Working full time 9-5..... how many times a week do you ride?

In winter i ride at least 5xper week, i get myself into a routine better when they aren't living out (probably ride on average 4x per week in summer), plus its important for my boy to get consistent exercise as he doesn't get proper turnout. Im currently out of action and they will be in any day now which i am dreading, don't know what im going to do as it will freak me out not being able to get him out but don't want to advertise for a sharer.
 
I was trying to continue riding but the last couple of weeks have not been great. Haven't ridden him since Wednesday and we didn't do much as it sounded like fireworks were being set off so rather than risk it I got off and gave up. Probably only going to get weekends now because of the dark nights and that I won't get to the yard until half 5 (longer now probably since its dark and people here can't drive in the dark). I think I might see if the YO can ride him once a week to keep him going.
 
Years ago I was working in London - I would get home about 6:30pm - cycle to the yard - Muck out my horses box, ride and then cycle home. We had an indoor arena and other folk in the same situation so had company.
 
I work 8- 4.30/5 and ride six times a week, Mondays is the horse's day off but I still go to the yard to feed up and clean gear/tidy up. I'm up at five, and on the yard by 6. I have a twenty odd minute commute to the yard. I ride, feed up the agisted horses, clean myself up and quickly change, before heading straight to work. I need to be there by 8 at the latest, but I try to get there earlier. I much prefer riding in the morning (although the alarm going off is painful!) as my head is a lot clearer and I can focus on my horse and his needs. After work, I'm usually too mentally tired to stay focussed. Horse schools/groundwork/poles Tuesday to Saturday, and hacks out on a Sunday (again at the crack of dawn, as it's the only time the road is quiet enough!)
 
I work 7.30 til 4pm. 15mins drive to work. I'm on the yard by 6 and have two turned out and mucked out by 6.45. I'm lucky as the horses are on my door step. Get home at 4.15, then poo pick whilst it's still light. I ride most evenings as have a floodlit school. I try and vary it between schooling and polework. If I don't feel like riding I will do inhand work. At the weekends I try and get to a lesson, compete or a clinic.
 
Wow! Some people are particularly dedicated - hats off to you all :)

I work 9-5 (ish), have a 45 minute commute & one horse on DIY livery.

At this time of year, I'll aim for 2 hacks at the weekend & 2 evenings riding in the school. If I'm doing really well I'll put in another night of lunging/groundwork/riding & if I'm not doing so well I'll substitute a night of riding for lunge/groundwork.

Well have approximately a lesson per month & if I leave work early for whatever reason (I tend to acrue lieu time) I'll hack that day in the week.

I only hack & do low level dressage & jumping - I find if I start to put too much pressure on myself to ride X amount of days in the cold/wet/dark I don't enjoy it. If I'm struggling & constantly tired in the winter, I just do less! If I'm enjoying it, I'll aim for a bit more. We only have an outdoor school, so sometimes it is weather dependant too.
 
Lévrier;13405413 said:
I have been bimbling around for years riding but have realised this year that I am not improving because I am not really THINKING about my riding but have been simply blindly following what my instructor has been saying - so I've been getting good results during lessons but cannot necessarily replicate that in competitions and schooling on my own. This realisation has resulted in a change in focus, where I am trying to think/reflect about the feel/results I am getting while schooling etc. I would really like to improve myself and my horse, so I have weekly lessons booked in with a good instructor who I have gelled really well with.

My actual question, after all this waffle and context is..... how many of you are in this position, and how many times do you ride each week?

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As you have correctly identified it's not just the hours you put in, it's the approach/attitude and quality of those hours! Crikey! If hours devoted were the sole criteria for success then I would make Michael Jung look like an amateur! :D OK, so I lacked in natural talent and aptitude and had to compensate with hard graft. :(

Years ago I had a couple of really good horses; I shared the competitive ride on the main one with a 4* star rider - the other one was schooled and very occasionally competed by the pro but was mainly my ride. He went 3*. I got myself into the mental state though whereby I couldn't ride/function without the pro there telling me what to do as I knew that the neds could perform, so if they didn't with me on top then it was down to my ineptitude. I became a type of automaton and lost all feeling/sense of thinking/responding for myself. It was a dangerous area to be in. You need to be capable of thinking things through/ responding/working things out for yourself/not being afraid to experiment or indeed to fail. It's easy to say things like that now that I am retired in my sixties and looking back; at the time it wasn't quite so evident.

Not sure if I've misinterpreted your question or not. I rode six days a week without fail though.....spread between the two horses, dependent on my work commitments and the competition requirements of the neds.

My advice now would be to decide on your goals/what you want to achieve horse wise in an ideal world; then, re-assess those goals given your other life commitments (work, family, social life) and what you want from each of those areas; finally, decide what is realistic horse-wise given your other aspirations and then........GO FOR IT!
 
Thanks GG that is really motivational :) :) I am - mentally speaking - a victim of my own desire to get better, as if I really want something I then try to hard..... but I have set my goals so I will see how it goes :)
 
Probably 5 on average - but more because other things invariably crop up, rather than work necessarily. Luckily there are lots of willing volunteers to exercise him for me too - hubby will even have a sit sometimes.
 
I have four horses, two in full work at the moment, 1 just coming back in to work. I ride two of them 4 times per week each, riding before work and my sharers do a couple days each which really helps, its hard in the winter I have to admit. All are out 24/7 with daily pooh picking, haying and feeding all done by me except I have someone who feeds for me at one end of the day. Tired all the time but it is possible to do it, just need a strict regime ;) Oh and I have help pooh picking a few times per week !
 
Work full time, small boy impacts my time as well and have just bought a new 4yo having sold this year's youngster and saying I wanted an older horse that didn't need quite such consistent work... doh!
Anyway - currently ride both days at the weekend - one hack, one school and try and at least do one night in the week - which means boxing up and hiring an arena. Every few weeks that arena hire will include a lesson, and about once a month I'll do a RC clinic so that the youngster gets some exposure to working in company, coming and going etc. I try to make sure everything we do is educational - we had our 3rd ever hack on Sunday and she marched out in front all the way :) but try and make sure that I vary every schooling session. If I get chance to start late/finish early in the week (work are pretty flexible) then that's bonus riding time but I can't guarantee when/if that will happen. Luckily my mum will also lunge her for me. It worked pretty well for last year's youngster so fingers crossed will work for this one :)
 
I work full time 9-5 though with a bit of flexing and can sometimes be at home. I am also on Livery so its much easier than when I was on DIY. In general I ride 6 times a week. Sometimes 5 though rarely. Once we into Dec and Jan I not compete as much, usually its 2/3 times a month. I should add once horse.

I will prob drop to one lunge session once its full on winter. I too want to hack one day at weekends or if I am lucky when I get the chance on a WAH day. I try to vary it up and do a fitness day once a week in teh school with no circles or fancy pants training and more like circuit training for him.

Will jump min once a fortnight
 
I don't strictly work 9-5...each day is different and often the hours are longer than that. My horse lives 1.5 hours away from where I work. I ride at the weekends (and compete around once a month) and one evening in the week if I am lucky. Thankfully my horse is easy to do and doesn't need masses of exercise to stay sane.
 
One thing that helps me is around the middle of the week, sit and make a plan for riding the horse/s around the upcoming weeks commitments (work, social life, boyfriend)
I was working 9-5 but was fortunate to make an agreement with work to do 10-6 3 mornings a week and 9-5 the other 2. I have my own horse and 2 others. Mine is just being ticked over and ridden 4 times a week until she goes to the vets, my share horse I ride once or twice a week and the other horse I ride probably once a week when there's time. Mine was being ridden 5 or 6 days a week prior to pulling another sickie, we have no school so its either early morning hacks or a quick lunge on the grass in the week with proper rides at the weekend. It's about being organised and deciding what you want to achieve from each session as well as having an overall goal I find (whilst remembering that life gets in the way sometimes and horses are horses so sometimes we have to be flexible in our plans!)
 
I work 9-5.30 every day with an hour commute and in the winter try and ride 4/5 times a week, sometimes I lunge or do groundwork esp when the weather is bad. I ride before work oct/mid nov twice a week to hack, hack or hunt on weekends and school the rest, we only have a small school so I don't like to do too much in there. Sometimes on eve's weekend (more jan/feb time) a friend and I hire an arena to school in. I also keep holiday days and take half days on a wed nov/dec time to keep hacking. Compete once a month (unless hunting) and try and have one lesson a month too - all depends on the lovely weather sometimes!
 
I'm very lucky in the sense that while we have slightly longer work days than the UK, mine are quite flexible. On days I ride in the afternoon I work 6am to 3.30 with no lunch break, and on other days I ride early and then come home and work until everything is done, but it often means I work until late - I have two freelance writing jobs too so that I can easily afford the horse.

I have my own youngster who I ride 5 to 6 times a week, plus two horses at the yard who I ride to reduce my livery bill, normally about 4 times in total - and then I also have a jumping lesson on a RS school horse once a week. I try to have a lesson on mine every fortnight, and he hacks the majority of the time (starting to school once a week or so now that he's turned 4) but the place we hack is only open from 6-6 I think. We have a field with a track around it which I use when there's no time for hacking. He lunges probably once every two weeks, or less. I also teach on Saturday mornings and go to visit my retired horse after teaching.

We don't have floodlights but luckily the changes in daylight hours aren't so drastic - probably an hour or so more in the mornings and 90 minutes more in the evenings.

I am also going to try a SJ horse to share two days a week today, but if that happens I'll drop the RS lesson.

So I guess the gist of it is that the only day I don't do any riding sometimes is Thursdays, but even that is a bit rare!

Luckily, I'm in South Africa so we're on full livery and all i need to do is turn up, tack up, ride and hose down etc.
 
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