# How many days per week would you ride?



## Loyalty09 (Apr 23, 2011)

Well I will not be much help but I am interested in answers! In fact I posted something similar to this about a week ago and never got much of an answer.

My boy just turned four about 3 months ago but he is also half friesian and they can grow til sevenish! So I am concerned about pushing him too much. I normally ride three days a week and my partner normally does as well but somethings the days overlap.

So I would say he is ridden about five days a week between 45 minutes to an hour, normally with two rides on Fridays. He has just begun cantering undersaddle so he is doing quite a bit of work.


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## raywonk (Jan 9, 2011)

The training facilities I have worked at do 5 to 6 days. Depending on the stage of training changes what is going on. Lunging 20 min. Is done on all of the days. Then riding for what ever length is needed. Some times short if point was maid quickly, usa 30 to 45 min. 
Now these are training barns for horses that are expected to go to week long shows and work on and off for 8 hr or more if they are a all around horse. 
These horses stay very fit and are always ready for anything. This is done with all horses in training started at one, of course you are not riding the young ones just lunging or hot walker. I keep the same with my ex show horse. I do not expect him to go to shows but I want him fit enough so we can do the movements that I want.


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

At 4 years old, you really don't want to stress the joints too terribly much - personally I'd say shorter rides 4-5 times per week is plenty.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I dunno, but your horse is too, too cute. You are a lovely pair!


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## LynnF (Jun 1, 2011)

I would ride for about 45 minutes to an hour 4-5 days a week, try to give two days off that are not right in a row.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

I have never brought a young horse up before, so I am wondering sort of the same thing. At what age can you really ride them? Like say a 4 hour (mostly walking) trail ride?

I would have thought a 4 yr old could do that, but maybe not. At what age do you consider them "good to go?" 45 minutes of saddle time is really nothing. But 20 minutes of lunging does sound like a lot. I would think riding in a straight line would be healthier for them then lunging them in a circle for 20 minutes.

What are your thoughts on that?


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## Delfina (Feb 12, 2010)

JustDressageIt said:


> At 4 years old, you really don't want to stress the joints too terribly much - personally I'd say shorter rides 4-5 times per week is plenty.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I agree. My trainer is very conservative with young ones, so I rode my 4yr old 4 days per week, 45mins max per ride. The only goals we had really were a calm, quiet, balanced, focused ride that was 90% walk, trot and only a bit of cantering. We did trot poles a bit after discovering that he absolutely loves them.

Now that he's 5, I'm up to 5 days per week, hour max per ride and we're doing more cantering. She won't start him jumping until he's at least 5 1/2.


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## AlexS (Aug 9, 2010)

20 min ride 4-5 days a week, would be my recommendation. But I am beyond anal, I bought a young horse hoping for a jumper. I set him over jumps three times as a 5 yr old, and they were less of a jump and more of a hiccup.


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## usandpets (Jan 1, 2011)

I started our Ghost at 2 1/2. The first six months, I worked him for an hour or so 4 or 5 days a week. When he learned or understood the cues, we would go out on ride for about 2 hours, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. By the time he was three, We were going on even longer rides, closer to 4 or 5 hours just on the weekends with not much work during the week.

The reason to work them more often when starting them out is to get them to learn. Unless you are planning on doing serious work or hard work, you don't need to work them as often to keep them in shape.

trailhorserider - As I said before, I was riding him long rides at three. You do need to work them up to it. I do agree that out riding a trail is better for them than lunging for a long time, even 10 minutes to me is long.


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

JustDressageIt said:


> At 4 years old, you really don't want to stress the joints too terribly much - personally I'd say shorter rides 4-5 times per week is plenty.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


What JDI said.


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

usandpets said:


> I started our Ghost at 2 1/2. The first six months, I worked him for an hour or so 4 or 5 days a week. When he learned or understood the cues, we would go out on ride for about 2 hours, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. By the time he was three, We were going on even longer rides, closer to 4 or 5 hours just on the weekends with not much work during the week.
> 
> The reason to work them more often when starting them out is to get them to learn. Unless you are planning on doing serious work or hard work, you don't need to work them as often to keep them in shape.
> 
> trailhorserider - As I said before, I was riding him long rides at three. You do need to work them up to it. I do agree that out riding a trail is better for them than lunging for a long time, even 10 minutes to me is long.


That is a LOT of work for such a young horse, IMO. 

If you want to ride tons, an older horse with closed, good joints is a better choice. There is a reason you see horses lame early on in life.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Hunter65 (Aug 19, 2009)

What a cute horse. Hunter is not yet 4 and for the most part he is ridden 2x a week in arena for 20 - 40 mins, walk and trot. On weekends we go out for trail rides mostly 1.5 - 2 hours but have been on a couple of 5 hour rides in the last couple of weeks.


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

JustDressageIt said:


> That is a LOT of work for such a young horse, IMO.
> 
> If you want to ride tons, an older horse with closed, good joints is a better choice. There is a reason you see horses lame early on in life.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


The other thing wrong with that theory (of riding them a lot at one time when they are young) is they really do not have the ability to focus well for hours. Young horses (and young kids and puppies and....) learn better if you teach them during lots of short sessions.


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## Hunter65 (Aug 19, 2009)

Alwaysbehind said:


> The other thing wrong with that theory (of riding them a lot at one time when they are young) is they really do not have the ability to focus well for hours. Young horses (and young kids and puppies and....) learn better if you teach them during lots of short sessions.



That is so true, I always stop when I see he has had enough when in the arena but he LOVES trails so we go for longer on those rides.


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Alwaysbehind said:


> The other thing wrong with that theory (of riding them a lot at one time when they are young) is they really do not have the ability to focus well for hours. Young horses (and young kids and puppies and....) learn better if you teach them during lots of short sessions.


I missed that part of the post. Very good point - they don't (can't) absorb as much as an older horse. I like to limit "lessons" to a half hour ish for youngsters, and can kind of see a "fizzle out" period within that timeframe where they've had enough. As they get older, you can do more, longer.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## livestoride (Mar 30, 2011)

I agree with JDI - shorter, more frequent training sessions are better than longer ones. They just can't focus that long and you will end up with a frustrated horse. I am probably way more conservative than most in my opinions on this and have never brought up a young horse (but have talked plenty to my trainer friends), so take what I say with a big huge chunk of salt. 

I would ride 3-4 days a week with specific goals in mind to work on. If the horse learns it then you are done no matter if it took an hour or 20 minutes. You achieved the point of the ride. I would add 1-2 days of just fun time in the saddle out on the trail. You don't want to stress the joints or the mind too much too early adn end up with a physically and mentally broken down horse at 12. You want your beauty to last a long, healthy time, so why rush it now? She will get there eventually. Ground poles are great, but I would limit jumping at 4. Maybe wait until next year to work on crossrails when she is 5. 

Have fun with her!


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## usandpets (Jan 1, 2011)

JustDressageIt said:


> That is a LOT of work for such a young horse, IMO.
> 
> If you want to ride tons, an older horse with closed, good joints is a better choice. There is a reason you see horses lame early on in life.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


 Yes, it can be a lot of work for the horse, but it depends on how you ride. If you are doing mostly walking with little trotting and even less loping, it's not that much for the horse. You should build up to it and condition the horse to it.

I did not mention that when I first started him, that hour was mostly ground work and hardly any riding. As time went on, the groundwork lessened and the riding increased. Also, the rides on the weekends were not always a longer ride or every weekend. They usually ended up being every 2 or 3 weeks because I had other horses to ride as well. I was just saying that you can ride for that long, with proper preparation.


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## SaddleUp158 (Dec 26, 2008)

My 4th old gets two days off a week. After her day off she gets long lined for no more than ten minutes. I would prefer to do more long lining throughout the week, but she can't handle too much work on a circle-makes her sore. She then gets ridden for the next several days. Rides range from fifteen to thirty minutes. Right now we are focusing on transitions and self carriage. I just introduced trot poles.


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## horsecrazy84 (Mar 20, 2011)

When Chanti was 2 her rides were fairly short, an hour tops. It was all walk and trot and when she was three she was going on trail rides every few weeks that lasted maybe 2 hours going through different terrain and by 4 she was being asked and expected to do longer rides and work harder. Every time I ride I have one or two lessons I work with her on, such as backing up, leg yielding,etc and I tend to keep those short and my whole ride isn't a lesson. She trotted the barrel pattern, pulled light logs, and worked in all gaits as a 4 year old. She is 6 now and nowhere near ready for a ride lasting longer than a couple hours unless all I did was walk. Sundance is 4 and he's already working at all gaits, been started very lightly on barrels, mainly just getting him to understand leg pressure and move off leg but he probably won't be rode long and hard until he's 5, this fall. 
I think lunging every day is definitely harder on a horse than walking down a trail and mine have never had an issue with not being able to focus on a lesson.
When Chanti is back in riding work I'll aim to ride her about 30 minutes to 1.5 hours per day with about 3 days off mainly walk and trot and easy trail riding. Sundance has been rode about 1-2 hours for 3-5 days out of the week.


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

My Saro is now 5 yo so I've started riding her for longer periods of time. When she was 4 I rode her 4-5 times a week for no longer than 1 hour. Young horses have short memories so you need to do any lessons often but not for long periods. I find if you go for more than 2 days between rides they almost forget what they learned. Short sessions with lots of repetitions of tasks is best. 
Vida who is now 11 can go several months and not forget what she knows. Saro is getting better but the young horses mind is like a sieve :lol:
I want to say mine are all Rockie Mountain horses so they grow a little slower.


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## JumpingBean (Jun 24, 2011)

I have a four year old that I've been working with since she was three. She loves to work and is in good condition. In my opinion, trail riding is much more pleasurable for both the horse and the riding. However, for young horses, they should have a nice balance between trail riding, arena work, ground work, and of course, grooming and TLC time  I ride my four year old about 4 times a week for an hour or so each ride. Hope this helps!


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