Lessons - Duration and effort?

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WishfulThinker

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Ok, I was just wondering what you all did in your lessons, in terms of duration and the effort/work.

I regularly have either 1 hr or a 90min lesson is there are 2 or us. On Monday we were jumping and after a 5 mins warm up it was nothing less than trot, and a LOT of canter with jumping. We only really got 1 breather when I needed a drink cos I was choking (I hold my breath when I jump). Now at the end of this Beau is puffing and usually VERY sweaty all over, but he recovers in about 4/5 mins(I'm guessing as never timed it).

Last night the sharer rode him in a 90 min lesson doing jumping with 2 others and they only got a breather when they were swapping horses, and they did a lot of canter work (some as practise jumping position, but a fair bit as punishment for like dropping the canter or not doing as told). Now some people seem to think that this is too much for them as they get really sweaty and puffy, but if he is still lively (he got faster) towards the end then surely he is coping just fine?

Would you deem this as just enough or too much for a lesson, bearing in mind he id doing 2 or so, max 4 a week, and ridden 6 days a week - although one day is going to be lunging soon.
 
Nothing wrong with getting sweaty and puffy! It is the recovery that shows how tired he is - if he is back to normal in a few minutes then it is fine. If he is still puffing 5 minutes later, or if he is stiff the next day, then I might be worried.
 
i have 1 lesson every tuesday for between 1-2 hours dependant on my mare! She works for about 1 hour 6 days a week.
My lessons are gearing up to elem dressgae so lots of softness and lateral work-which she minds mental difficult more than physically as she is a bit stressy!
I would say that 4 lessons a week is a bit extreme personally, if they are all at that level
 
He must be fairly fit if he does this regularly so I am sure he is fine. I used to hack an hour to my lesson, spend an hour having x-country lesson and then an hour back and my horse was fine!
 
It might be less than 4/5 mins as by the time he is down to his stable 100m from the school , and immediately un-tacked he is not puffing and is wanting his tea!

He has only once had 4 lessons a week, but they were not of that intensity as that is only for jumping. When we do flat work it is obviously a lot less strenuous for him. He needs to be kept active or his mind wanders. When he is ridden out with a lesson it is obviously a lot less strenuous to as I am trying to think of stuff to do and I am a procrastinator
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so he gets breaks.

He also manages to then tear round the field after being ridden.

I honestly think that if a horse was ever bred for a riding school its him as he seems to love work! Ore maybe just that he gets tea after
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So would u say that is more medium work than light work? Cos as he isn't competing I wouldn't class it as hard work. I am trying to decide if he needs moved up to the Winergy Medium Energy from the Low Energy.
 
Personally I would say that's medium work rather than light. But you probably dont' need to change feed unless he is losing weight and seems lacking in energy.

As for the lessons I think it's fine but personally I like regular breaks even if only a minute or two, 'soak' time to think about what you've just done as much as a breather...
 
I know what u mean about breathers - I do try and have one when his back is turned - or I just ham up my ankle injury a bit and that can get me a few mins.

I was only thinking of changing the feed to give him a wee bit more oomph, BUT, they are moving fields to winter fieds soon and there is LOTS of grass so I will actually be cutting it down when he first comes in to his stable to then seeing how he goes as he can go mental on grass! He is in the starvation paddock at the moment as he is a really good doer, but without feed he lacks energy and a 'sparkle' and is generally grumpy about work.

Oh and Donadea, do u still have that noseband????
 
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