Newly-backed Coblet - Schooling time?

Coblover63

Coblover63

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What is a good, average amount of schooling time to suit the attention-span of a newly-backed 4yo cob please? Don't want to make him stale, however I also want to be able to say "Yes, I know it is boring but it is something we have to do a little of to make progress" (after all, we all have to do things we don't want to! :p)

And what ratio of school time/hacking time would you choose? Maybe three schooling and two short hacks a week, or vice versa?

Thanks
 
I don't see why a short schooling session should be considered to be boring, a young horse will be interested in anything new, plenty of variety within the work will kept his brain active and he should enjoy it. The length should be kept short more due to lack of strength, balance than lack of interest. 2or 3 sessions of about 20 mins, building the time up as he develops, with the other days hacking, he can school hacking as well as get out seeing the world.
Introduce simple pole work, plenty of transitions, make the sessions interesting for both of you and ask for a bit more once he is really confident, he will enjoy being kept busy and having new things to learn.
 
I would say no more than ten minutes schooling twice a week to start with, and during that time, keep it simple but fun. Shy's attention span has now gone from 5 minutes as a four year old to a full session as a six year old, and I realised that when he was tired, there was no point in continuing.

What has worked for us is transitions, and teaching him voice commands - popping the odd fence, and just having fun. My YO was amazed today at his jumping, compared to this time last year - I was trying to do too much too soon.

Short hacks, mostly walking, will get him (and his legs) off to a good start.
 
10 to 20mins. also get shcooling out hacking. can still do transitions walk trot halt etc out hacking. more important to just get on them to keep them thinking this is what happens rather than how long a session is. If you achieve what you want in 10 mins but wanted to do 20 call it quits while you are ahead.
 
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