How long a holiday do you give your eventers during winter?

[paddi22]

Just curious how long a holiday people give their eventers and when do you start them back up?. I've a 14 yr old ish that was doing events ever week or so until last week. We have never done a full season before due to random injuries each year, so it's the first time he's done a full season and is uninjured going into winter! I keep getting conflicting advice as to how long to give him off. his shoes are off now and he's out at grass

Dressage instructor says give him until after xmas off. He's a very serious thinky horse who really was pushed physically dressage wise this year and worked hard. She thinks he deserves the winter off, and to come back in jan.
XC instructor says give him a month off and then take back hacking in november and do slow conditioning/fitness work between nov and jan.

Would love to hear what others do and when you start back up again, would be aiming to start back competing in april starting at 1m class.

 

[hollyandivy123]

considering his age maybe the later with the emphasis on fun hacks, but more to keep muscle tone as the older they get the more difficult it is to go into peak condition.

 

[naza]

I give mine a month then just do a month of hacking and then introduce proper work again

 

[rotters13]

I feel awful but my horse doesn't have a full "holiday" as such - he gets "down time" but keeps ticking over. I don't want the risk involved in bringing up a horse from completely unfit to fit! Then again we only compete at 100 and only once a month...

 

[be positive]

Traditionally they used to be turned away until the first week in Jan, unless they were aiming for Badminton, then come back to 8 weeks steady work to build up ready to event in early April, if you only give him a month off he will barely lose any fitness so the 2 months of fittening work may prove interesting if he is a bright type so you will probably end up having to school or work hard to keep the lid on him.
I would go for the middle ground leave until the end of Nov/ mid Dec and then start to bring him back, that way he should not require a full fitness plan and can have a bit of down time and fun, leaving it until Jan means more slow work and playing catch up if the weather gets bad.

 

[paddi22]

yeah the end nov/mid dec feels like the best option. Dressage instructor was worried that he'd mentally worked very hard and needed more holiday time, but he loves his fun hacks, so will let him enjoy himself on those! And as holly pointed out, him being older it might stand to him to not lose muscle.
Cheers for the advice, just thought leaving him till jan would be putting us under pressure to get fit and work on the stuff we need to crack before the comps.

 

[LeannePip]

When i was grooming, horses at Novice and above tended to go out (rugged) after their last event, mid Oct until end of Dec/ 1st Jan. anything below usually had a few weeks either still in at night or out 24/7 for a few weeks then came back in still fairly fit and then kept ticking with some winter SJ'ing etc.

This is my 5yo's first season she have done 7/ 8 events plus the single phase comps too, she'll go out 23rd Oct-end November, then come back in for some hacking then winter showjumping.

 

[PorkChop]

I don't tend to do proper holidays as horses have a knack of taking their own holidays sometimes!

I generally just keep them ticking over, bit of hacking etc, no jumping for a couple of months.

 

[paddi22]

yeah i know what you mean! Gave him a winter off two years ago and he came out of field with a cyst on his back and kissing spine and was off for months after! Year after that was a kick that chipped a piece of bone off a hock. just can't believe we got through a full year this year! I'm terrified making plans as it's almost bound to go wrong!

 

[PorkChop]

yeah i know what you mean! Gave him a winter off two years ago and he came out of field with a cyst on his back and kissing spine and was off for months after! Year after that was a kick that chipped a piece of bone off a hock. just can't believe we got through a full year this year! I'm terrified making plans as it's almost bound to go wrong!

Exactly!

 

[star]

I don't do eventers kind of holidays. I'm really not convinced letting them down for months on end is in their best interests. My boy is 17 now and still going strong on my regime and my old boy is 30 and still happy so it's working for me. I gave mine 6weeks during the summer without any competing - he had 2weeks off and 4weeks of hacking (he doesn't enjoy hot weather or hard ground so summer holidays work best for him). He has had other odd weeks here and there through the year. Normally he'll find some way of self harming to ensure he gets a holiday at some point anyway!

 

[Vodkagirly]

I don't really understand the months off thing. I think it's for people not the horses benefits.
Mine will have a week off while I'm on holiday then back to work. Though his work load will be lighter through the winter as I won't do as much hacking. So probably 4 days a week compared to 6 in the summer.

 

[TGM]

I don't tend to do proper holidays as horses have a knack of taking their own holidays sometimes!

I generally just keep them ticking over, bit of hacking etc, no jumping for a couple of months.

Ditto this! Our boy has been eventing at BE Novice this summer, but now is just having a few weeks of easy hacking. He will start schooling and jumping again around Christmas time (weather permitting!)

 

[paddi22]

I don't really understand the months off thing. I think it's for people not the horses benefits.
Mine will have a week off while I'm on holiday then back to work. Though his work load will be lighter through the winter as I won't do as much hacking. So probably 4 days a week compared to 6 in the summer.

yeah the main reason was to give the horse a mental break. He tries so hard and is very stressy and a people pleaser. His dressage level was upped this year and he's had to learn a completely new way of going, which he would kill himself trying to do at times to keep everyone happy. So it was more to give him a complete mental break from arenas and trying to please people. I really think you can see a difference in a horse spark in work when it's had a good arena break, they always come back fresher.

Apart from that i think it's good to let them have a good break, he worked super hard eventing all summer and there's no way i'd leave him without down time, I'd never keep an horse in full work all year round if they are doing a tough job, they all get a good break. Physically just give them time to unwind and completely relax, ease out any niggles or soreness.

 

[Llee94]

Mine tend to get a forced holiday due to working full time and no school to ride them in. Usually from mid October until I go on holiday from work at Christmas.
However, my mare is 16 next year so is getting on a bit. She will have a quiet few months but I will still try and hack her out at the weekends with my youngster just so that she keeps her muscle tone. She does however have her shoes off from now until about Feb.
I also try to keep mine out as much as possible. They only come in at night if the weather is going to be really bad. Otherwise they are just rugged up and they can plod around the field/concrete driveway to keep a little bit of fitness.

 

[sportsmansB]

My mare can't eat hay /haylage so she can only go out a few weeks until the grass goes. To be honest that's her limit anyway, she jumps back to the yard after 3 weeks off. She had 3 weeks in the summer when I was on hols, I would have given her longer but she got bored & brought herself back in...

 

[EventingMum]

Ours used to be let down at the start of October and start their fitness programme at the begining of January. They still came in at night as our weather is too wet for 24/7 turnout in winter.

 

[ihatework]

Depends on the horse, their season, plans for next year etc.
My young horse generally causes trouble if his brain is not occupied, he gets regular short breaks throughout the year. He'll finish the season mid October and we will attempt to give him a month off minus shoes with mates on the proviso he doesn't take himself off hedge/wall hopping.
On the other end of the scale the big boy went on hols post Burghley and will have a decent break before starting up walk work in prep for the other B word I'm banned from saying!!

 

[blackhor2e]

Just curious how long a holiday people give their eventers and when do you start them back up?. I've a 14 yr old ish that was doing events ever week or so until last week. We have never done a full season before due to random injuries each year, so it's the first time he's done a full season and is uninjured going into winter! I keep getting conflicting advice as to how long to give him off. his shoes are off now and he's out at grass

Dressage instructor says give him until after xmas off. He's a very serious thinky horse who really was pushed physically dressage wise this year and worked hard. She thinks he deserves the winter off, and to come back in jan.
XC instructor says give him a month off and then take back hacking in november and do slow conditioning/fitness work between nov and jan.

Would love to hear what others do and when you start back up again, would be aiming to start back competing in april starting at 1m class.

I think it really depends on a lot of factors when it comes to giving eventers a holiday.

Ask yourself what level you are at, want to compete at next year, how old is your horse, any injuries, do they do well when not worked or likely to get up to mischief?

For me, my boy is 15yrs old, he is at 3* level. He had two weeks off in September after his last event and that is all he is getting. For the winter I am keeping him ticking over, working on the flaws in our flatwork and maybe visiting a couple of arena events nearby. He generally does better in work, too much time off for him makes him rather explosive when I get back on.

I think at BE100 level you can afford to give them more time off, but I wouldn't personally give more than a month.

 

[gunnergundog]

I gave mine 6weeks during the summer without any competing

Which of course is what happened many many years ago when I started eventing as the season was divided into two. The ground was hard mid-summer and there was not the technology to aerate/irrigate as we do nowadays, so we all sojourned for a month.

 

[Chiffy]

Oh ggd, I remember that! A mid term break!

I was always under the impression it was best to keep older horses ticking over and not let them down completely. Just do something that doesn't involve the brain so much.
In the old days our novice and intermediate horses went hunting in the winter!

We have a 6 year old that finished his first season this year, yesterday, with a win at 100, yah!
I think he may do very little for the next couple of months but will still be in at night. The other 6 year old hasn't done as much and will do dressage and show jumping over the winter.

 

[*Nik*]

I do a bit of everything (not solely eventing) but he doesnt like having long periods off. He had 3 weeks off and 3 weeks light hacking in April/May whilst I got married/honeymoon. I am away again mid November so he will work/compete up until then and have 10 days completely off. When I get back I will just keep him tickinh over for the rest of the year doing light schooling and hacking 3/4 times a week and pick him back up properly after christmas