# How many hours do you ride your horse a week?



## OneHotFuzz (Feb 26, 2011)

about 6 for me right now. Should increase to about 8 when my boy's moved closer to home though at the end of the month =)


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## ShezaCharmer (Mar 13, 2010)

Right now I ride only about 4-5 hours a week due to the icky weather here in WI. We still have snow. 

When summer comes around I ride about 10-15 hours a week.


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## Sophie19 (Apr 13, 2009)

Just 3.


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## Hunter65 (Aug 19, 2009)

right now not many. IF we can get out on the trails usually2-4 hours. Once the nice weather comes I will be going out a lot more as I need to put some miles on Hunter


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## justjump (Jan 18, 2011)

Depends on how busy my week is! Probably ranges from 3-6 hours a week on a non horse show week. If it's a horse show, its definetly waaaay longer.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

My own personal horse, I'm lucky to spend an hour on him every couple of weeks, but I average about 6 or 7 hours in the saddle per day.


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## crimsonsky (Feb 18, 2011)

no where near enough if all i have to say.  i need to move closer to my horse because moving him closer to me is not an option. ugh.


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## ErikaLynn (Aug 3, 2010)

I ride one horse about 5-7 hours a week and another horse about 3 hours a week. So I have my butt in the saddle about 8-10 hours a week all together.


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## lilruffian (Jun 28, 2010)

Not much honestly with the weather & snow & no inclosed area nearby. If it's a nice day i'll go out on the roads, but can't do much more than a walk/trot because of ice & the snow in the ditches is well above my girl's knees, same with the pasture.
It would be super great if Mother Nature would stop having hot flashes! Up to plus 9 one week and minus 36 the next!! Grr!


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## CJ82Sky (Dec 19, 2008)

well i can go through horse by horse.

opal is half leased but kelly is still in college so right now she gets about 2h work/week, will be about 3-4d a week with about 1h/workout on average

duke is half leased as of this month. he just saw the chiro and is back in riding shape yay! he's getting about 4-5h a week between myself and my half leaser, however he tends to need more walking warmup bc he is a draft cross so it turns out to be about your average 3-4h of work a week when you take that out.

sky is rebuilding muscle in his power hind end from last season's hunter pace and a massive chiro and myofascial adjustment so he's doing light to moderate work about 1-2h a week mostly longing in side reins right now with light riding one day for about 30 min mostly trot. his ideal workload is 4-5d a week at 30-45m of steady trot with a little canter and one or two days of jumping workouts.

lucky is coming back into work sound (yay!) and gets 45m - 1h of reiki before riding, and then about 15m of longing and then 15 - 30 min of riding at walk and trot 1-3x a week building up as his back permits. right now he's rebuilding muscles from a few major back injuries so fingers crossed all goes well and he can do 3-4d a week at 20-30m a workout!

ridge is my trail horse but we play on the trails a few days a week esp when it's warmer. right now we alternate days acting like a spaz on the longe, with riding (i say trot he says bunnyhopcanterretardedness if we are in the ring) and trail time starting this weekend yay! he's a semi-retired arab off the track and does great at trails which is his main job these days so between his breeding and his job he gets less than the others but we do camping trips where we will ride for 6-8h a day several days in a row (with every 3rd day off) for two diff weeks in the summer so i make sure he is in shape for that.

between living at my farm and some days working from home i get to ride quite a bit and with 2 of my guys half leased they will all get 3-5d a week of work based on each horse's needs!

(my other two are babies and get limited longing work and training a few times a month)


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## Fluffy Pony (May 2, 2010)

I try to ride an hour each day. But I go to work and school part time both ways so its hard to get that hour in. So normally I miss two or three days a week going out there.


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## Lonannuniel (Jun 13, 2008)

*sigh* 3 hours a week for me. hopefully that will change!


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## riccil0ve (Mar 28, 2009)

Ideally, when Ricci is in shape, it's about 9 hours a week. She usually only gets one day off.


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## Skutterbotch (Dec 1, 2009)

I ride 5 horses a day, but my poor little mare tends to get ignored, usually try to go for three hours a week, but show season is coming so I need to atleast try an hour a day!


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## CJ82Sky (Dec 19, 2008)

wow it's interesting to see the variances.

for most of my horses the ideal is 3-5 d a week. my TBs skew to 4-5 and my heavier draft cross does better in 3-4 d a week. usually several days a week i do 1h - 1h15m when you count warmup and cool down, with a focus on trot work and some lateral work. the ones that do jump only do so once a week over a course and once a week over grids (again on average) and those tend to be 45m - 1h15m workouts depending. grids are shorter, course work longer but those times incl full warmup and cool down as well. i also try to make one day a week a lighter 20 - 30 min workout usually trot sets and some flexibility work.

i'm a big fan of cross conditioning and do a lot of trot, and flat, and lateral work and much less jumping in comparison.


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## AQHA13 (Apr 19, 2017)

Right now only 3-5 hrs per week. Once summer comes it's usually around 12-16 hours a week. We do lots of trail riding.


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## CJ82Sky (Dec 19, 2008)

AQHA13 said:


> Right now only 3-5 hrs per week. Once summer comes it's usually around 12-16 hours a week. We do lots of trail riding.


jealous!!! i only get to do that much on trails when we're on vacation!!!!!


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## memcwhit (Feb 19, 2011)

I'm that that "*my* horses" boat of 3-5 hours/week, but I ride 4 other horses usually about 3 hours/week each, so I spend approximately 15-18 hours a week in the saddle? Hopefully that will increase as the weather keeps improving, but I want more saddle time with my own, not everybody else's...lol.


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

I get about 8-10 hrs right now...will be more once the days are longer. I will also be working another horse in a couple weeks, getting him ready for trail riding for his owner. (he likes to bolt, so I will be getting him broke of that habit). Probably will also be helping a friend get their 3 year old get back under saddle as well. And what ever other horses I can get my hands on when the warm weather hits...Lol!


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## BarrelracingArabian (Mar 31, 2010)

At this point nowhere near as much as I should be riding to get her in shape again but as soon as I get caught back up in school and my back is better then it will deffinately increase another 2-4 hours


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## MicKey73 (Dec 26, 2010)

Saddle time - around 3-4 hours. It would be way more if I could find a trail buddy. Wawa...  He's not in shape enough yet to be doing a lot more difficult flatwork or jumping, so I try to at least lunge him a bit the other days with one or two days completely off. It's hard to keep things fresh for him with only arena work...


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## Jessabel (Mar 19, 2009)

Um...
Less than 1 hour per month. :roll:


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## Wallaby (Jul 13, 2008)

I usually ride Lacey for about 2 hours a week. Sometimes though, like when we go on a trail ride, we spend 1.5-2 hours riding on just that day. Since I try to go on a trail ride once a week or so a realistic number would probably be 3-4 hours a week, but we haven't trail ridden in a week or two because of weather and my schedule.

During the summer though, at camp, oh boy. We ride for at least 3 hours every Monday/Tuesday and anywhere from 4-7 hours a day every other day of the week (except for Sunday and most of Saturday, there's an hour trail ride on Saturday morning, she gets those days off). It's all walking but still. I'm sometimes surprised that I can still stand up straight once I get out of the saddle! Haha


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## Xela (Jan 26, 2011)

We're not to the point where I can ride my new girl. But my old jumper I normally rode 15-30 hours a week with him. Lots of it was trails and conditioning though. We'd go hit the trails for 5/6 hours some days..


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

It depends on whether I have a competition coming up or not. If I'm competing, I will ride 6 days a week for 2 weeks leading up to it, and alternate how long I ride depending on how he's feeling under saddle. Some days I'll ride for up to 1 1/2 hours if I haven't been able to unlock a block in him, other days I'll ride for 20-30minutes when everything feels good.

I'd say on average per week, on Bob, I would spend maybe 6 hours in the saddle as well as in hand work and lunging. 
Then riding other horses as well, hmmmm I guess at the moment I would be spending about 12 hours in the saddle/week.


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## flytobecat (Mar 28, 2010)

Realistically, I try to ride each horse about 4 hours a week (mostly on weekends). I want to get into a rountine though of riding each about 20 mins a day in the arena during the work week. That way I can just do the fun things on the weekends.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

Depending on work, vacation, and the weather, trail time can be from zero to 10 hours a week. Luckily, our mares are at home with us, we have plenty of trails, and they are all 'saddle up and go' types, so if I have a spare hour, I can go outside and hop on without any prep time.


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## Brittmilt (Mar 12, 2011)

It's difficult for me to get out to the stable during the week because my parents are working and they're the ones who drive me because I can't drive yet. We just moved to the city of Battle Creek and Quinn is boarded in Galesburg, so it takes a while to get there. These factors affect how often I can see my horse and ride him. At the moment I'm able to see him on Sundays and ride him for 1 hour and 30 minutes, but when I can drive which will be this summer I'll see him more often and ride him for much longer. The gas prices over here will also affect me too.


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## MacabreMikolaj (May 9, 2009)

That jumps ALL over the place for me. When my horses are healthy and in shape, probably about 3-5 hours in winter a week, and anywhere from 8-20 hours in summer. We often go for 3+ hour trail rides on weekends in summer.

THIS winter, between my job, my horses being out of commission and various other things, it's been 1 hour a week for the last couple months. :?


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## Brittmilt (Mar 12, 2011)

We can visit the stable much more often in Spring, so it'll probably be around 2+ hours of riding time when the weather gets warm and beautiful. I can't wait to get riding again after such a harsh winter.


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## traildancer (Oct 27, 2010)

In the wintertime I get about 8-10 hours a week of riding. In the summer I get about 6-8 hours a day every other week when we horsecamp. We try to ride 100 miles a week when we are out.


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## WickedNag (Sep 7, 2010)

With my heart problems I don't get much riding time anymore. My daughter on the other hand spends about 12 hours a week in the saddle and about the same working the mini's ....


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## CustomLegacy (Mar 14, 2011)

about 4-6 hrs a week. too cold to do more


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

Right now? 0. It's finally warming up.  Our arena is inside, but it's not heated. I'm not really up to riding in -20F air. 

In the summer, probably.. 2-3 hours a day, maybe more. Depending on which class of campers I have. And depending if I go home on the weekends or stay at camp, that would add a few more hours. So...probably 15 hours, give or take.


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## Delfina (Feb 12, 2010)

I spend 4-5hrs a week on my gelding and then every few weeks, I have someone come out and spend another hour or so working on him. He's 4, so I limit it to 1hr sessions (once it warms up we'll add in longer trail rides) and he gets 2-3 days off per week.


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

right know the weather is so bad and the ground is so slick..I am lucky to get on my horse for a half hour O.O

Once it dries up I usually ride an hour-two hours a day depending..when its summer i ride a lot.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Hmm, today I was on my first horse by 9am and I kept riding until about 5pm. By that point, the wind was getting detrimental to riding youngsters. Though I gave 3 young horses a pretty dang good workout and also took Dobe for a long jog with the dogs. It was about 82* here today.


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

Depends on each horse for me. My younger in-training horses get 1 day off a wk along with the horses I have in for others, but all get groundwork on their days off. My older dead broke horses get me once or twice a week to stay tuned up but get most of their riding time with lessons, they get 1 or 2 days off depending on schedule. I average about 8 hours a day in the saddle. Now that warm weather is coming it will increase since I can get out of the darn indoor! Yay spring!!!! 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## netty83 (Sep 21, 2010)

smrobs i'm so envious . I only work part time as i have a little girl so the option is there for me to ride most days but child care issues force me not to. Is there ever a day goes by when you get up and think heck not today?


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## dudey (Dec 16, 2010)

about 10-14 hours a week


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## whiskeynoo (Mar 17, 2010)

I'm lucky if im clocking up 2 hours a week :/ but come summertime when i move up to my stepdads i'll most likely get to ride everyday


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

netty83 said:


> smrobs i'm so envious . I only work part time as i have a little girl so the option is there for me to ride most days but child care issues force me not to. Is there ever a day goes by when you get up and think heck not today?


Occasionally, especially on days like today when it's cooler and there is a 30 mph wind. But, I have some things to do this morning so I will see what the wind/temp is like this afternoon and will likely ride anyway.


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## Benny (Mar 10, 2010)

Between 18-30 hours a week normally. Depends on the weather, if it's too hot, we don't ride in the mornings. But in Winter I ride a ton more, because I can stay out later during the middle of the day.


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## Palomino Brigade (Mar 20, 2011)

Around 4 hours a day, but longer on the weekends. He lives quite some distance down the road from me, and it takes a while riding my bike down there. Hopefully, he'll be my next-door neighbor soon.


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## nworkman82 (Jun 18, 2009)

About 5... I try to work and hour a day with her doing something and what we do depends on the unpredictable spring weather in Michigan. If she seems moody we lunge and do ground work. I'm hoping to do halter shows this summer so we've been practicing that. But she only will do a half hour of walk, trot, and standing square before I can see the snotty come out. > I hope to do some trail riding soon when old man winter releases his grip. That's her favorite thing. She'll go all day!!!


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## MethowHorses25 (Mar 29, 2011)

Right now it's about 2-4 hours!! I WANT TO START RIDING MORE!!! :-x


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## RockandRide (Jan 23, 2011)

I ride very little. We live far away from the barn and we have not time to go except for the weekend. I ride for an hour a week usually


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## Jessskater (Mar 16, 2011)

Due to the rainy weather here, I only ride 2-3 hours a week. I can only ride when my arena is dry enough. I will be riding 10+ hours a week in the summer though.


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## touchofsleep (Mar 9, 2011)

abouth the same as you. Unfortuently not so much this week because it's been raining


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## Frankiee (Jun 28, 2010)

for me around 6hrs with chase and 3hrs maybe with dakota and there's a new one coming tmr so ill be training her also it really depends on the week and weather actually hehe


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## drafteventer (Jul 6, 2009)

Not much because of weather, but starting tomorrow!
Hopefully an hour at least every other day, on my horse.
So that would be 6+ hours. I'm hoping to take an extra lesson a week in addition to the one I already do so that would be another 2 hrs a week..
So 8 hours  that was some hard math haha


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## iloverains (Apr 1, 2011)

10-12 hours  i ride like 1-3 hours every day...


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