for me to have a chance to do them all. 7-a-day it would be if they didn't had a day a week off, and with 6 A levels as well thats not happening...
 
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