What do you consider light/medium/heavy work?

[Faberstall]

Me and my friend were discussing workloads the other day, and what she does doesn't seem a lot but her pony still seems fit?! So it was making me question what I consider light work!
I am in college so my horse currently gets ridden everyday for at least 45 mins or a bit longer if hacking. I would consider this medium work?
My friend is doing A levels so has hardly anytime in the week but rides twice in the week for an hour and then both days at the weekend. Is this light work?

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I would say that both are in regular light work.

 

[JFTDWS]

I would say it depends, to some extent, on what they're doing during those 45 - 60 minutes. If they're working at GP dressage, that could be moderately hard work. Or if they're doing significant amounts of fast work. Equally, if you're doing a bog standard walk-trot-bit of canter session, it's light work. Most people over-estimate the level of work their horses are in.

 

[ycbm]

I think we need to clarify what me mean by heavy, medium and light 'work'. Grand Prix dressage, show jumping is heavy work in terms of effort per hour. But a horse doing 45 minutes of that kind of exercise in 24 hours is only in light, or at most medium work in terms of requirement for food.

Heavy work, for me, is four hours a day in varied paces, which is fairly standard for a riding school. Or hunting half to full days twice a week with another two hours hacking three times a week and a day off after hunting.

Both the horses you mention are in light work. Some horses stay fitter naturally than others. Fitness is not necessarily a measure of how hard work one horse is in compared with another.

 

[splashgirl45]

agree, those 2 horses are in light work...i used to use my horse as a lead horse for the riding school and he did 4 x 1 hour rides which were faster than a 4 hour hack and i would class that as medium work..i hacked my loan horse 5 or 6 times a week for approx an hour each day...this would be light work....IMO

 

[Michen]

Those horses are in light work.

I’d consider mine to be in medium work- 6 days a week, one of those days hunting and one usually a long fast hack. The rest dressage lesson/sj or slower hacking

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I think we need to clarify what me mean by heavy, medium and light 'work'. .

Isn't that what the thread is trying to do?

 

[Shay]

There is a good article on the various categories of workload here https://www.insideoutequinehealth.c...02/What-level-of-work-is-your-horse-REALLY-in

It breaks it down not only into time but also into work type

 

[be positive]

There is a good article on the various categories of workload here https://www.insideoutequinehealth.c...02/What-level-of-work-is-your-horse-REALLY-in

It breaks it down not only into time but also into work type

There is a good article on the various categories of workload here https://www.insideoutequinehealth.c...02/What-level-of-work-is-your-horse-REALLY-in

It breaks it down not only into time but also into work type

I am not sure I would agree with the article, I have a pony here in light work that could fit into the top end of their description of moderate work doing 5 hours or so each week with the majority being in trot and canter with some jumping, he is an active pony that uses himself so it relatively fit but is in no way working hard, although at times he thinks he has.
I think most people overestimate the work load and that a lot depends on how actively the horse is working, they could trot for an hour and hardly increase their heartrate or be walking actively up and down hills and be doing far more.

 

[splashgirl45]

i agree with be positive, that guide would put my hacking horse into moderate which would be wrong IMO....too many people think their horse is working hard and feed way too much...

 

[ycbm]

There is a good article on the various categories of workload here https://www.insideoutequinehealth.c...02/What-level-of-work-is-your-horse-REALLY-in

It breaks it down not only into time but also into work type

Blimey, was that written by a feed/supplement company to get people to buy more? Because 'old days' horse owners would laugh out loud at the idea that any intensity of work of only five hours a week, unless it was all fast, could be 'heavy'.

 

[milliepops]

I think the type of work for the type of horse also has a bearing on how heavy the workload is *effectively*

45 mins of small tour level work may be quite light for a purpose made WB
For my 14.2 welsh it's not! It's almost all trot or canter work in collection and keeps her very fit (to that kind of work). When she's in no work, she keeps condition easily. When she is working at that level 4 days a week and hacking 2 days, I almost can't feed her enough.

45 mins of prelim/novice level w/t/c for my WB is extremely light work. Barely breaks a sweat most days

My 15hh cob x eventing at Novice was also finding that pretty hard work, she had to go at warp speed to make the time so the work behind the scenes was quite intense, but a TB would have found that easy.

 

[huskydamage]

My pony is ridden on average three times a week for 1-2hr hacks, mostly trot and walk with canter. So probably does 5hrs a week. My horse does 3x 2hr hacks the same but with more canter and short gallop. The 4th ride will be hacking to and from a lesson/competition or fun ride/hunt ride etc. I'd say they are both light work, my horse medium some weeks

 

[Surbie]

Mine is ridden 5x week for 45-60 mins WTC in the school or out on a walk/trot hack, plus lunged once a week. I would consider it a light workload.

 

[SOS]

Remember feed companies will over estimate work levels to get you to feed more and I guess to get the owner to feel better as we all work hard to keep our horses in work/justify various feeds and supplements. Remember a horse can be in full work but be in light work too... it depends on their regular work level.

Light work to me would be the average horse, long hacks at the weekend, a lesson in the week and ridden 4-6 days a week. Often doesn’t need feeding too much extra than forage.

Medium work would be a leisure competition horse. Maybe competes dressage/SJ once or twice a week, or events regularly. Perhaps has high intensity schooling whether this be XC or a dressage lesson. Also covers hunters that go out once a week. My horses are this level, and it’s bloody hard work to keep them there! Feed should be relevant to current work load and how it impacts the horse.

Hence why I feel hard work is more for professional riders/horses. Racehorses, high level event horse, hunt masters horses that cover a lot of country two days a week. In terms of feed I believe this is when horses *need* feeding/supplementing a lot more as they are working at a level that puts a lot of stress on the body.

Just my opinion, not fact in anyway.

 

[Cortez]

Very, very few horses not in a pro establishment do anything like hard work these days. Proper hunters out twice a week, endurance horses, 2** and above eventers and racehorses - that sort of level of work.

 

[ycbm]

Blimey, was that written by a feed/supplement company to get people to buy more? Because 'old days' horse owners would laugh out loud at the idea that any intensity of work of only five hours a week, unless it was all fast, could be 'heavy'.

I've been looking up the source for this and trying to work out where they are coming from. I think the clue is that the article concerned was quoting from a very scientific paper which contained complex formulae and gave access to a computer program to work out recommended nutrition for any particular horse. So before using those scales, which are American, a horse carer needs to know if the manufacturer of their chosen food/balancer is using the same criteria. I have always read that in the UK it is considered that four hours a day is hard work, but I haven't seen it written for a long time, so I don't know if that is still current. But I am often shocked at the amount of food feed companies are recommending, so I don't know who owners can turn to these days.

 

[BBP]

Always an interesting question. When I worked in New Zealand I had three jobs, one was as a trekking guide the other as an event groom and the last on a racing yard. The trekking horses did 4-6 hours a day 5-6 days a week, a lot of walk work but some trot and long canters, often with saddle bags and sometimes unbalanced riders. So they spent 5-8 hours a day away from feed and grazing. I would say those horses were in hard work.

The event horses were at 3* level. They did less than an hours work a day, 6 days a week, flat schooling, jumping or canter work (no hacking where we were), way less than I expected event horses to do. So a total of 2 hours out of their day away from feed/grazing. I would say that barring competition days they were only in medium work, especially as they were conditioned for it, not much more than I used to do with my pony.

The racers did the least volume although potentially at the highest heart rate, but only for very short periods of time. In a lot of ways I think the average competitive kids pony works a lot harder!

 

[paddi22]

We worked with a fitness assor person on an eventing clinic. One of mine was out eventing at a high enough level ever two weeks, and he was classed as medium work. And this is a horse who every week would be on a gallops, have 2 full on lessons a week, do an hours schooling, 6 plus hours hacking a week, and might do a clinic the odd week as well, and he was classed as medium work. The expert guy said most people over estimate the amount of work their horses do, and nearly 100% of leisure riders would be in light work

 

[flying_high]

How much impact do people think travelling adds to workload? E.g. if box out 7 times a month, average round trip 2 hours how much does that add work.

 

[DabDab]

I'm never quite sure why it matters...? (although some of the posts on this thread are really interesting)

I've never heard anyone who is responsible for the care of multiple working horses ever contemplate whether those horses are in 'light' 'medium' or 'hard' work. They just ensure they are fed in line with their needs and fit enough for the work they're required to do.

Since there's no standard definition of light/medium/hard work then each feed company's definition used on their feed packets will be different anyway.

 

[be positive]

I'm never quite sure why it matters...? (although some of the posts on this thread are really interesting)

I've never heard anyone who is responsible for the care of multiple working horses ever contemplate whether those horses are in 'light' 'medium' or 'hard' work. They just ensure they are fed in line with their needs and fit enough for the work they're required to do.

Since there's no standard definition of light/medium/hard work then each feed company's definition used on their feed packets will be different anyway.

It doesn't matter to owners who are experienced enough to make their own decisions regarding feeding, or not, but for many less experienced owners who are trying to make choices it can matter as so many do overestimate the work the horse is doing and will read the labels on bags of feed or contact the many helplines for advice and end up overfeeding with potentially serious results.

Feeding should be far more simple than the feed companies are trying to make it, they are selling products to well meaning owners to try and solve every eventuality when in reality most issues would benefit from feeding nothing but there is no money to be made out of that advice.

If this forum can help just a few owners be clearer on what their horse requires then threads like this one are worthwhile.

 

[DabDab]

Yes I agree, and that's exactly what I said. Telling an owner that their horse is in light work isn't helpful if the sugary mix feed bag says 2 scoops a day for a horse in light work.

 

[BBP]

How much impact do people think travelling adds to workload? E.g. if box out 7 times a month, average round trip 2 hours how much does that add work.

No idea how true but I was told to treat each minute on the box as if it’s a minute walking. So a 2 hour journey would be like a two hour hack in walk, at least with regard to the energy use. But I guess those that travel with hay are replenishing a lot of those calories as they travel, unlike when they are actually being worked.

 

[HashRouge]

I'm not sure that many horses are in hea

I think we need to clarify what me mean by heavy, medium and light 'work'. Grand Prix dressage, show jumping is heavy work in terms of effort per hour. But a horse doing 45 minutes of that kind of exercise in 24 hours is only in light, or at most medium work in terms of requirement for food.

I don't think you'd find many pro SJ establishments where the horses are ridden for more than 45 mins a day. When you have one or two riders exercising multiple horses, there simply isn't time in the day for more than that. Yet I certainly wouldn't consider any of the SJ horses I worked with to have been in light work! Light work to me is hacking a few times a week with perhaps a lesson thrown in.

 

[ycbm]

I don't think you'd find many pro SJ establishments where the horses are ridden for more than 45 mins a day. When you have one or two riders exercising multiple horses, there simply isn't time in the day for more than that. Yet I certainly wouldn't consider any of the SJ horses I worked with to have been in light work! Light work to me is hacking a few times a week with perhaps a lesson thrown in.

They aren't show jumping for forty five minutes a day, though, are they? In the context of a riding school horse doing four hours a day of wtc in lessons or out on hacks, a trekking horse carrying a novice rider across varied terrain for six hours, for examples, or a hunter out all day twice a week and ridden three other days exercise, I would personally call 45 minutes of general exercise light or at the most medium.

Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that they have a light need for nutrition. Shorter bursts of high intensity work in a sports horse can easily ramp up the fitness and build muscle, requiring a higher energy diet.

That's why the whole debate is so complex.

But a bit like rugging, of your horse is cold/warm rug it more/less, if your horse is losing/gaining weight feed it more/less, is the advice ordinary riders need. With training to know the difference between losing/gaining fat and losing/gaining muscle. I think that's where DD is at with her post above.

 

[ycbm]

No idea how true but I was told to treat each minute on the box as if it’s a minute walking. So a 2 hour journey would be like a two hour hack in walk, at least with regard to the energy use. But I guess those that travel with hay are replenishing a lot of those calories as they travel, unlike when they are actually being worked.

That sounds about right to me. It's pretty clear from how they heat up that they aren't just standing still when they're traveling.

I was musing about about turnout, too. Most horses are shattered for the first week after being turned out on my hillside, and they also seem tired when turned out full time in spring after being in all night for the winter.

So that's ridden and in hand work, travel, turnout. Anything else?

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I'm never quite sure why it matters...? (although some of the posts on this thread are really interesting)

I've never heard anyone who is responsible for the care of multiple working horses ever contemplate whether those horses are in 'light' 'medium' or 'hard' work. They just ensure they are fed in line with their needs and fit enough for the work they're required to do.

Since there's no standard definition of light/medium/hard work then each feed company's definition used on their feed packets will be different anyway.

It makes me cross that feed companies try to make things so complicated - and I have to admit to falling foul of them in the early days of coarse mixes. My sugar and starch intolerant mare who was obviously made worse by feeding those mixes taught me a great deal about reaction to feed and what is really important to consider when deciding what to feed.

If only novice owners were encouraged to condition score/monitor weight as a means of deciding what to feed. It would be worth all new/novice owners completing a training course, such as the online one run by Edinburgh University to understand about how horses digest and utilise their food.

 

[Cortez]

Knowing the level of work your horse is doing is very important I think, especially where feeding is concerned. It used to be that 99% of leisure horses and ponies were not fed any hard feed because people knew that a little bit of hacking and schooling were not "work". The only horses that got a bucket feed were hunters or racehorses, and in my extreme youth, farm horses. There weren't many fat horses, and where I live many got little or no hay in winter either. Then compound mixes arrived and the world changed: feed companies and advertising have a lot to be ashamed of...

 

[flying_high]

Knowing the level of work your horse is doing is very important I think, especially where feeding is concerned. It used to be that 99% of leisure horses and ponies were not fed any hard feed because people knew that a little bit of hacking and schooling were not "work". The only horses that got a bucket feed were hunters or racehorses, and in my extreme youth, farm horses. There weren't many fat horses, and where I live many got little or no hay in winter either. Then compound mixes arrived and the world changed: feed companies and advertising have a lot to be ashamed of...

My horses keep fairly busy

Mix of long hacks, hill hacks, polework, lessons, clinics, dressage competing, low level endurance rides, agility/ obstacle / Le Trec clincs. Gallop on racetrack once a month. Gallop somewhere on our local hacking weekly. Probably travel an average of 3 hours a week.

I’d go for being between light and medium work. I’m not really fussed on the definition. I know my horses are pretty fit. I know some people think they work too hard, but I think the huge variety is great for them, and they are not fat (despite being in large grassy fields).

My understanding on feeding:

My warmbloods have grass in field (it’s horse and pony seeded grass), as much hay as they eat (which isn’t much) adlib in floor corner mangers when stabled or in nets when travelling.

Feed wise they have copra (coconut meal), micronized linseed, grass nuts, and thunderbrooks chaff, and a decent vitamin and mineral supplement. All feed is low sugar and starch. I am aiming to provide sufficient protein to support building muscle in the bucket feed. I aim to keep the weight on with good grass and good hay, but I can up the bucket feed if was needed.

I am not really sure I buy into feeding for energy per say. If my horses are fit, and have good quality forage, and enough protein, I think they have the energy.

But I’d not feed a bag of compound pasture mix or pony nuts!!! Urgghhh