Riding your horse more than once a day??.

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rema

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Just a nosy post really!.Apart from horses/ponies that are kept at a riding school,working livery,college.Do you think it is a good/bad thing to ride your horse more than once a day??.Can it be benificial to the horse to ride more than once a day??.
 
i try and give horsie a variety of work. i dont think i cood manage it if i rode more then once, but i dont disagree with it. dont think it'd suit tia but some horses may benefit from extra exercise if they have limited turnout etc
x
 
I ride my little pony more than once a day in the summer, hes laminetic, so cant get fat, and cant really be turned out - therefore lots of excercise is the best way of managing him really.
 
Yes, has been recommended to me as a way of getting hunter fit in less time. Two 3/4 hour sessions means they work harder than one 1 hour session. I don't have the time to try it!
 
The first time I rode twice a day was at PC camp, and my pony came back after four days looking much better! Although from the other side of things, I suppose it will increase wear and tear on the horse...
 
I think for stabled animals it would be ideal. I always remember an old horseman telling me that people today (this was 15 years ago) had no concept of what hard work for a horse was and would then tell me stories of horses working 8 hours a day on the farm.
 
I can't see it would do any harm as long as both sessions were not too strenuous (sp?). If a horse was stabled 24/7 I think he/she would prefer to be worked twice a day than stuck in all that time.
 
I occasionally ride my horse more than once a day if the weather is nice and I am bored. Providing they get a bit of a break in between i don't think it would do any harm - although the horse sometimes doesn't look impressed when the saddle gets brought out for the second time!
 
I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t ride twice a day as long as the work is varied and the horse is fit enough. I used to ride Ella twice a day in the summer when I had her (I was on Full Livery then) now I just don’t have time with having two and being on DIY!
 
Thanks every one!.My last question is do you think it is okay to ride a hore that is not very fit more than once or wait untill horse is fitter before going down the more than once a day route??.
 
To be honest I think two shorter rides rather then one longer one will probably be more beneficial anyway.

Go for it, you know your horse, so you will know if it’s too much.
 
Often ride twice a day in summer as our trainer uses the longer days to give us plenty of "intensive" training
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Ideal.With the night pulling out now and not being able to ride much through the winter i wants to do lots of things with my lad but worry that i wont be able to get him fit enough in the time.Thanks again guys.
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I see no harm in it providing the horse is fit enough for the work done. I have no hope of that though, just don't have the time to spare for 2 rides a day with work too...and to be honest, knowing my horse...he would tell me where to go with my tack if it appeared for a second time in the day!!!
 
when i was at PC camp my ponies get ridden twice for 2 hours, although they are not intense 2 hour sessions, we still do XC and SJ at least once a day, so not exactly easy.

i think if the horse is fit enoguh there is no harm in it at all!
 
Only done it with my boy once and that was when we were at a clinic, with a flatwork session in the morning and SJ in the afternoon.

I ride YM's mare, who is staying at our yard at the mo due to empty stable, and sometimes YM will hack during the day and I'll do 45 mins in the arena of an evening. It doesn't happen every day, only occasionally - she doesn't seem to object.

I think if it's now an again then it should be ok - think about when someone does a ODE, or even when SJ and doing 2 or 3 classes, or doing 2 tests at a dressage comp.
 
I used to get a couple of young Connies to break/bring on over 6 month periods for a dealer in Ireland. I used to do a session on the morning and one on an evening aswell. Mind they were very short, about half an hour/45mins and not too strenuos [sp]. Probably schooling on a morning then a hack in the afternoon so they could chill out and have a look at traffic etc.
 
I have a trail riding business and my horses never go out more than once a day and only for 1 hour. I have twice taken 2 horses out for a 1 hour ride in the morning and then again for a 1 hour ride in the evening and whilst they were both well behaved, I noticed that neither were impressed therefore I just didn't do it again. They know that there 1 hour is ALL they do and then they go back to their field to relax.

I have to say though I will take my personal horses out for more than 1 ride in a day from time to time and they don't care.

My guys are just ticking over at the moment as it is winter so they are lucky to get to go out once a fortnight right now, however in the summer they are all incredibly fit and could easily go out for much longer and more often, but they don't.
 
i used to ride my first horse twice a day and it kept him fit and healthy and he was perfectly happy. They weren't intensive sessions though, mainly just hacks or fun rides.

Louis is worked quite intensively in his schooling sessions so he'd probably tell me where to go if I tried riding twice a day! However I have done horse camps with him where I rode twice a day and he was perfectly happy and fit enough to cope with it.
 
I don't see any problem riding a horse more than once a day. I would do it if I had the time and energy. Besides at eventing shows he gets ridden up the 3 times in one day.
 
I hardly ever ride twice a day - very occassionaly I might school then go out for a long stretching out hack after though.

We are on reduced T/O at the moment so I often lunge/put him on the horse-walker in the morning then school or hack out in the afternoon.
 
Rema you absolute genius you.

I have often wondered this after doing a short ride with Murph and it being a nice day, thinking to myself - well I would love to ride again later and do something different...

Thanks for asking such a great question. I'm sure Murph wont thank you for it though hahaha
 
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