winter break

I started Riley back in April - so he has almost 8 months of riding under his belt. He has not mastered the lope yet and has a ton of work ahead of him. I have dropped him down to being ridden 1-2 times per week with his head where he wants it so he can move forward but I was thinking about not riding him AT ALL December through January or February. Is that ok to do? I want to give him a good break and then start him back in March...

Any thoughts?

That is pretty common in a lot of training farms. They'll start a youngster for about 60 days then turn him out for a few months. I think you'll be fine.

I don't see any problems with that. He's 2 comming 3 right? I think that "break" over the winter might actually do him some good.

I think the break would do him some good! You could even just do some simple groundwork with him during the winter instead of riding.
I definitely think a horse should have off for at least one month out of the year to have some time to just be a horse.

A couple months off will do good. You be really surprised with how well he should retain some of the stuff that he has learned already. Also he could get a little taller and more broad over the next few months which should really help his lope.

All of the ASB's I've known take Dec-Feb off with no adverse effects.

Would couple months off make some horses too much to handle? That's always my concern with time off: they are getting too much unused energy...

I think letting him have the winter off from riding would be good. He's still a baby so it will give his mind a break from everything.

I do think that doing groundwork and keeping him fit would be good too :)

Im afraid if my standardbred gets too long off, his muscle developement will get messed up and he'll forget too much training...the cantering and jumping

Last year I took a mare on trial. She hadn't been ridden in over 3 years and after just a few days riding all her training started coming back. I don't think horses forget their training, they just get rusty. They may need a tuneup and conditioning but the training stays.