How many days a week do you ride to keep horses fitness?

[Random stranger here]

Hiya, just wondering. I'd be away at uni from Mon to Fri. So I can ride Fri, sat, sun. And I have some one to do a light ride (walk and trot) and to lunge 1 or 2 times a week. Would this be enough to keep him fit for when I come home? Id be competing in the holidays. I can get someone more experienced to ride instead of 1 of the lunges?
Tia
BTW, I'm full of questions and what ifs in case you haven't noticed

 

[HannahB]

I've got similar issue, at least will do when start uni sept
My mare has been perfectly fine ridden just on weekends, I tend to take her for 3hrs+ hack once or twice a week. As long as she's had enough field space she's mostly kept herself fit if there's a comp then normally 2 to 3 weeks is enough to get up to scratch

 

[awelshandawarmblood]

Depends what you want him fit for really.

I do blocks of 3, sometimes 4 shifts a week so can ride 3 or 4 times a week - keeps mine fit enough for what I want to do as in RC lessons, XC schooling, hacking and the odd fun ride. If I wanted to event for example, I wouldn't be doing enough I wouldn't have thought.

From what you've mentioned that sounds a pretty good even plan for most fitness needs.

 

[millitiger]

Oh first glance, it looks like enough work imo, unless you're aiming for Badminton.

To get more advice I think you'd need to provide more info.
How much turnout does he get?
What do you want him to be fit for?
What sort of competition?
Is it a new level to him or a level he is experienced at?

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Seems fine to me to keep him ticking over mine only do 3 days a week sometimes in winter.

 

[sarcasm_queen]

Depends what you need him to be fit for. If you want him out competing at a decent level, then probably not. If you just want to do some hacking/schooling then probably yes.

 

[TGM]

We've found that once a horse is fully fit for the level we wanted then we could keep the fitness up over the winter months with riding/exercising three days a week (but that would include fairly vigorous work once a week such as hunting or competing). Ours do get plenty of turnout though, generally out at nights and in from 8am to 4pm. (Daughter was away at uni but still managed a full event season competing at Novice, obviously using the holidays to increase the work programme).

 

[Vodkagirly]

Depends what you want them fit for and type. My draught needed rode 5-6 times a week to keep fit enough for eventing and he is laid back and lazy but I know a few tb that manage on 3 rides.

 

[nikkimariet]

Depends what you’re doing?

Having a horse fit to do 30 miles hack is different from having a horse do GP dressage etc.

I don’t really look at weekly work schedule, it’s too restrictive. Working towards GP at home, competing inter 1. This week he will have done 3 schooling sessions, 1 piaffe lesson and 1 hack. He had 2 days off after competing last Saturday. Hes hot in is head and runs on the red line so usually 2 days on 1 day off etc. Turnout every day and at least 1 hack a week (shite in traffic and I work full time and don’t have a hacking buddy).

 

[Random stranger here]

Oh first glance, it looks like enough work imo, unless you're aiming for Badminton.

To get more advice I think you'd need to provide more info.
How much turnout does he get?
What do you want him to be fit for?
What sort of competition?
Is it a new level to him or a level he is experienced at?

I'm winter he gets between 5-7 hours, in summer it would be much more, more like 7-9 hours, or out 24/7.
I do a bit of everything on him, I dream of higher level dressage, but that is only a dream. He jumps up to 1 meter, altho has gone higher once. And our hacks are fairly short as he is quite... uncontrollable to say the least.
Low level competition at the moment, prelim dressage or 70-80cm showjumping. I'm aiming to take it up a level in dressage in the future. And also aiming for a ODE. But future plans.
He's done one ode and didn't get on well with a past owner, she struggled. He's done dressage, and knows a couple of the basic moves. And jumping isn't new. So he's fairly equipped with the skills.

 

[Squeak]

Low level competition at the moment, prelim dressage or 70-80cm showjumping. I'm aiming to take it up a level in dressage in the future. And also aiming for a ODE. But future plans.

For that level of competition I think you will be fine. As TGM says I find that if the horse was already at the desired level of fitness and has at least one hard day of work out of the three and plenty of turnout then they tend to maintain it. Some horses do maintain fitness more easily than others though.

 

[Wishfilly]

I'm winter he gets between 5-7 hours, in summer it would be much more, more like 7-9 hours, or out 24/7.
I do a bit of everything on him, I dream of higher level dressage, but that is only a dream. He jumps up to 1 meter, altho has gone higher once. And our hacks are fairly short as he is quite... uncontrollable to say the least.
Low level competition at the moment, prelim dressage or 70-80cm showjumping. I'm aiming to take it up a level in dressage in the future. And also aiming for a ODE. But future plans.
He's done one ode and didn't get on well with a past owner, she struggled. He's done dressage, and knows a couple of the basic moves. And jumping isn't new. So he's fairly equipped with the skills.

For the dressage and showjumping I think that would be okay? I'm a teacher and at this time of year I can only really ride at weekends, but would feel okay taking my pony to dressage or low level showjumping during the holidays. My experience is that he can hold his fitness for a while on 2-3 rides a week, but it's much harder to increase his fitness without riding at least every other day. However, your milage may vary depending on your horse!

I'm guessing if you're in Y13 you've got a long-ish summer break? My plan would probably be to get him up to the fitness I wanted during the summer and aim to maintain it for as long as possible in the autumn. I think that's very doable. However, it may be harder to rebuild fitness in the spring if he ends up not doing as much as you would like over the winter.

I'd also be a little bit cautious about making fixed plans for your first year of uni, as things may change a lot when you get there!

 

[Random stranger here]

For the dressage and showjumping I think that would be okay? I'm a teacher and at this time of year I can only really ride at weekends, but would feel okay taking my pony to dressage or low level showjumping during the holidays. My experience is that he can hold his fitness for a while on 2-3 rides a week, but it's much harder to increase his fitness without riding at least every other day. However, your milage may vary depending on your horse!

I'm guessing if you're in Y13 you've got a long-ish summer break? My plan would probably be to get him up to the fitness I wanted during the summer and aim to maintain it for as long as possible in the autumn. I think that's very doable. However, it may be harder to rebuild fitness in the spring if he ends up not doing as much as you would like over the winter.

I'd also be a little bit cautious about making fixed plans for your first year of uni, as things may change a lot when you get there!

I get around 6-7 weeks summer break. Thank you, hopefully I'll be able to keep him fit. If not, I can get someone in to ride him for me. But id rather not, as it does confuse him, as I'm not the best of riders, when someone rides him well, he takes less notice of me ig I just need to ride better

 

[Flowerofthefen]

My boy is fit through the summer so exercise 3/4 times a week in winter just keeps him ticking over. Usually 2 x school and 2 x hack. I compete in dressage once a month and attend clinics for various things almost weekly which takes the place of one schooling session. I no longer worry how many times I ride a week in winter. The weather dictates what I do!

 

[santas_spotty_pony]

Sounds fine to me. I always found that once the level of required fitness was reached then I could cut back the workload a bit to maintain it as long as there was still plenty of turnout. Also I always found my boy was generally easier to get fitter each year after reaching full fitness the first year round.

 

[Winters100]

That would not keep mine as fit as I like them, but of course it depends what you mean by 'fit'. But in general I would say that at this stage of your life you have many new things to experience, which are arguably more important than keeping your horses fit, so go ahead and enjoy life, there will be plenty of time to get the horses fit later.

 

[Random stranger here]

That would not keep mine as fit as I like them, but of course it depends what you mean by 'fit'. But in general I would say that at this stage of your life you have many new things to experience, which are arguably more important than keeping your horses fit, so go ahead and enjoy life, there will be plenty of time to get the horses fit later.

Thank you. I'm seriously considering uni, I'm not sure if I trust someone with my baby (the horse ). I don't know how he would cope having someone else handle him. I've always done everything for him, and he does everything with me. He's like my big dog. I take him wherever I can. People keep telling me I can't skip uni for a horse, but he doesn't live forever. I can always study later in life. I dunno what I'm gunna do yet, I need a solid plan on his care and exercise while in away. And I'd need to see if the person I'm leaving in charge of him, can do it.

 

[Winters100]

Thank you. I'm seriously considering uni, I'm not sure if I trust someone with my baby (the horse ). I don't know how he would cope having someone else handle him. I've always done everything for him, and he does everything with me. He's like my big dog. I take him wherever I can. People keep telling me I can't skip uni for a horse, but he doesn't live forever. I can always study later in life. I dunno what I'm gunna do yet, I need a solid plan on his care and exercise while in away. And I'd need to see if the person I'm leaving in charge of him, can do it.

That is very honest, to recognise how you are feeling about it.

The thing is that one of our biggest mistakes can be thinking that we are the only one who can care for our animals. It is actually not true, and thank goodness that this is the case, because actually none of us know for sure that we will be able to keep our animals for their whole life.

It might just be. that in letting both you and your horse get used to someone else caring for him, you are doing a great service to both of you. It is very important that he learns to be handled by others, whether this is because you are studying, or are working.

Your horse is obviously very special to you, which is a wonderful thing, but you should not let this stop you from living you life. It is true that you can study later, but this is much harder after a break from studies. You would also have to support yourself during this time, and this may invilve working long hours, in which case you will also have to let someone else care for him.

You need to take a hard look at things, and to remember that education gives you choices, which are very valuable indeed.

Good luck, and do make sure that your decisions are made with careful consideration of the long term implications.