Winter holidays for event horses

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sfward

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Question for fellow eventers - how much holiday do your horses get at the end of the season and how much work do they get over the winter?

Mine always used to have a complete holiday in the field from October to January, but hardly anyone seems to do this any more. I'll be keeping Missie in work as she's young and needs the training time and experience, although I'll probably give her a bit of time off in late October as she's due a bit of a rest.

So what will you be doing with your eventers over the winter?
 
well my mare hasnt exactly had a hard competing season a lot has been lessons, and i will only be giving her 3/4 weeks off...completely then start hacking out again anymore than this and she will resemble a fat beast:)

after that it will just be gradual build up a couple of times a week as i will only be able to ride in daylight hours
 
Mine usually has 2-3 weeks off in July then is not competed again until September and then has a couple of weeks off at end of season. I can only ride twice a week in winter anyway so he is effectively only in part time work just to keep him ticking over.
 
My horse gets four weeks off at the end of the season and then brought back up to do lots of wnter dressage training
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and some BSJA shows
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. He only gets ridden 3 times a week as I can only ride in daylight at the weekends and I box him and go to a school mid week. He normally also gets some more time off when snow and ice prevent any movement but it keeps him ticking along!
 
This year is not normal for me as Sarnita will have had 4 quiet months due to my injury. But normally I try and give her time off in blocks of 2 weeks. It is not practical for me to give her a long winter break as bringing her up into work Dec / Jan is not possible. In her case she really won't settle to a long holiday anyway and starts suicide missions if left too long.

Winter for me is the perfect time to work on the basics of dressage and SJing and ensure the base fitness is there.
 
Mine is going to have 4 - 6 weeks after Aldon - how long will depend on how bored she gets! She's had a fantastic first season and it will have been quite hard for her mentally and physically so I want her to have some time to chill before coming back into work in December and doing indoor dressage/showjumping ready to start eventing again in March.
 
Mine don't have a long holiday. They have their work dropped to gentle hacking for a couple of weeks 2 or 3 times a year. This year they may get a time without work but still come in at night for 3 weeks Oct/Nov as I am on holiday.
 
My two are going to have two months off once I've done Weston and PAVO Champs, and OH's is going to have one month off then go hunting. I'm going to be busy with the hunters anyway so it suited me to give them that long, and I'm sure they'll be very grateful!
 
Moon is having from now until the beginning of December off. I think it will do her brain good though I'm a bit gutted about losing the muscle we've worked so hard for!!
 
My two will probably have 4 weeks off, turned out with no rugs 24/7. I don't take their shoes off though as I find this makes more problems. Longer than that won't be practical - if the weather gets wet soon we won't be allowed 24hr turnout.
 
Depends if he comes sound! If so, he will have until christmas off after Draycott. If he doesnt come sound before Draycott, he has already started his holiday and will be off until the middle of November.
 
I personally never give my horse more than 3 weeks off at a time as he gets too bored!
But had injury this summer so he had 5 weeks off
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so he's not having a holiday this winter! Lots of BSJA and i might even do some dressage too!!
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I actually tend to keep mine ticking over. He's 16 now and I think benefits from regular exercise rather than a complete let down. Also am only PN eventing him 2/3 times a month and not at all if hard ground. We hunt once a fortnight and dabble in indoor dressage and sj with the odd lesson thrown in.
 
i think it depends on the individual horse whether or not they get a break and if so how long it is..

my boy gets a week in July (or when ground is quite hard..) and then a week at the end of the season followed by a week of easy work before the winter schedule of SJ and dressage.! i did give him 3 weeks at the end of the season last year but as he has a very sensitive back and he lost a bit of strength in the 3 weeks, after being back in work for about 10 days he was pratting about in the field and totally b*ggered his back up resulting in a rather large physio bill and another few weeks off.!! he was also put under 'house arrest' until spring this year to avoid a repeat performance while i was bringing him back slowly to strengthen him up.!

phew, that was a bit of an essay..!!
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songs having a "holiday" now for a few months then will do a bit of hacking and bsja

and not sure about gogs - would be lovely to have a compleate horse break but he will probs have a few weeks off after mount ballen then do BSJA and more that probs catch up with song!!
 
Last year mine got 8 weeks off, but that was not personal choice! This year he'll get about 3 weeks off to end of Oct then will start again doing one dressage comp a month in Dec Jan and Feb and doing some BSJA too. He doesn't event in July and August, and had half of june off competing this year too due to cancellations.
 
Chocx is going to have a month or two off then continue training, at his age (16) he needs to be kept moving or he may stiffen up.
The others will stay in work as they have had an easy summer, with lots of indoor Sj and dressage after doing the Hunter Trials in the Autumn.
These give them a chance to do the local BE courses without any time pressure, if necessary we do pairs classes to get them enjoying themselves too.
I think most horses benefit from a month or two in the field, and come back fresher.
 
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