Schooling sessions - how long?

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alibali

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I would make a poll but how to escapes me!

I've a pretty low tolerance for dressage/schooling though I force myself to once a week. I'm interested to know on how long everyone spends in the arena on an average session?
 
How long is a piece of string? It depends upon so many variable factors, horse fitness, rider fitness, what you want to do in a session, whether you've warmed up/will warm down outside the arena say on a hack, weather etc etc etc

For a formal lesson I would average 45 minutes to an hour including warm up, warm down and discussion on homework. Also spend time allowing little rests after an exercise within a session. This is with a mature pony and rider who are not completely unfit and doing stuff most days. For youngsters and unfit usually shorter.
ETA normally in school no more than 2 or 3 times a week at most, and try to do different things each time
 
15 mins - 45 mins.
The 45 mins is pretty rare but will be when I am having to develop understanding. 15 mins is usually a few days after the 45 mins and they have the understanding and it’s suddenly clicked and they pretty much give it to you straight off so then they get a pat and done. On the whole I am 20-30 mins most of the time.
 
I normally ride before work so time is limited, but about 20 minutes. I cant hack out so it's always schooling, but at this stage (age 5) it's more about learning new things than drilling.

My non working days (3 a week) we go out and do stuff if I can find something, box out for an off road hack, or if I'm feeling virtuous do an arena hire and properly practise what I've been doing in my lessons. I know I don't work too hard because after a lesson I'm knackered but not so much when I've been left to my own devices!
 
These days probably 10 - 15 minutes. Horse is an older horse so we generally go for a hack and then have a little session in the school. When he was competing more seriously probably wouldn't have done more than 20/30 minutes unless having a lesson as have always tended to hack more and use the hack for lateral work, transitions, simple changes round the farm field track etc.
 
The 2 horses I ride 3-4 x week hardly ever set foot in a school - yesterday I rode out with their owner and after hacking 20-30 mins to a large field that we use for canter work, we rode increasing and decreasing circles, figures of 8 practising leg changes for just 10 mins, before setting off back on our hack home. We then used the grass verges to leg yield over to and do walk-canter, striking off on alternate leg leads, just 3 strides then back to walk. Because she doesn't have a school at home this friend has really changed my view on how I see schooling and rideability even out on hacks.
 
Slightly silly pony at the moment, so ten minutes in the school to make sure we are on the same wavelength before hacking out, mainly working on getting him responsive to weight cues on a fairly long rein. Schooling session starts with ten minutes in hand followed by twenty minutes riding with plenty of long rein breaks every few minutes.
 
I hate how the word 'schooling' has become to mean working in an arena.

Schooling, for me, means educating each other, so pretty much every time I ride I either aim to teach the
horse something, go over work we have previously done and learn something from the horse. Therefore
we are schooling each other.

So how long would I school for? however long I feel that the horse is fit and mentally engaged enough for.
And how long I can go before needing to get off to pee or drink more tea for!!
I'd school in an arena for 60 minutes, depending on horse and rider combination.
Longer for lower fitness and education levels as they would need more and longer warm ups, cool downs and rest periods.
 
Squeak said:
If you hate schooling do you need to go in an arena or is it schooling that you can do on hacks instead and if so would schooling on hacks be more enjoyable for you?
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Thank you for the suggestion, it's not so much that I hate schooling it's just I much prefer hacking. I recognise the value both physically and mentally for her of schooling and I actually don't mind doing it once a week! I'd rather do it in an arena and relax out hacking.

My horse is very sensitive and reactive, getting relaxation and attentiveness from her out on a hack would be an uphill battle, it's taken a couple of years to achieve it in the arena without the added distractions the outside word provides. She's an Arab and when hacking tends to their typical head up posture though I encourage her to drop it and relax with various degrees of success depending on what else is going on at the time! She's also quite slight so no matter how much weight I lose I'll never get under 15% of her body weight when I include tack (I'm under without it though and well below 20%). So schooling priorities are relaxation, attentiveness and really using herself well to carry me properly and build the right muscles.

I asked the question because I have a vague plan/aim each week. We usually achieve it in around 20-25 minutes and I might repeat a couple of times to double check the success wasn't a fluke but rarely go over the half hour. I stop pretty quickly once some degree of success is achieved but wondered if my own antipathy was perhaps causing me to cut things short 😂 Whilst she tries for me she's not the type to take kindly to being drilled repeatedly but she's pretty fit and could certainly do more, it's more the mental effort she struggles with, I think concentration might wain.

My physio is really pleased with how much muscle she's built on her topline so that and hearing that I'm not doing too much shorter sessions than most reassures me. I think I'll keep on keeping on. I'm making slow but steady progress and she's with me for life so there's no need to rush.
 
My hacking isn't really schooling friendly - lots of traffic so it's all about forward & concentration. Lateral work, transitions etc need to be in the school.

If we achieve something quickly I'll often pop down our very short neighbouring bridleway as a cool down.
 
daffy44 said:
Never more than 45mins, can be as little as 15mins. It all depends on so many factors, but always think quality over quantity, make a plan, do a good warm up and cool down, and see how the horse feels.
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This is what I do.

Sometimes I dont even come out of walk.

Though to add, spring summer and if fields arent too bad in winter, my 'Schooling' is mainly hacking schooling
 
About 45 mins-1 hour but broken up into digestible sessions. We will warm up in walk on a loose rein for 10 mins just working on general relaxation and suppleness, then 5 mins of trot work long-and low. We then do 3-4 5 minutes segments focussing on a particular area I want to improve in each segment - so we might do 5 mins on suppleness through transitions, 5 minutes of lateral work, 5 mins working on the canter etc. but each 'session' is followed by a couple of minutes walking on a loose rein so I'm not drilling them constantly for 30 minutes. Then a walk on a loose rein or in hand for 10 mins to cool off. So while we can be in the arena for a good hour, only every doing around 20-25 minutes 'work'. If my horse nails something we've been struggling with or gives me an extra 10% I'll also hop off give him a big pat and end it there, no matter how far into the session we are. In summer when daylight allows I prefer to hack for 40 minutes as my warm up, then do a quick 20 mins in the school when we get back.
 
rara007 said:
45min but we take 15min (timed) to warm up and take many many breaks. If we’re done early I then just do something easy the remaining time to maintain fitness.
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Same here, and if I feel we've done 'enough' schooling, I'll often just throw in a few laps of canter or some interval training to keep fitness up rather than keep drilling the flatwork.
 
Depends on so many things…

Rider fitness. Horse fitness. Training level. Goal of the session. What you’re working towards (I wouldn’t introduce anything new / complicated prior to a show for instsnce).

Rooni & myself are both fit. He is schooling towards GP at home. A general session is an hour. That might be physically full on, or mentally (IE working on the piaffe or the 1’s, also hard work but the piaffe is more brain strain than sweat inducing). We may just leg stretch for 15 mins. We may do a longer more intense stretch for 30 mins. If all is good and I’ve achieved what I intended, we finish. Sometimes, when it’s going wrong we just have a pat and finish early too.

They are only learning when they are working, so if I fit in 3 x 60 mins a week that’s probably ‘only’ 3 x 40 mins after stretching and cooling + breaks. He is schooling hard and I can’t expect progress without the training/building the understanding and strength.

I believe a day off allows both horse and regroup and refresh so always give breaks. Hacking for us is a totally different environment from the school. As long as he behaves idc what leg he’s on, what diagonal I’m on or where his head is (provided the correct number of legs are on the ground).
 
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