What do you consider hard work?

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sam_

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Just out of interest, from reading some threads on here, What do you class as hard work for your horse for whatever your chosen disipline??

I showjump most weekends, so mine are off on a monday or if not at a show i sometimes give them the weekend off or hack because the weekend is the only days off i can ride in daylight in winter time, so mine are either getting schooled, lunged and jumped(once a week) They are also turned out for 2-4 hours everyday. So i would probably say mine are in reasonably hard work for what i'm doing with them!

Just interested what other peoples routines are in keeping your horses fit, especially in winter time :)
 
I would class mine to be in medium work - they hack out 4/5 days a week and hunt at least one day.

To me hard working horses are those in hunt service, racehorses, and high level event horses, but not much else.
 
Mine is worked 6 days a week, a mixture of hacking, schooling/jumping, lessons and competing but I would say she is only in light to Medium work.
 
monkeybum13 said:
For me hard work is polo ponies, racehorses, 3 day eventers and horses that hunt twice (not once) a week.
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Yeh your right enough there, I'm just meaning your everyday riders program with there horses, what they class as hard work for what they do with there horses :-)
 
It feels like hard work to me lol! I tend to have to give them quite a good workout in the school to keep fitness level up and to keep them from being to fresh and wanting to kill me at a show haha! I suppose I didn't really take racehorses etc. into account! So yeh mine are definitely in medium work when you compare to them horses!
 
sam_ said:
It feels like hard work to me lol! I tend to have to give them quite a good workout in the school to keep fitness level up and to keep them from being to fresh and wanting to kill me at a show haha! I suppose I didn't really take racehorses etc. into account! So yeh mine are definitely in medium work when you compare to them horses!
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How long do your horses work for each day?
I'm another who would consider that yours are in no more than medium work, OP. I would say that you are no the only person who over estimates the amount of work their horses do - that is one reason why there are so many overweight horses around.
 
For me OP's horses are in medium work .
Three days a fortnight or twice a week hunting is hard work once a week hunting hunting can be hard work depending on the type of hunting and the length of the days one long day a lot more draining than two half days in a week.
But my horses are usually only in medium work when they hunt MrGS's hunt harder and have to go out work even if tired it's their job if their sound they have to go out and do it .
Showjumpers are in hard work as they go up the grades especially when you add in the effect of a lot of travel.
Eventing depends on the level the horse is doing and how often it's doing it .
Polo at a competive level is hard work .
Racing is hard work .
Dressage training can be very hard mental and physical work for horses it depends on the type and intensity of the training and if they travel long distances on a regular basis .
Endurance can be very very very hard work or light to medium work depending on what you do .
I think all horses benefit from a change now and again.
When you manage competiton horses or hunters you can tell when they are getting jaded with young horses in training type work you can feel when they need a break some get lazy others get a sort of tired fizziness that's a warning sign you need to back off.
Travelling needs to be considered and spending lots of nights away from home need to be considered as well as this adds to the stresses horses feel it not just hours worked .
 
I feel like mine is in hard work. He's only hunting once a week but it's fast, long days with lots of jumping. He's ridden. 3 or 4 additional days, hacking, canter/hill work and a bit of schooling if only option is post 4pm.
 
Pearlsacarolsinger said:
How long do your horses work for each day?
I'm another who would consider that yours are in no more than medium work, OP. I would say that you are no the only person who over estimates the amount of work their horses do - that is one reason why there are so many overweight horses around.
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I would say a good hour easily when schooling, not as long when lunging obviously and when hacking we can get lost in the woods for a good few hours! They normally jump 2 classes at a show each day they are both in fox, one has just moved up to 1.30 and they are certainly not overweight
 
3Beasties said:
Mine is worked 6 days a week, a mixture of hacking, schooling/jumping, lessons and competing but I would say she is only in light to Medium work.
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See I would say that is medium to hard work for the average horse. The racers, hunters, eventers etc are true athletes, and most horses and riders can't ever aspire to work to such a high level. I suppose it depends on your viewpoint and your reason for riding. I am a happy hacker, ride 3-5 days a week, we cover a good few miles, and have started fortnightly lessons, we go in the school perhaps once or twice a week. To me that is medium work, but then I am a novice and Boyo would go a week or more without working before we moved him
 
tankgirl1 said:
See I would say that is medium to hard work for the average horse. The racers, hunters, eventers etc are true athletes, and most horses and riders can't ever aspire to work to such a high level. I suppose it depends on your viewpoint and your reason for riding. I am a happy hacker, ride 3-5 days a week, we cover a good few miles, and have started fortnightly lessons, we go in the school perhaps once or twice a week. To me that is medium work, but then I am a novice and Boyo would go a week or more without working before we moved him
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I think for me to think she was in proper medium work I would want to be hacking for longer, doing more fast work and more/longer schooling sessions, with Winter though that isn't possible.

She's pretty fit, can trot for miles without breaking a sweat but it's not 'correct' work when we are out hacking so she's not working as hard as she could be.

Competing wise she will do two classes if we do dressage (but only the lowest levels) or 3 rounds if we are jumping (venue does single phase so it's not such an ask for her).
 
Elvis works 6 days a week. 2xhacks for at least 1.5 hours, pretty much all trot work. 1xlunge 25mins walk, trot, canter (side reins for some). 3xschool, 45 mins lateral work, poles, plenty of trot and canter. I'd say he's in medium work. (Leaning on the lighter side) if he was competing once a month I think it'd be true medium work. Then if he was competing every weekend it would be medium to hard work.
 
sam_ said:
Just out of interest, from reading some threads on here, What do you class as hard work for your horse for whatever your chosen disipline??

I showjump most weekends, so mine are off on a monday or if not at a show i sometimes give them the weekend off or hack because the weekend is the only days off i can ride in daylight in winter time, so mine are either getting schooled, lunged and jumped(once a week) They are also turned out for 2-4 hours everyday. So i would probably say mine are in reasonably hard work for what i'm doing with them!

Just interested what other peoples routines are in keeping your horses fit, especially in winter time :)
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I wouldn't consider yours in hard work OP, light to medium to be honest, plus they're not getting that much turnout either. There's no such thing as "hard work for what I'm doing with them". It's either hard work or not :)

Hard work, IMHO, is racing, P2P, hunting and 3DE horses.

At best I'd have considered mine in medium work in the summer... schooling x3, hacking x2 (2 hours ish) plus hacking after schooling, 1x lunge plus 1 x either jump, XC, gallops or interval training per week.
 
chestnut cob said:
I wouldn't consider yours in hard work OP, light to medium to be honest, plus they're not getting that much turnout either. There's no such thing as "hard work for what I'm doing with them". It's either hard work or not :)

It would only be "hard work for what I'm doing with them" if they were not fit enough, med work would be Novice, Int eventing, dressage above med level, hunting weekly, medium distance endurance, I think a few rounds SJ each week is medium work at the most.
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chestnut cob said:
I wouldn't consider yours in hard work OP, light to medium to be honest, plus they're not getting that much turnout either. There's no such thing as "hard work for what I'm doing with them". It's either hard work or not :)

Hard work, IMHO, is racing, P2P, hunting and 3DE horses.

At best I'd have considered mine in medium work in the summer... schooling x3, hacking x2 (2 hours ish) plus hacking after schooling, 1x lunge plus 1 x either jump, XC, gallops or interval training per week.
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I would definitely say my horses are not in light work for what we are jumping, but have to agree with medium work during winter, I personally think mine are in hard work in the summer they do a lot of traveling and a lot of stay away 3/4 day shows hence why I would have classed them being in hard work, but if you compare them to racers, eventers etc. then not so much!
 
Depends on the horse really!

Cookie is young and out of shape. He doesn't really know what work is (YET!) so hard work for him is a lap around the village keeping up with Ned. I could push him for more, but he's just a baby, I don't want to sour him.

For Ned, (before he went out of work for 6 months!) hard work was a long jumping session or our hack which was about 5/6 miles and nearly all of it was fast canter/gallop work, or our 24 mile hack to the city. We didn't do this often, but I do believe he was pretty fit! Sadly it all went to pot :(

Generally though, I agree with those who said - Polo ponies, racers, dressage/eventers etc.
 
At present, Bill is in light work.He gets ridden once or twice during the week (schooling) and then at weekend is hacked both days or competes dressage/unaff sj and hack the other day.
The schooling if flatwork is either working on basics and suppleness or working on basic half pass/lateral work/demi pirouettes in walk.

when he is in medium work would be hacked or schooled 6 days a week with event every other weekend or similar, jumping and flat at home with a lesson once a fortnight.

Hard work he was doing earlier in the year fast work (gallops) plus the above medium work and was worked everyday with more schooling but rest days where easy hour hacks instead of complete rest. Competing was also more frequent and lasted longer - eg. Pc champs where we had travel time to get there 8hrs roughly (including ferry) and then competed in open dressage and eventing. He still lived out 24/7 with all above work!

when i school him it tends to last around 40-45 minutes, not done on purpose just appears to be around the right moment to finish on usually! Although short intense sessions are just as good, depending on aim of what session wanted :)

Op i would class yours probably as light to medium. and my horse is not a world beater, competing at 1* and elementary dressage!
 
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My mare is ridden usually 5 times a week, hacking out for about an hour and a half each time, with a mixture of walk and trot. I consider her to be in light work, although she's fit enough to trot for several miles without breaking sweat.
My previous mare, at this time of year would be hacking the same number of times a week, but at least 2 of those hacks would be upto 4 hours, and we used to do a lot of fast work and rides of 20/25 miles. She would happily gallop for 4 miles and although we didn't hunt or compete, I considered her to be in moderate hard work. She was fit enough to trot and canter for 30 miles.
 
sam_ said:
I would say a good hour easily when schooling, not as long when lunging obviously and when hacking we can get lost in the woods for a good few hours! They normally jump 2 classes at a show each day they are both in fox, one has just moved up to 1.30 and they are certainly not overweight
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I wasn't suggesting that your horses are overweight, OP. But many people over estimate the work that their horses are doing and feed according to the manufacturer's guide for horses in hard work when in fact their horses are not racing/hunting/playing polo.
 
Hard work is working at speed for several hours per day not a tootle round the block every day
Haard work was just that the horses worked the equivalent of the humans working day so 6-8 hours per day doing a job
Leisure horses rarely get out of the light work category a few jumping sesions dont constitute hard work
A hard working showjumper may well be doing several rounds of show jumping and travelling several hours to venues
Just about everyone over estimates how much work their horses are doing
The only true hard working horses are the ones doing a proper job so racers, hunters, some riding school horses and polo ponies the rest at best are doing medium work but the vast majority are in light work
 
CS is schooling GP dressage, competing PSG.
He schools 3/4 times a week and does interval training once a week,plus a show if its a show weekend.

i would say he's at the harder end of medium intensity work.
 
I'd count both of mine in medium work over summer - when they are out competing eventing regularly and in the training/ fittening regime to do so. In winter one of mine is in light work, shes ridden several times a week, with one good jump session/ lesson and I'm going to start taking her SJ once a week too, I still count this as light work. The other is in low medium work - ridden most days, hunted (usually for the best part of a full day) once a week (very occasionally twice), and does plenty of interval/ canterwork training to keep fitness levels up.
 
Another thing to consider is how hard the horse finds the type of work it's doing for instance a heavy cob carrying a heavy rider will find a hard days in mud hunting harder work than a bred for purpose hunter carrying a fit light young person .
But the cob might find pulling a carriage easier ( I drive so that not intended as a cobbist remark.)
J my national hunt bred TB will gallop up hill all day with easy and grace Fatty an ID has to work harder at it but on a day where stamina and the sheer ability to keep going comes into play Fatty will do better part of that is stamina as fatty is older .
Age also is a factor the first summer of travelling a lot and staying away can exhaust a young competion horse and leave it jaded even if the work it's doing is not that hard as horses gain experiance most withstand the rigours of travel better .
 
sam_ said:
I would definitely say my horses are not in light work for what we are jumping, but have to agree with medium work during winter, I personally think mine are in hard work in the summer they do a lot of traveling and a lot of stay away 3/4 day shows hence why I would have classed them being in hard work, but if you compare them to racers, eventers etc. then not so much!
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I understand what you are saying but travelling in itself isn't work. I took mine to camp in the summer and would have said even then, he was only (at best) in medium work during that time - 1 hour of SJ and 1 hour of XC each day for 3 days. Travelling doesn't count. Even when you are at a show, you are probably only jumping a couple of rounds (I'd imagine), so basically an hour's work if you include warm up, as the round itself will only be about 90sec-ish?

ETA - taking into account GS' comments above about travelling. I agree that travelling will tire out a horse, but it isn't work. I guess it might well make the work feel harder to the horse though, if it is physically and mentally tired from a lot of travel?
 
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