Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

Not riding often - bad for horse?

From: Barbara

Hi Jessica;

I love your archive!!!

Question: I have a Rocky Mountain Horse gelding. He is 3-1/2 years old. I work a lot of hours and don't get to ride him as often as I would like....so he is not as physically fit as he could be.

I guess my question is -- is there anything really "bad" about not riding him every day? Sometimes almost 2 weeks will go by without him being ridden.

Now, when I DO ride, I take it very easy on him, since he is young. We do mostly slow walks along flat terrain and he gets rest stops and water very often.

I know that as long as I don't push him too hard, this should be okay, but I wonder if his muscle development or anything else is suffering because he doesn't get worked as often as I'd like??

thanks Jessica!!! :)

Hi Barbara! Stop worrying, your limited schedule is actually doing your horse a big favour - as long as your horse is turned out every day, for as much of the day as possible. If your riding sessions are the only time he gets out of his stall, that's another matter, but the problem there would be too little turnout, not too little riding. At his age, he's young to be starting under saddle anyway, and short rides two or three times a week will do him more good than daily riding.

If your horse spends most of his time in a field with his friends, he'll walk twenty miles or so on an average day, and he'll be quite fit enough to carry you for brief periods on level ground. The days off between rides will let him relax and build muscle, and they will also make it much less likely that he will go lame - and much more likely that you will notice quickly if he does. He will understand better and show more improvement, too - that's another benefit of time off between training sessions.

As long as you don't ask him to do anything for which he isn't physically and mentally prepared, and you remember to check your tack fit every single time you ride (with a young horse, a lot can change in a couple of weeks),I don't think you should worry. Just don't try to make up for two weeks of NOT riding with four days of extra-hard riding. An energetic youngster turned out 24/7 will keep himself reasonably fit, and be in much better condition (not just muscles, but ligaments, tendons, and bones) than he would be if you kept him in a stall and took him out every single day for a half-hour ride.

Don't worry about harming him - you seem to be using good sense here. You could continue this schedule for several years - or several decades - and do very well.

If there comes a time, in a few years, when you want to prepare your horse for something demanding like a competitive trail ride, you'll want to create and stick to a conditioning program. But what you're doing right now is a nice combination of "introduction to riding" and "time off", you don't have any goals that are causing you to place unfair demands on the horse when you DO have time to ride, and as long as you pay attention to how he moves and feels, I think he'll be just fine.

Jessica

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