How many times a week are your hunters getting ridden?

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JoshuaR97

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Wondering how many times others are riding their horses they hunt to keep them at their full fitness. My currently horse is getting ridden around 5 times a week as I give him the day off before the hunt and then the day off after just to rest and chill out. Are opening meet is in another two weeks and I've been doing are training meets and also working him at home but should I be riding him more? He gets schooled once a week at are local arena and then the rest he is hacking out.
 
Depends on the horse and - to an extent - on the type of hunting. Once fully fit they'll easily hold fitness on 3 or 4 times a week plus hunting. Some need less. You need to give time for recovery as the season wears on. You seem to have 8 days in your week though?
 
Oh do I? I'll explain it better we do drag hunting and normally on a Sunday we go out. He gets ridden 5 times including the meet. 1 day out of the 5 times he gets ridden at the school and the other days he gets hacked out just to keep him ridden. The days he'll have off are Saturday and the Monday to chill and rest.
 
Ah - including the meet. I had 5 rides, 2 days off plus the meet! My fault.

I very much doubt you need to do more. You can vary the length and type of hacking as the season goes on depending on what he needs.

I currently have a cob hunted once or twice a week (Fox hunting - or what passes for it now) who, once fit, will only be worked once or twice mid week. And an ISH hunted once a week who is lightly worked every day except the day immediately after the meet - but often only enough to remind him of where his manners are and that the entire world does not consist of going as fast as he possibly can!

Getting them fit is another matter - but once fit they hold it quite well in my experience.
 
My hunter wasn't as fit as I wanted due to an operation (mine) so he's been going out 5 days a week (2 autumn hunting days in that) but as soon as we're hunting properly I normally only take him out once on top of his two days hunting. However I hunt him all season, no days off except for injury or bad weather and he's out all day. We have very hilly country so once he's fit enough for that I'm not too worried about extra exercise - if we have a quiet day then he'll go out a bit more on exercise but not otherwise.
 
As a matter of interest, why do you give him the day off before hunting?

I would have thought it was a recipe for potential disaster in terms of giving him no work on the Saturday and then working him the hardest day of the week on the Sunday. I would be worried about him getting azoturia myself.
 
spacefaer said:
As a matter of interest, why do you give him the day off before hunting?

I would have thought it was a recipe for potential disaster in terms of giving him no work on the Saturday and then working him the hardest day of the week on the Sunday. I would be worried about him getting azoturia myself.
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Think it's just really so he's not tired from the ride before but I've did this last season and he's been fine. He's always very excited when he get there.
 
JoshuaR97 said:
Think it's just really so he's not tired from the ride before but I've did this last season and he's been fine. He's always very excited when he get there.
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Years ago on hunting yards the horses had a good exercise the day before so they were not too fresh, they certainly should not be tired if fit enough and it reduces the risk of them tying up, I would always exercise the day before any "event" and cannot see a good reason not to, they can have a day or two off afterwards to recover.
 
JoshuaR97 said:
Think it's just really so he's not tired from the ride before but I've did this last season and he's been fine. He's always very excited when he get there.
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If he's tired from hacking out the day before you go hunting, then he's not fit enough to go hunting. Adrenaline will make a horse excited at the meet, regardless of his day-to-day energy levels, and is nothing to do with fitness. Without meaning to lecture, it's not an ideal work programme for your horse - you are lucky that he doesn't appear to be prone to tying-up.

In answer to your question, we give our guys a day off the day after hunting - either a leg stretch in the field or in hand, depending on the horse, then they will hack about an hour a day until they go again. We very rarely do anything other than walk on the roads when they hack -we have big horses and don't want to hammer their joints on tarmac, but are lucky to have steep hills to walk up (and down) so the walking does much of the fittening for us. Once they are hunting, we only take them out to keep them sweet - the hunting itself maintains or increases the fitness, depending on the pack.
 
If they hunt twice they are worked five times as they always given a rest day after hunting so if they hunt twice a week they get two rest days in the week .
They are not always ridden they can be lunged or led from another horse which is something I often do the day after their rest day .
I dont always give a rest day after Autumn hunting they don't need it .
 
We won't be hunting regularly but I try to ride 4 times at least a week.. shift work doesn't allow much more unforutnely! I like to have a good variety each week. A day of SERIOUS hill work mainly walk and trot. A day of mainly jumping and cantering in the school. A day of roadwork good bits of trotting and some canter if the verges aren't too soft and lastly a mixed day... maybe lunging if I'm feeling lazy... but normally a good old hack ;)
We had our first hunt the other week and he was of course tired by the end of it and couldn't be bothered at the start(usual).. but halfway through he seemed to switch on! I would ride the day before but not work him too hard.. I'm a bit of a softy and give the day off after unless he's stabled 24/7- I'd take him a wee stretch.
 
It depends on how fit he is, this is more important that what you do in the last two weeks, I don't get the idea that they have a day off before hunting, they should be fit enough to be ridden every day for at least an hour. If you rest them for a day before hunting you are going to reduce their overall fitness. I would not expect the horse to be particularly tired on the day, that to me indicates it is not fit enough.
I am assuming the horse is out in the field during the day and will be moving around rather than stood in a box 24/7.
 
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I was always told to hack them out day after hunting as you pick up any issues then give them the next day off. The OPs horse certainly sounds unfit if the hack the day before is tiring them they are not fit. they should be able to take 1.5hrs of trot work without showing any signs of exertion. However that seems to be a general trend we are loosing the art of getting horses hunting fit, including making a horse work correctly in walk because as Spacefaer says you dont need to be trotting.
 
I have worked in hunting yards, and racing yards: the day after racing or hunting the horses are not necessarily hacked out, but they are all walked for twenty minutes and trotted in hand to check for soundness. They are best turned out for a few hours.

To get a horse fit, the workload is built up over a long period, so a hunter would be getting at least an hour every day, and probably two hours twice a week. You can't canter and jump in the arena for an hour. Even the most fit hunter, needs a warm up and a cool down.
 
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I hunt with the bloodhounds every Sunday my horse gets the Monday off then works the rest of the week a mix of hacking, schooling & a SJ lesson, if hunting twice a week or extra meets are put on then obviously that gets taken into the mix.
 
Bonkers2 said:
It depends on how fit he is, this is more important that what you do in the last two weeks, I don't get the idea that they have a day off before hunting, they should be fit enough to be ridden every day for at least an hour. If you rest them for a day before hunting you are going to reduce their overall fitness. I would not expect the horse to be particularly tired on the day, that to me indicates it is not fit enough.

I am assuming the horse is out in the field during the day and will be moving around rather than stood in a box 24/7.
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This post indicates to me that you know very little about hunting and hunters .
A day off has no effect on the fitness of a fit horse .
Our horses will more often than not work five hours on a hunting day and if they do that twice a week they need and enjoy downtime the day afterwards .
And why waste time and ( and in my case money )exercising them they don't need and they enjoy a full day in the field .
 
Goldenstar said:
This post indicates to me that you know very little about hunting and hunters .
A day off has no effect on the fitness of a fit horse .
Our horses will more often than not work five hours on a hunting day and if they do that twice a week they need and enjoy downtime the day afterwards .
And why waste time and ( and in my case money )exercising them they don't need and they enjoy a full day in the field .
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No, I am taking in to account the fact that Op s hunters are not doing anything like the work that your horses are doing, and that OP s horses are getting their exercise regime dictated by the time OP has for them rather than the ideal situation. I assume [perhaps unfairly] that your horses are hunting fit but that OPs are not anywhere near fit to do five hours hunting twice a week., and the reason for that is that they get a lot less work than yours. Yes once they are fully fit and in work they need plenty of rest, but you are topping up their fitness levels twice a week.
 
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Goldenstar said:
This post indicates to me that you know very little about hunting and hunters .
A day off has no effect on the fitness of a fit horse .
Our horses will more often than not work five hours on a hunting day and if they do that twice a week they need and enjoy downtime the day afterwards .
And why waste time and ( and in my case money )exercising them they don't need and they enjoy a full day in the field .
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I think you've misread Bonkers post. She was questioning the 'day off before the meet to stop him being tired after hacking' not implying the horse shouldn't have rest days after a days hunting.
I think what she is saying is the horse horse should comfortably be able to do an hours work a day without requiring recovery to then be able to go hunting. Not that the horse shouldn't ever have rest days or it won't be fit....well that's how I saw it.

I'm always amazed at those that say they exercise a horse after a hard day to pick up little niggles. If my horses are stiff/sore I can see it as soon as they are lead from the stable or when they amble over for their morning check over 😕 I'm definitely in the camp of day off after a days hunting!
 
When I worked on a hunt yard, about 20 years ago, the horses were hunted on a Tues and Sat. They always had the following day off, and the other days were hacked out, at the walk (ride and lead style) for an hour/hour and half. These hunters were turned away for the summer months.
 
glamourpuss said:
I think you've misread Bonkers post. She was questioning the 'day off before the meet to stop him being tired after hacking' not implying the horse shouldn't have rest days after a days hunting.
I think what she is saying is the horse horse should comfortably be able to do an hours work a day without requiring recovery to then be able to go hunting. Not that the horse shouldn't ever have rest days or it won't be fit....well that's how I saw it.

I'm always amazed at those that say they exercise a horse after a hard day to pick up little niggles. If my horses are stiff/sore I can see it as soon as they are lead from the stable or when they amble over for their morning check over �� I'm definitely in the camp of day off after a days hunting!
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yep.
 
monkeymad said:
When I worked on a hunt yard, about 20 years ago, the horses were hunted on a Tues and Sat. They always had the following day off, and the other days were hacked out, at the walk (ride and lead style) for an hour/hour and half. These hunters were turned away for the summer months.
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That is the traditional method , and probably the ideal regime for a hunter, where the most important part of the training is bringing them up to full fitness, once fully fit it is a matter of maintenance of fitness.
It does not mean there is anything "wrong" with the way OP manages her horse's fitness, it just means they are not what I would call "goldenstar's hunting fit" at the beginning of the hunting season.
When I trained handicappers, I did not have them in peak racing fitness for the first three runs of the year, this allowed the handicapper to reduce the weights and the horses were able to win a few races until such times as they were carrying too much weight. The horses were given a day off after racing, but never the day before when they would get an hour at least of very light work, ....... they did not gallop full tilt for at least three days before a race, thus allowing them to recover.
 
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I give mine the day off after hunting always. If its a really long hard day, he might get 2 days off. Otherwise exercised every day and now a lesson once a week (mainly so we have a break from riding in the dark every morning!!). Daily exercise is about an hour on the roads/fields. Out every day in field from 8 a.m - 6 p.m.
 
Mine always has the day off after hunting. He lives out so when we come back after hunting he's stabled for a feed, clean and leg/foot check then I put him out. I then check him again in daylight and usually watch him moving around the field for 10 minutes or so while I tidy the yard. He nearly always gets an hour's exercise the day before to loosen him up, check he's sound and his shoes are ok. Luckily he has a massive field and can keep himself ticking over - if he were stabled more I'd be doing more hacking.
 
I think most people have misinterpreted the OP's comment: "Think it's just really so he's not tired from the ride before"

He's not saying the horse IS tired (and therefore not fit) just that he wants to avoid taking a tired horse hunting. I would say this is the OP wanting to be kind to his horse rather than the horse needing the day off. Five days a week with a mixture of schooling, hacking and one day hunting seems a good balance to me - provided the horse is working properly when hacking - although a day off 2/3 days before the hunt with a maybe slightly more sedate hack the day before hunting might work a bit better? 6 days a week with a day off after hunting wouldn't hurt though. If you're hunting on Sundays maybe aim for Monday and Thursday / Friday as days off?
 
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