How many times to you ride/work your horse each week?

Groundwork is important though and done correctly, lunging, long lining, free schooling is very useful.

For me, if my horse doesn't listen to me on the ground, they're not likely to be listening properly ridden. Respect on the ground goes a long way to respect ridden.
 
Pale Rider said:
They should be ridden daily so I suppose 4 to 5 times a week is ok for people here with other priorities.

Relying on lunging is a waste of time, they need brain training, not chasing round in circles.
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Ok would you like to babysit my 9 month old Son and do my housework, work full-time for me etc... so I can ride EVERY DAY?!

I ride 3/4 times a week (due to the above) - mainly schooling, weekly Dressage lesson etc... don't lunge anymore as I prefer to ride as I don't do it that often. Mare is out 24/7 and has a great attitude which doesn't change whether she is ridden 1 day a week or 7. She has only been ridden once this week - bad me but she is happy!

x
 
I try to ride my boy as often as possible , but i run my own business and am generally knackered most of the time. We vary our rides with a couple of evenings in the school and a couple of hacks out through the week, we have access to some really big areas of fields too which would be great if they weren't full of barley as pads now thinks he can eat his way round them - so these are being avoided until they are cut now!! It just so happens that i haven't ridden him now for 10 days which is almost unheard of but I've been poorly and just havent had the energy , i feel bad as the poor boy is practically begging me to take him out - he lives out 24/7 and he's sooo bored poor chap - I'm now going to look for a sharer!
 
The event horses on my yard work 6 days a week.

Monday - Usually day off after competition
Tues- Hacking 1hr
Wednesday- Showjumping/Grids
Thursday- Canter/ Hill work or Gallops
Friday - Dressage schooling
Saturday - Short school work if competing or light hack
Sunday- Competition

:-)
 
Usually 6, (depending on work it might be 5). He spends his day off in the field if the weather is suitable, or gets turned free in the arena for a wee roll and sport :)
 
In the summer, my boy lives out 24/7 and he is worked anywhere between 3 and 5 times per week depending on what I'm doing with work (I'm a self employed groom/rider) and how tired I get!

In the winter he is out during the day (weather/ground permitting) and in at night and is worked 5-6 times per week. He is also kept very fit over the winter as we hunt.

This is nearly all hacking as I have learnt with my boy that less is definitely more when it comes to schooling and jumping him as he just gets bored! If I do school him, it is never more than once a week, he is lunged very occasionally and I might long rein him the odd time in the winter to give him a change. We jump once or twice a month.

We do lots of hill work, trot work and canter work and I build up the amount we do towards the hunting season, generally until we can do a mile of trot and a mile of canter without being out of breath, then I know we are both fit enough! Sometimes though, we amble round the country lanes for hours on end during the summer if it's too hot!
 
6-7 times a week, she doesn't get a day off, I do!! My girl would happily be ridden every day, she loves it. She is schooled in the menage once a week but I also school out on a hack. Quarters in, shoulder in, leg yeilding, working from behind etc. She is not turned out every day so she has to be ridden, whatever the weather. My mare doesn't do wet and windy weather and if left out will hurt herself so we have to compromise :O)
 
6-7 days a week

one was eventing and is lazy so need to make sure he is fit enough ,but he does get at least a month completely off in the field doing nothing for a holiday :)
winter time he's ridden about 4 times a week due to weather and not needing to be fully fit and for me to have a rest ;)

^he is on box rest atm so have a project horse to bring on and sell ,he is ridden 7 days a week alternating between easy days and harder work just to keep him in a routine



i think its far better for them to do a little exercise everyday with the odd harder day ,than to drag them out the field at weekends and ride the legs off them

obviously they do get a day off after really hard work or a competition :)
 
noblesteed said:
I don't know why anyone would say lunging isn't brain work!!! They obviously aren't doing it properly!!! Like a person I know who thinks loose schooling involves chasing the horse round the arena for 10 mins. My horse works hard on the lunge, on a range of transitions. It has brought his canter on hugely.
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I agree with this. Groundwork is so underrated by the unknowledgeable. You only have to look at the top dressage trainers and their horses can do every movement on the ground on long reins before they get a rider on their back. What does that tell you?
My WB has been doing groundwork training for a couple of months now 5 days a week and he loves it - it is varied and challenging. If he struggles to pick something up - he is taken back to the familiar things he knows and has already done. He is a clever horse and a horse can be just as easily bored rigid ridden with the lack of variety as it can on a lunge rein. :D
 
21 yr old Ruby is worked 5 times a week [ 2 days a week are blocked for evening activities with my teenage daughter & i work full-time] - she does a mixture of schooling, hacking, free-schooling [ aka playing in the menage:)] - she usually competes once a month & had a dressage/flatwork lesson every month
 
mines ridden twice a day 4 times a week and once the other 3 days. very occasional day off, due to me not having time rather than him 'needing' time off. aim to ride my mare atleast 5/6 days a week aswell, but shes fit so doesnt need as much.


I work part-time (25+ hours/week), college (A-levels) fulltime (well was, just waiting to go to uni now), horses DIY. and i do normal social outings to town/pub aswell :p

wouldnt have it any other way!
 
Tilly gets ridden 6 days a week mainly consisting of active hacking out normaly 2 long hacks with a few short ones (30mins - 1hr) and we normally go in the school once each week, i sometimes lunge or free school to add a bit of variety and we have an hours lesson every other week which consists of half flatwork and half jumping....i like to vary what she is doing and not do so much school work as she became 'overschooled' by her previous owner and i must admit the variety is really picking her up and she seems a lot happier in herself and actually enjoys being in the school now....
 
My horse is ridden 6 days a week and then lunged in a pessoa once a week. I have 1 45 min dressage lesson and schooled once or twice in the week prefer to school when ive got someone on the ground to give me pointers the rest of the time we hack lots of bridlepaths but also a fairbit of roadwork as i enjoy it and so does my little pony more people for him to go and talk to!!! Hes better the harder hes worked so i like to keep on top of him
 
Has monday and thursday off, usually hack or compete at the weekend and then either hack or school during the week. Dont jump often, usually only at shows or in a lesson.
 
I ride mine 5 - 6 days a week which usually consists of 3, two hour long hacks, a couple of schooling sessions and a weekly lesson. Hopefully this will include a few competitions in the future. This keeps us both interested and happy. I couldn't survive without the lesson, it helps keep my sanity!
 
My two have been off work for a while. The tb - a year due to my pregnancy and lack of time and the id- 2 years due to paddock rest and my pregnancy. Hoping to bring both back into work next month! The tb is an exracer so once he starts work he needs regular work, so no less than 5 days a week (hence why not hopped on him yet as couldn't guarantee could fit in riding that often). The id will be ridden probably 2/3 times, depending on how he goes! Think it will be a big shock to system as they're both pretty happy being field ornaments at the moment!!
 
2-3 times when i am at school. Usually 2 tbh though. When i do ride, i work him "properly" but give him lots of breaks etc.

Summer hols- term breaks etc more like 4.

Would love to ride more, but school work, family stuff and transport play a part. Anyway i only loan him- but am basically the only one who rides him.
I have no access to a school really, so would love to free school him, as he is a bugger to lunge.
Also i have no key to our field so can't take him out hacking (which he does badly) apart from when his owner is there.

On the plus side, sometimes i like to go for a "hack" around the feild- it's big enough for some fast work too- we might jump some logs dotted about etc.
 
Oh this has popped up again :)

Well mines changed to 6/7 times a week. Ridden 5 or 6 times and lunged once a week. The lunging has helped her to bend and respond to voice commands which is translating to seat and leg aids.
 
I ride 5/6 times a week, i try to do one long hack each week, a few smaller ones, a couple of schooling sessions, an hours lesson every other week to keep me focussed and give me things to work at and i also throw in a lunging session to keep he on her toes she enjoys the variety she was previously over schooled and got bored so sometimes i may do a bit of schooling followed by a hack as a treat so she sees schooling as something fun!! :D
 
Normally hacked 4 times a week, school 2 times flat and jumping. So 6 on average. I work 6/7 days a week and ride before work. No kids, but a labradoodle puppy! So that's the equivalent of about 15 young kids!
 
six days a week sometimes five but six when completing short hack and schooling 3 or 4 days one will be with jumping the other two longer hacks sometimes a day lunging . in the field every day sometimes give two days off after a competition.
 
Term time usually 5 times a week including hacking, schooling in field (ground permitting), weekly jumping lesson, and hopefully a competition (either dressage or sj)

But in the holidays and if hubs is at work (abroad) I'm ashamed to say sometimes only twice- lesson and a hack. The upside is the pony gets double the work he would with girls at school
 
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