Am I working her 2 hard??

you guys are easy on your horses! lol

it all depends on how in shape your horses are, i live in florida and it's pretty humid and hot so we only ride in the mornings or evenings.

but when i ride my horse bc he's pretty in shape i ride 6 days a week for about 2 hrs or so each ride and he doesnt even sweat! or get tired. we were getting ready for some really tough shows last year and i think one ride we had was over 4hrs long and he didnt sweat at all so it all depends, he doesnt even start breathing hard and we work on collection, extension, dressage movements, jumping and trail rides.

i know you guys prob think i'm crazy, but my horse loves to be ridden and to work, he actually with collect himself if i'm taking to long and go into a working trot in a frame and everything lol!

foxy totally agree with you, horses need a job

Yeah :) i ride 6 days a week too :P I hunted for 5/6 hours once, she was still dragging me across the fields the more they work, the fitter they get, the longer they go for. You are definately not working Chance too hard - but I wouldn't jump more than 2/3 times a week :)

People have already covered it, but you definitley don't work your horse too hard. I know the last horse I leased, Mikey would get angry at me if we didn't ride. He would be dying to work after his day off.

thanks for the replies!

Horses do need a job, i imagine they get bored in the pasture.

only jump 2/3 times a week?? seriously??

>.> whoops lol I think taking a break from jumping would be good for us lol.

Would jumping under 2 ft be good to do like on days off??? because our seriously jumping is about 2-3ft... or should we not jump at all on days off, I know chance LOVES to jump though.

I would suggest working over poles rather than jumps on off days, maybe trot over rails, but I would not jump 6 days a week, no need for it, there is a great article in Practical Horseman (april 200 about working with poles to practice jumping rather than jumping all the time.

okay sounds good..


thanks!

lol wow that sounded bad, i'm not saying i jump 6 days a week just ride 6 days a week. and i only trot small jumps, we only canter jumps or jump big jumps if we're practicing for a show, my trainer had a saying that i abide by bc i believe it's true

"a horse only has so many jumps in it's legs, so make it easier by only cantering jumps when you have to and jumping big when needed."

so like i said i only jump big stuff when practicing and canter stuff when about to show bc it puts a lot more stress on the horses legs.