How hard do you work your horse?

Firewell

Firewell

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Realistically how hard?

I think I don't work my horse as much as I think I do??

Do you ever time your schooling/jumping sessions? I wonder if I'm a bit soft with my horse.

Schooling wise I probably do 2 sessions a week where he finishes sweating up his neck and I have to to hose him, I have no idea how long these sessions are as I don't time myself, but probably around 40-45 mins.

Jumping again he finishes sweating but I don't do much jumping in a session, usually no longer then 30 mins and it's usually up to 12 jumping efforts no more. Once he does an exercise well at a height which is 10cm above what we are competing at I stop. I jump once a week usually, sometimes once every 2 weeks.

Hacking I'm a bit lazy, I tend to slop along on a long rein around a well known route for about 30-40 mins :o although these do include some hills. I hack about twice a week. Every now and again I do a longer hack of about and hour and a half if I have a friend to come with me that is! That includes some trot and maybe a canter. Horse is always really tired after a long hack!

The 6th session of the week is usually a 30 min lunge or a 30 min school in the field with a bit of a canter round the field.

I'm not sure I'm working him hard enough?! The above is the MOST I would do in a week. Competitions I usually just do one or 2 classes, jumping or dressage usually once a month and a clinic once a month.

My mum went to watch the Spanish riding school horses in Spain and I saw the video. Stunning, stunning, stunning! My mum watched them train and she said they would do 20mins round the gallops first to get the edge off, then an hours schooling with an experienced rider and then an hours schooling with a rider in training! Some of the horses were youngsters but some were well into their teens and fresh and healthy. Then they would do an 1 1/2 hour performance at least once a week.

It has just got me thinking that I don't do enough with my horse and I don't challenge him enough.

Thoughts?
 
Not particularly hard, but then again my horse is only 5.

He would do 2 schooling sessions of 30-40 mins
2 short hacks (45 mins) - during which he will have short sessions in outline/lateral work
1 longer hack (90-120 mins) - include cantering/hills
1 short jump/canter/lunge/walker
1 off

I always time my schooling sessions.
 
Reg is expected to spend about half his hack time in a proper outline working politely. The rest he's allowed to chill. He gets ridden 5 times a week and is only 'schooled' in his flatwork lessons which are every week or so and last for 30-45 minutes. He never jumps at home- he has a SJ lesson every 2/3 weeks which lasts about 45 minutes to an hour and the jumps are at about 1m-1.10m which is the height he competes at.

He is fit and healthy and happy and relishes his ridden time and has such a up-for-it attitude to working that I reckon Al's got it right. You have to do what's right for your horse- any more and Reg'd get bored and stale, any less and he's a little bit 'fresh'!
 
I usually ride 4-5 times a week

Generally 40-45 minutes hack twice a week during the week, he is expected to walk out nicely and actively, including trot, canter & gallop

Schooling 40 - 60 minutes 2 or 3 times a week, depending on how he's going.

Sometimes i will incorporate a few jumps into his schooling, depending on the ground in the paddock.

Weekends, we can hack for 1.5-2 hours or more, sometimes when i get back off a hack, i will take him into the school and ask him to work properly for 20 - 30 minutes.

Im trying to do 2 shows a month, showjumping, and will generally do two classes.

My boy is the fittest & healthiest he has been in the 5 years ive had him, although i wish i could do more with him, although he might disagree :cool:
 
I school lill at best 2 times a week. Becuase of her keeness about it I would say she does work hard, but only for 45mins-1 hour tops (depending on how good she is!)

At the moment she is jumping twice a week, I warm her up and then jump her for about half an hour, then cool down so probs on her for about 50mins.

When we have rain I can hack at home round the headlands of the farm, so can be however much you want (if you go round and round!) of walking, trotting and big cantering. Becuase its been dry we have got windsor great park permits and when I took my phone with its nike running app plotting your route through my phones gps it says we normally do 10-15 miles. The most of cantering it said we did was about 8 miles! Also theres loads of places for proper fast work.

I lunge her every so often and now we just had a horse walker put in so that will start getting used too! Id say Lill is pretty fit and works quite hard :)
 
My two have slightly different programs.
Older boy I mainly hack at home -he goes in school maybe twice a week, and then hacks 3/4 times, two of which would be shorter 30-45 mins and two longer 60-90 mins. Sadly our hacking involves a lot of road work but I do hills and do trot and canter where I can. He rarely jumps at home with me! Sharer does jump now and again, but not regularly.
Younger horse I try to only school him max twice a week, hack at least twice and then either go for a lesson/compete/jump once a week. Or travel to better hacking. He schools max 30 mins, and I do time this as always tempted to go on longer!
 
Even when we were in a high-performance, top yard, working seriously under excellent supervision, we would normally work for around 40-45 minutes (excluding walk at the start and at the end). On very rare occasions we could perhaps do one hour, but this happened extremely rarely. This was 6 days a week. Some days we would just work on the gallop track, never timed it but probably around 20 mins only as we both got tired very quickly!

(With Frodo it was always around 30 mins max as he was a baby, he is doing a little more now that he is in the UK but it's a different approach, with more regular hacking etc.)

When I lunge I never lunge for more than 20 minutes, perhaps with some half steps at the end if there is somebody willing to help me (not very often these days).

Now that he has lost a lot of condition and is quite unfit as he's had a lot of time off I am currently riding 30 mins., slowly building it up.
 
Lieto is 6 and gets ridden 5-6 times a week
3 x flatwork lessons, 40 minutes work plus 20 warm up/cool down.
1 x session being ridden by our trainer, depending on how much time she has it is between 25 minutes and 40.
1 or 2 trail rides a week, usually between 5 and 8 miles, with enough hill work to strengthen those muscles, but pauses in fields (with permission) to do circle work followed by the odd gallop!
 
Not very much because I am too lazy! If I have a specific goal in mind (I,e show jumping at hickstead in July!) then I will step up the work of the horse in question.
 
My two are worked six days a week.

One day they canter/faster work on beach and dunes - one hour.
Jumping one or twice a week - no longer than 45 mins. When the ground is good one jumping session would be on xc course.
The remaining days would be about half an hour schooling followed by a hack, or a slightly longer schooling session.

If I am feeling very keen I really like to school in the morning and hack in evening, however with two three year olds to do also this doesn't happen too often :rolleyes:

Also mine are not adrenaline freaks, I feel I need to keep them reasonably fit to be able to compete x
 
The nag gets worked 5 or 6 times a week depending on work and other commitments. At least one day will be a hack (we don't have offroad hacking in NI so no fast work) on a nice loose rein. We might jump one day, the intensity of which will vary on whether I am doing a set exercise, or just building our confidence. The other days will be schooling on the flat, probably for 30-40 minutes at a time, if I can maintain concentration. He rarely sweats, even after a round of jumping, but I think that's just his nature. It has to be scorching hot for him to be even a bit damp! I rarely have a plan for schooling, just work on what I feel like, and if I am in a bad temper after work I just go for a dander down the road.
 
I find it quite hard to discipline myself to work him really hard, so have taken to working him twice a day to maintain his figure and to keep him entertained as his field and field buddy are quite boring! Usually I get up really early for a 40 min to 1 hour hack, thankfully now it has rained I have been able to do the whole thing in trot and canter. Then we either do 40 mins schooling/in hand work/liberty work/trick training in the afternoon.

Today I did an hours hack in trot and canter this morning and then about 30min of walk, trot and canter intervals at the gallops this afternoon (more because I need to start getting him out to see new places than because he needed more work.) Poor soul is probably shattered now.

I could definitely push him harder when schooling, I lack focus so I now try to keep sessions short and sweet for my benefit rather than his!
 
I guess it depends on how fit you want your horse to be. I am doing BE100 and I rarely do more than 30 mins in the school, 20 on the lunge. I hack for about 50 mins up and down steep hills which gets them much fitter than riding on flat terrain. It also depends on what kind of horse you have, a TB won't need as much fittening work as a stuffier type and horses living out tend to keep fitter than stabled ones though they can get too full of grass to gallop!
 
Schooling I tend to work him untill he's going nicely/ sweating up a fair bit so normally an hourish, jumping probably bout half an hour as he hasn't jumped much don't want to bore him! And we have 2 30min hacks or a 3 hour one so he normally goes on half hour hacks (:
 
Not alot :p Shes only 4 so she gets 3 days off, and we work on a 2 week rota. Week one she does, 2 jumping sessions 30-40mins, 1 flatwork session 20-30mins and one hack 1hr. Week 2 - 1 jumping sess, 2 flatwork sess and one hack. It will increase as she gets older :) My last gelding when he was 6-7yrs old was doing - 1 jumping sess of 1 hr, 1 hack of 1-2hrs, 1 lunging sess of 30mins and 3 flatwork sessions of 1hr. But that included walking for 10mins at the start and end so probably 40-15mins of proper work.
 
Not hard enough to stop him getting podgy with all this rich grass we keep getting! I manage to hack him out usually 1 hour hacks but up to over 2 hour hacks when I get the time, every other day and on the alternate days I do ground work with him. :)
 
Mainly hacking, a lesson once a week or a fortnight which is 45 minutes, then probably if I school him on my own then about 20 minutes and pretend it has been much longer.
 
my older mare I ride 5- 6 times a week.
She gets hacked 2 times for about 45mins + mostly around 1 hour and she is worked the whole time in a long and low outline. mostly in walk but a few small trots as well.
she is schooled about 3 times a week for between 30 mins and 1 hour depending on how she is going. If she has been really good, i dont push her any further but if she has been a pain and naughty then I dont stop her unless it is on a good note.
then i lunge her once for about 30mins with pessoa mainly in trot.
2bh she is hardly ever in a sweat after unless it is a boiling hot day.

My 4 year old I only ride 4 times a week.
2 times hack on a relaxed chilled rein for about 45mins +. again only in a sweat if its a relaly hot day.
2 times schooling for 20- 30 mins. I just stop on a good note again if he has been good.
 
Worked 6 days a week, one of which is hacking. School work is c. 45 mins - probably 10 of which is warm up and cool down. Work is quite intensive and I expect him to be hot when I'm finished. After the walk, I usually do around 5 mins warm up in rising trot stretching, then some canter and counter canter in a longer outline. I then pick him up and do collected work in the canter, pirouettes, half pass, changes, etc. Then some walk work (pirouettes), then collected trot and lateral work, and usually some piaffe. Finish off with stretches again in rising trot and canter. He's a fit dressage horse schooling PSG.
 
Madam gets worked about 5 times a week, though it does vary and can be more or less! She'll have 1 or two schooling sessions of about 30mins, but often with a quick hack first 910/15mins) to warm up.

She does 20mins when lunged, which I try to do once a week or so, and the rest of the time is hacking, maybe with a schooling session on grass :) Hacking sessions are forward and purposeful, with some hill work done in walk/trot. When the ground is better, she will do more canter work in her hacks too.

She jumps maybe once every 2 weeks, either at competitions or at home :) she is jumping discovery at shows, and was plenty fit enough doing an intro ODE 2 weeks ago, and 3 hour+ hacks over the last 6weeks or so. the only thing I would change is to jump more at home. She is always sweating after a schooling/jumping session, but has got a very thick coat!!!!
 
My main comp horse gets work 6 days a week and the week before a comp is out 7 days a week as it keeps head clear (dont ask, he has many quirks).

Monday: free schooling
Tuesday: Long hack - at least 45 mins mostly trot in an outline (with breaks every 10 or so)
Wednesday: Arena work - about 40 mins, excluding walk to warm up at start
Thursday: Gallops - approximately 20 mins fast work
Friday: Easy hack
Saturday: lesson/arena work - again 45 mins
Sunday: Comp.
 
Ride Fleur 5-6 times a week and the work varys quite a bit.

Probably hacking 3 times a week which varies between 45mins (shortest route) to hours! Includes lots of hills and try and fit in a fair bit of trotting etc. She will normally come back sweaty under her saddle but not up neck etc unless I have done canter/gallop work on the tracks in the woods in which case I would expect her to be properly hot/sweaty!

Schooling wise again 3 ish times a week generally I really ask her to work and currently as she is rather full of herself with warmup/cool down we are doing about an hour and she gets properly hot.

If I get a good standard of work from her quicker we will have a notably shorter session and on the other extreme if being horrid can go on for a while longer, for example month or so back hacked (for 90ish mins) and she was very badly behaved so once home schooled her and prob did near another hour before she was at least being co-operative! Didn't get home till past 10pm that night!! She still had plenty of energy though as she is (for her!) really rather fit currently which is half her downfall!

I will though always finish a session on a good note even if that means doing something completely different as I like to be able to offer her praise and not have both of us finishing in a bad mood :p ;)
 
I was wondering the same thing the other day!

Merlin's ridden 5 times a week. 3 of these at the moment are schooling sessions lasting about 45 mins. Last night he was pretty sweaty after we had finished, his whole neck and under saddle were soaking.

He is hacked twice a week, on a Wednesday it's a long hack of about hour and a half and on a Friday it's a shorter 30 min hack. I do ask him to work in an outline for some of it, but then he can relax and do what he likes.

I've only had him a couple of weeks and am not jumping him yet. I'm not a massive jumper anyway tbh but when I do start jumping him I would like to jump him once every couple of weeks. I think that's all he'd need tbh as he's not jumped a huge amount now.

Sounds like your routine is just fine OP. Unless he's severely unfit or fresh all the time.
 
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