Well, tango has been out of work for a week and a half 'cause the weather and school schedule hasn't been working with me. His work has been grazing and staying warm in the rain.
Can I go back to his regular schedule - 20-30 minutes of trotting low three times a week, jumping 1-2 ft. Twice a week with thirty minutes of longeing, and then two days of break - or do I have to start all over again? Like, less time and less jumps that are shorter, or can I just give him short workous for a couple days to get him back into the flow of things, or do I have to start all over?
Do I dare pop my head in? ;-)
As with most things with horses there is never a hard rule. I always like to play things by ear. Use your knowledge of Tango to visually gauge how he is going and constantly monitor him.
This way if he becomes laboured in his breathing, stressed, sweating excessively or too quickly, then you will know that he is not coping with his work load.
I have had horses who can compete once a month with little work in-between and I have had horse who needed constant fitness work to do the same job. Very much like humans some are more naturally athletic and simply don't "have" to have as much constant conditioning to stay in peak form.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Not that I advocate horse being competed heavily (or at all) without a sensible amount of fitness, you know where I'm going .. LOL
You know Tango and his ability better than anyone, and I'm confident that you would not push him past his limits.
After two weeks, I personally like to take a horse slowly and I prefer not to ask for collection until well into a session and then only for a short amount of time compared to their "normal" work. Just like we can get sore after a break they can as well.
But it will never be as bad as if the horse had 2 or more months off. Competition also puts another spin on things. You can train and practice all you like, but you just cant replicate real competition. Even when I was playing hockey I used to dread the first game of the season and could hardly walk for a week .. LOL I was as fit as you could get and extremely toned, but competition is just different.
Same with polocrosse, I was riding multiple horses every day, but that first competition weekend still left you sore, battered and bruised. So I could only imagine it was the same for the horses and always treated them like it was.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
So as your not going to do anything silly like that, Tango will be fine.
Just be mindful that he will be fresh and take the appropriate precautions. Lunge first if you feel he is in a silly mood and have your egg head on. He might pop a pigroot, my old mare always gave a pigroot (or 3) when she was fresh, right into her 20's. Ignore it and just keep asking him to respond to you.
Have fun riding ;-)
Nope, Just keep going and it'll be fine.=) I usually go about a week and a half sometimes without riding Casey and when I get on him, saddle up and go like I ride him everyday. And he acts like he's been rode everyday. So yes, it will be fine if you continue the regular schedule.
-Fresh - Paint-
A week and a half off is nothing. It shouldn't interfere with your progress so just pick up where you left off. Personally I wouldn't be lunging him as much though as it can be quite boring for the horse.
HORSE SOURCE: Read it again. I said lunging that often is boring for the horse.
Since its only half a week, just give him lighter rides for couple of days to get him back into the flow, and then slowly get into your usual routine, if it was longer though, it would take much longer to strengthen his muscles and get used to work again.
No, a week and a half off will not make a huge difference to him if any.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Twenty minutes of lunging is equal to about an hour of ridden work, it can also become quite monotonous, so try keep lunging sessions short and sweet.
No, you don't have to start all over. He would not have gotten completely out of shape in a week and a half. I'd shorten the first couple of workout just a little bit, then go back to business as usual.
A week and a half is no biggy. Some horses may require you to start back up a little slower for the first few days but going back to your normal routine otherwise should be fine.
he might be a little stiff so just for about 2 days do a little less work and longer warm up but 2 weeks isn't a very long time.
won't kill him to go back to work. you don't need to baby these animals.
what won't kill him won't hurt him.
I would think you should just ride him a little lighter the first time out. maybe not just go right in the jumping. work a little more on reining, collection, just work him on handling well.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com It's no wonder that horses just get nasty and want to quit when the riders just keep up the jumping, or barrel racing over and over again till the horses just hate it and start to rebell and refuse.
