Thinking ahead - youngsters & winter riding

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diondelmonte

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I'm thinking about buying a youngster some time over the summer - probably already backed & ridden away or I'll probably send him/her away for this bit anyway.

Thing is I work full time & have another two horses. If I bought a youngster that had been backed & had some very basic schooling & then been turned away - would that youngster then be OK to maybe have some hacking/leading out/long reining/small amount of schooling at weekends only or would he/she need a little consistant exercise in the week too. Would they remember what I had taught them from week to week if they were having 5 days relaxing in the field without any other exercise or is that asking too much?

I'm a bit new to this - I've had plenty of green horses at about 6 or 7 but never a 4 year old, is there a lot of difference in their training. I do have a great instructor to help me through issues but she is obviously not always going to be there.
 
I kept mine ticking over lunging during the week, hacking and schooling at weekends. As long as they are getting plenty of turn out and being fed correctly you should be fine.

Will it be possible for you to do anything during the week?
 
It's a bit tricky for me because I don't have a school - I do have portable floodlights in my paddock which suffice for exercise in the evenings but I couldn't do any serious schooling in there when it's dark. My competition horse doesn't seem to mind this too much, he just gets seriously schooled at the weekend but then again he is 10 years old now so just needs to be kept ticking over.

I could drag myself out of bed early a couple of mornings a week though if it will be the best for the horse. Lunging tends to be quite difficult in the winter though due to no all weather but I'm pretty sure I would be able to long rein or go for a off road hack.
 
In your shoes i would be tempted to turn the youngster away completely over the winter and restart in the spring with consistent work..which I think is more important with young horses rather than doing a bit from time to time
 
yes, you're probably right the_watcher.

I don't want to rush things & I could do some ground work & spend time getting him/her used to scary objects etc rather than starting to work them properly
 
In the winter if you work, its pretty hard to keep 2 horses fit (I know!).

Thinking about the lack of light and miserable weather, I would turn a youngster away until you can give them a consistent routinue.
 
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