Why do so many horse owners only ride 45mins a day and even then think its alot?

Maybe OP means people ride only for 45 mins and do "same" ride everytime as well, and maybe only twice a week.
I think the reasons are many-

1 where horse kept, is it near hacking area, does school have lighting etc.
2 work, family, time commitments.
3 Confidence, I think there are an awful lot of people who are too frightened to ride anywhere different and are not confident riders.
4 Horse lame regularly.
There will be lots of other reasons, but some people "look" for an excuse not to ride, too wet, too dark, too slippy etc etc.

I normally do 1.5 to 2 hours hack sat and sun, sometimes 3.5 to 4 hours on a sunday, try to alternate route where possible, but always do a circuit, tuesday or wednesday jumps and fun in school for 45mins to an hour maybe 1.5 hours wed or thursday maybe school friday, then it's saturday again, this gets broken up by shows, charity rides, taking him on holiday once a year, jumping lessons when I have the money.
I didn't buy a pony to be a field ornament.
I do struggle for energy with work and age my self sometimes.
 
I'd love to ride for longer if I had a young, fit and healthy body, as it is I ride for as long as I can...sometimes an hour or two, sometimes 10 minutes. If that's enough for me or my pony, that's fine and it keeps us both happy, thank you
 
Time is my problem!! In summer I ride out for 1 - 2 hours, 4 or 5 days a week, we are out competing nearly every weekend too, but once the dark eves are here I am limited to school work, which TBH I find very, very boring so I hack at weekends when the weather allows. Mine goes out EVERY day regardless of the weather so keeps his fitness levels quite well.

I know what you mean about the work thing though, many people I speak to in the course of my work think that their horse is in "hard" work when it's just hacking for an hour a day!!

If the horse is happy and healthy and the rider is happy with a half hour ride, then I can't see a problem, as long as they don't criticise those of us who ride for hours and compete, as has happened to me in the past.
 
Sometimes I'll ride for only 20 minutes per pony, and often I'll have three to ride. Then adding in tacking up and untacking (including rugs off and back on) then it's quite a lengthy process. I have to manage school work, studying and exams, food and then the ponies in. It's been make quite clear to me that schoolwork comes first.

ETA, the ponies are fit and happy. At the weekends we can school, jump or hack for hours but during the week it's more restrictive.
 
In the week I am lucky if I can ride for 40mins as I commute to and from London for work and i'm lucky if I get to the yard by 7pm and I do like to see my OH in the eve as well :D But in answer to the OP I don't think this is a long time, or that it is too much for my horse, it is just a case of what i can fit in, although my horse is out all day every day whatever the weather.

Once a fortnight I have a lesson and that is for an hour, and if i go out hacking at the weekends it will always be for at least an hour often longer :).

With regards lunging I warm my horse up in walk and then do no more than 20mins proper work a) because it must be deadly boring and b) because lunging on a circle for too long is bad for a horses joints and so on.

Oh for the luxury of endless time!
 
Its an attention span thing???

I am trying to teach my horse to concentrate fully on the job in hand ... and I can keep his mind on matters for a max of 20 mins - so I sort of think thats our schooling work done- well we also warm up for 10 mins and cool down for 10 mins and may even go for a waddle round the block if the weather is good.

Hacking, thats a different matter.
 
I ride for as long as I want to, if I do not want to ride for a while then I dont. All my horses are fed, watered, and have regular vet visits for vac,s and teeth rasping, I enjoy their company wether I am sitting on their backs or sitting in the field and admiring them. Why does the OP fret about what other people choose to do with their horses, maybe she should concentrate on her own horses and not other peoples. :)
 
All depends on the horse Im ridng. Some of the newly backed ones used to get 15 minutes twice a day, it was all their little brains could cope with.

The older ones who are fit may be in the school for about 45 minutes more or less depending on what we are working on. Some need very little warmup so we get down to work quickly. If achieving a new lesson, once the horse has done it right a couple of times then best to end lesson on good note and go off and have a wander around the fields as a reward.

Was told as a kid many centuaries ago by a cavalry man that 20 minutes max. As if done right a horse will work 3 x harder on the lunge than ridden,so any longer can put strain on musles, doing more damage than good to the poor animal.

Hacking on the other hand we could be out for hours but most of the time at a relaxed speed.

Have noted that OP has posted the comment but has not replied to any of the comments.
 
Well surely it depends on the work you do within those 45 minutes? I'm pretty sure I could make a pretty intensive schooling lesson last that long and that would be plenty for me and my horse...

I'm fortunate enough to have enough time to often go out for 2hr + hacks, but not many other people I know do!!

I do understand where your coming from, as alot of liveries at my yard will tack up, walk up the road for a few miles, and then come back. But hey, it's their choice, they are just happy hackers, and if that's what they want to do then I don't see why I should complain?
 
Different strokes for different folks. Suggest you climb down from your soapbox and start thinking. How long do you spend reading the newspaper every day? Why? How long do you spend keeping up with current affairs? Why? How many books a week do you read? Why?How long do you spend giving your own time to helping others eg volunteer work. Why? What do you know about world issues and environmental issues? Why? And so it goes on. We're all different and not everyone owns a horse for exactly the same reason you do or times the hours of pleasure (yes pleasure) they get from doing other things with their horses as well as riding. Lighten up hun.
 
each to their own.

I can spend 20 mins lunging, 10 min hack, an intensive jumping, schooling session, or with the non competition horses, make a picnic up and go out for 5/6 hours across the beach, lanes or mountains and chill!
 
We don't do lunging, neither of us like it, I prefer to use both our energys up in the saddle, I can see it works for others though, so up to them.
But I don't like a bored pony.

At the end of the day as long as the animal is looked after properly and not mistreated who cares.

I think what this posting is all angled towards, is that people who are too afraid to ride, slag other riders off for going miles ect, rather than be honest and just admit their own short comings fears etc, and those that ride a lot cant understand why anyone would spend so much time and money on something and not ride, being as I ride a lot I can understand this, but it does't bother me, it's their money.
 
op have just read some of your other posts as I am bemused why you would post such a contraversial and inaccurate statement.

I see you are thinking of training an ex racer, if you do please realise that if you school it even 45 minuites a day until it is a lot more established this will be too much, likewise lunging for even the full 20 minuites as it will not be used to going in circles . But I expect you know that really .
 
I haven't read all the posts, just took the title literally as asked, obviously there is a hidden agenda in the posting by the looks of other replies.
 
I haven't read the whole thread, but I don't agree with OP. 45 of school work is perfectly fine in my book for a horse that is schooled 4 times a week. 45 on a hack is also fine if you are chilling out after a competition day for example. 20 min on the lunge is about as much as I would do, I don't like the strain the small circles put on their joints for longer periods of time. Having said that, I also do 2 hour hacks but only once or twice a week.
 
I havent read many of the posts, but i agree, a normal hack for me is 2 hours, mostly 3 hours 4-5 times a week, if im paying good money for shoes, im going to get my moneys worth, i think to many people have shoes put on that dont need it cos they dont do hardly any work {but thats another post:p}
 
sallymoon said:
i dont get it, it seems people think they should only ride their horse for an hour or less a day otherwise its too much for the horses!!!!!!!!

What a load of tosh, if you want a fit healthy horse you should ride as much as possible especially if they are stabled 24/7.

Also i read all the time of lunging for a max of 20 mins, for goodness sake that should be the warm up period. Dont get me wrong if your not lunging correctly then 20 mins is about right for the horses sake.

I dont know where this all misinformation comes from, any ideas?
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calm down forum members, im only asking why people think that 45 mins is enough, i do work have kids and 4 horses. You lot are soooo sensitive, and sssso easy to wind up.
 
Mine have both just come back in after a break but they will be very lucky to get 45mins a day at the moment- more like every other day really tbh.
They do get turned out every day all day though.
There are horses at my yard who only go out a hour or so a week as their owners do a regular 9-5.30 plus travel time etc.
 
I find 45min is sufficient to keep my horse fit. He has to be fully clipped out given his workload. When the horse is ridden and is actually carrying himself/herself throughout, it makes a lot of difference to the work level achieved. The same time scale is about right for Pessoa and loose jumping. Sure when hacking out we could do hours & occasionally do. I think the type of work, variety and intensity level has to be suited to what the horse's job is. Mine is a SJ so I need to train for power & agility not endurance.

Then you get the fact that the horse has to be paid to be kept in the luxury he is accustomed to. So as many others have said there is work to be done!
 
I don't know about the ride time as I don't compete at all?

I personally like to do all sorts with my mare as she was a tack chucked on and jumped into the ground kinda girl before I bought her, so her manners were at zero and although she was fit and great under saddle, she wasn't nice to know.

I make sure that have good times together and do a lot of fun things, the most important being 'our time'.

That is what really matters in the long run surely?
 
Hacking is different to schooling, I wouldn't really school for more than an hour - just my personal preference.
When I was in school I would hackf or hours, especially at the weekend. I am now trying to fit in 3 horses, uni, a part time job and starting up a website along with everyday things which need to be fitted it. It sometimes isn't practical.
 
sallymoon said:
calm down forum members, im only asking why people think that 45 mins is enough, i do work have kids and 4 horses. You lot are soooo sensitive, and sssso easy to wind up.
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ummmm because it is easily enough!

Unless you know something we all don't and please enlighten us if you do.
 
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sallymoon said:
calm down forum members, im only asking why people think that 45 mins is enough, i do work have kids and 4 horses. You lot are soooo sensitive, and sssso easy to wind up.
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So what do you think is an appropriate amount of time for these then

1) school
2) lunge
3) hack

I'm sure we're all very interested to know. I am particularly interested to know about 2)lunging as you seem to think 20 mins isn't long and I disagree whole heartedly!
 
Haha, I am going to throw in my 2 cents anyway, even though i have not read all the posts.

I think a lot depends on the time and facilities available - in an ideal world, i would do more than 30 mins schooling, but the paddock i have is boggy/ flooded in places and i don't feel it fair to do more than 40 mins in there, as my horse gets annoyed and tired and i end up getting into an argument with her instead of having a good schooling session where we can finish on a good note.

Also i get down to the yard at 7pm after work and do not always have time to do all my jobs plus an hour schooling/riding. i hope that will change in a few weeks, when i move to a yard closer to me.

interesting thoughts though.
 
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