What's your riding routine?

[Celestica]

Found this on a different board and thought it'd be interesting to hear what everyone has to say.

When you ride how much time do you spend on warming up?

How much time do you spend riding?

How much time do you spend on cooling down?

What kinds of things are you working on?

Do you lunge before you ride?

How often do you have training sessions (where you are working on specific things)?

Do you work on the same things each time you ride or is it varied?

How often do you ride just for pleasure?

How often do you get a lesson?

Also I'm hopefully getting a share/loan soon, how would you recommend me starting the horse off for the first while? (ie, should I just do flatwork for the first while with circles, 8's etc?)

 

[Enfys]

Found this on a different board and thought it'd be interesting to hear what everyone has to say.

I don't school as such, or have lessons so a lot of this doesn't apply really

When you ride how much time do you spend on warming up? None, just get on and go

How much time do you spend riding?That depends how far we go, if we get lost, who we meet, if we stop for coffee, beer, the duration - we quite often just pop the horses in a barn, round pen or just tie them up and go and have a drink and a natter with people. Usually out for 2 or 3 hours

How much time do you spend on cooling down?We walk the last half mile home

What kinds of things are you working on? If we use the arena we usually do general obedience, roping practise, barrels or poles

Do you lunge before you ride?No

How often do you have training sessions (where you are working on specific things)? Thursday nights in summer are penning, Tuesdays are roping, weekends are rodeo

Do you work on the same things each time you ride or is it varied?

How often do you ride just for pleasure?Always, if it stops being fun then I'll stop doing it

How often do you get a lesson?

Also I'm hopefully getting a share/loan soon, how would you recommend me starting the horse off for the first while? (ie, should I just do flatwork for the first while with circles, 8's etc?) that woud depend entirely on what you are aiming to achieve at any given time, I'll leave that answer to others

Enjoy your horse when you get it

 

[emmab13]

Found this on a different board and thought it'd be interesting to hear what everyone has to say.

When you ride how much time do you spend on warming up?
Trot round the block, about 3/4 of a mile.
How much time do you spend riding?
25-40 mins per horse, 10 horses a day
How much time do you spend on cooling down?
Walk up to the end of the road and back, so about 5 mins walking
What kinds of things are you working on?
We set up a course in the school before we go out, so an oxer, a double, an upright and a water tray. I want everything to trot round the block, come in the school and be polite and listening over the SJ, then go out and jump 4 or 5 things over the XC course then walk out the drive to the end of the road and back
Do you lunge before you ride?
Only if I think there is a chance of me dying if I don't.
How often do you have training sessions (where you are working on specific things)?
If I have a new/difficult one I will skip hacking out, and go straight in the school, may not jump and will spend as long as it takes to sort out whatever it is
Do you work on the same things each time you ride or is it varied?
I want the same for everything, to be forward, off my leg, straight, responsive and to go where their ears are pointed[/COLOR]
How often do you ride just for pleasure?
Twice a week when I go hunting
How often do you get a lesson?
Not for 3 years, but have very good eyes on the ground.
Also I'm hopefully getting a share/loan soon, how would you recommend me starting the horse off for the first while? (ie, should I just do flatwork for the first while with circles, 8's etc?)

Hard to say without seeing you, but just do as much/little as you feel comfortable with!

 

[Spot_the_Risk]

Con horse into being caught by bribeing him with food, scrape dry mud off where the tack will touch - if horse is wet, leave well alone. Tack on, Old Mac's on, walk down field, lock gate behind us, get on, off we go! No lessons for us these days, we hack purely for pleasure. My horse is never very fit, and he's out with no rug on he invariably comes back sweaty - I make sure he comes back as cool as possible, and he goes straight back into the field, rolls and gets down to the important job of eating! I should add that pressure of work has meant very little riding this year, and I doubt he'll go out more than once a fortnight for the next couple of months, so hacks are short and not fast.

 

[leah_x]

When you ride how much time do you spend on warming up?
Depends on the weather, I usually walk and trot working on bending and stuff until I'm warm then we do some cantering and jumping.

How much time do you spend riding?
Also depends on what we're doing. Jumping isn't usually long as he gets too excited and sweaty, I don't want to over do it. But generally between half hour and 45 mins.

How much time do you spend on cooling down?
I consider my horse cooled down enough when he stops blowing.

What kinds of things are you working on?
I have an ex racer who has been in that work for 14 yrs, so working on basics like bending to supple him up as he is very stiff. But his strong point is jumping so the aim is to do XC so I concentrate on jumping also.

Do you lunge before you ride?
Never, my horse doesn't lunge. Falls over a lot and generally goes mental so I try to avoid it.

How often do you have training sessions (where you are working on specific things)?

Never.

Do you work on the same things each time you ride or is it varied?
I have a riding plan, for example, mondays is boring flat work day like circles, going on the correct lead leg. Tuesday is fun flat work - lots of bending in and out of poles, setting up loads of poles to do exercises with. Wednesday is jumping, thursday is hacking alone and friday is hacking with company etc etc

How often do you ride just for pleasure?
Everyday!

How often do you get a lesson?
Never.

Also I'm hopefully getting a share/loan soon, how would you recommend me starting the horse off for the first while? (ie, should I just do flatwork for the first while with circles, 8's etc?)
Whatever you feel comfortable! Get to know the horse before you push too much but have fun! And always end on a good note !

 

[leah_x]

Just realised a mistake about the training sessions question.. I don't know why I wrote never lol, whenever I am schooling it is a training session. Always set myself a goal before hand. And keep a log of his progress in a book so I can easily keep track of how he's improving etc.
I write what we done, how he was and what I need to do to improve everyday that I ride. Its very helpful.

 

[noodle_]

Found this on a different board and thought it'd be interesting to hear what everyone has to say.

When you ride how much time do you spend on warming up?

How much time do you spend riding?

How much time do you spend on cooling down?

What kinds of things are you working on?

Do you lunge before you ride?

How often do you have training sessions (where you are working on specific things)?

Do you work on the same things each time you ride or is it varied?

How often do you ride just for pleasure?

How often do you get a lesson?

Also I'm hopefully getting a share/loan soon, how would you recommend me starting the horse off for the first while? (ie, should I just do flatwork for the first while with circles, 8's etc?)

i warm up for a few mins each rein in walk....generally. unless its being a pillock then literally straight into trot as it gives her less time to think about being an arse.

I never lunge before i ride (used to)

I have a lesson every other week now i can afford it.

i work entirely on schooling but use poles/jumps etc

I do tons of figures of 8's circles./serpentines and dressage tests


I find downloading the test on audiodressge.com helps!

Also whacking the mp3 player on loud and pretending your doing dressage to music is also fun

 

[azouria]

When you ride how much time do you spend on warming up?

Red gets very stiff so usually 20/30 mins in walk if schooling, 15 if hacking.

How much time do you spend riding?

Varies wildly depending on how he's going/how much work I have to do! probably averages about 50 mins.

How much time do you spend on cooling down?

10ish minutes, 5 on each rein.

What kinds of things are you working on?

Do you lunge before you ride?

How often do you have training sessions (where you are working on specific things)?

Do you work on the same things each time you ride or is it varied?

Warmup is the same (bending, leg yield, stretching) but different things in trot/canter.

How often do you ride just for pleasure?

2/3 times a week?

How often do you get a lesson?

Also I'm hopefully getting a share/loan soon, how would you recommend me starting the horse off for the first while? (ie, should I just do flatwork for the first while with circles, 8's etc?)

Just basic stuff probably, don't ask too much to start with, you need to learn limits and capabilities. Just get to know each other to start with I think. Have fun!

 

[muddygreymare]

When you ride how much time do you spend on warming up?
Depends, but usually a few minutes on each rein in walk and trot if doing flatwork, and a bit longer if jumping and include canter in the warm up too.

How much time do you spend riding?
Anything from half an hour to an hour, depends what i'm doing, what mood we're both in, if she's behaving/we've accomplished what I wanted to in that session etc.

How much time do you spend on cooling down?
About 5-10 minutes usually

What kinds of things are you working on?
At the moment, her canter and getting her working in more of an outline and also her jumping. Planning also to show her next year so also practising a short show.

Do you lunge before you ride?
Not usually no.

How often do you have training sessions (where you are working on specific things)?
Usually try to work on a specific thing or set of things to work on each time I ride.

Do you work on the same things each time you ride or is it varied?
Try to vary it each time I ride so we do lots of circles and serpentines and usually some poles and stuff. I just try to make it a bit more interesting for her.

How often do you ride just for pleasure?
Every time I ride! (Which is about 4-5 days a week)

How often do you get a lesson?
About once a month or so

 

[sophiebailey]

When you ride how much time do you spend on warming up?

Between 5 & 10 minutes (if we're schooling, a few 10/20m circles on both reins, an amble on a long rein and some serpentine work. If we're hacking, 5 mins of walk and some leg yielding before we go into trot!)

How much time do you spend riding?

In a lesson, one hour, on a hack that all depends on how far we go!

How much time do you spend on cooling down?

5-10 minutes, letting Bailey stretch his neck and back out and again a few circles on each rein on a hack, he moseys on home on a long rein to have a stretch!!

What kinds of things are you working on?

Stabilising my position in trot, riding Bailey into each corner and achieving the right bend currently Also alot of work on getting me to change my diagonal at will!!

Do you lunge before you ride?

No he's knackered enough without a lunge session!

How often do you have training sessions (where you are working on specific things)?

Once a week for an hour

Do you work on the same things each time you ride or is it varied?

We work on the same things but in different ways (different exercises to achieve the same thing!)

How often do you ride just for pleasure?

About once or twice a week (hacking)

How often do you get a lesson?

Once a week

Also I'm hopefully getting a share/loan soon, how would you recommend me starting the horse off for the first while? (ie, should I just do flatwork for the first while with circles, 8's etc?)

Find a good instructor and get them to tell you where to start!

Good luck with your share/loan!!! xxx

 

[HappyNeds]

Con horse into being caught by bribeing him with food, scrape dry mud off where the tack will touch - if horse is wet, leave well alone. Tack on, Old Mac's on, walk down field, lock gate behind us, get on, off we go! No lessons for us these days, we hack purely for pleasure. My horse is never very fit, and he's out with no rug on he invariably comes back sweaty - I make sure he comes back as cool as possible, and he goes straight back into the field, rolls and gets down to the important job of eating! I should add that pressure of work has meant very little riding this year, and I doubt he'll go out more than once a fortnight for the next couple of months, so hacks are short and not fast.

I love this Spot_the_Risk! Sounds exactly like my 'riding routine'

 

[unbalanced]

Found this on a different board and thought it'd be interesting to hear what everyone has to say.

When you ride how much time do you spend on warming up?
I warm up by doing in hand work for fifteen minutes if it's not too cold and dark (so that would be the weekends then). Otherwise I get straight on and walk and trot on a loose rein and practise turning and stopping with just my weight for five or ten minutes. If it's that cold she also wears an exercise sheet.

How much time do you spend riding?
Half an hour to forty minutes on weeknights as I work 12 hours then have more work to catch up on at home. Longer at the weekends and it could be a three hour hack but that would be walking.

How much time do you spend on cooling down?
Five or ten minutes. Most of our schooling is in walk and slow trot so she doesn't get very hot (hence the exercise rug for evening riding) and she is clipped. If I ride in the mornings I do a short walk then put her out to walk herself off.

What kinds of things are you working on?
Straightness. Getting her to not put more weight on one shoulder or the other, especially when bending, and getting her to relax at the poll - she had a tendency to fix her head to the outside. Next will be keeping that in lateral work.

Do you lunge before you ride?
Never. I might play Parelli games if it wasn't so cold but lunging is boring for me and my horse and I don't really find any benefit in it.

How often do you have training sessions (where you are working on specific things)?
A couple of times a week - at least twice, and no more than four times. If I am stressed from work we just hack.

Do you work on the same things each time you ride or is it varied?
Similar. We have 'homework' from my instructor'.

How often do you ride just for pleasure?
Riding is pleasure. Why else would you do it?

How often do you get a lesson?
Every week. I have a classical dressage/biomechanics instructor and she is great. I wouldn't mind doing a little jumping as well but we have no jumps.

Also I'm hopefully getting a share/loan soon, how would you recommend me starting the horse off for the first while? (ie, should I just do flatwork for the first while with circles, 8's etc?)

I would get an instructor and have him/her assess you and the horse. It is impossible for us to say because we don't know you or the horse. Regular lessons are a must though, I always look forward to mine