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| His face is cute |
It's the time of year wherein we are occasionally socially obligated to do non-pony things, such as "travel" and "spend time with family". Now if you are smart like me, you combine both of those with "GOING TO THE FIESTA BOWL BITCHES" and just watch football in the warm sunshine, but it leaves the same thing behind:
A pony.
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| Not me riding |
I'm on the fence here. I have a few more days to make plans and part of me thinks Courage would do well with downtime. The other part would kill for some solid training rides and I'm not sure what will make the difference for me.
my horse has all day turn out ... so when I take a vacation he gets one too! It's good for his brain sometimes
ReplyDeleteWell I'm poor and I don't have an on-site trainer or qualified friend that actually wants to ride the pony, so he just gets a vacation!
ReplyDeleteIf you still had Courage at the old barn I'd vote time off... Since he's at the indoor now though I think I would lean towards training rides if I was in your shoes. May as well make use of the resources that you moved there for :)
ReplyDeleteMy horses are always turned out but I sometimes pay for someone to brush/lunge/feed them! :)
ReplyDeleteVacation. He works when I am there so he gets time off when I am gone.
ReplyDeleteDowntime. My pony gets all day turnout. I'm sure he doesn't miss the half-hour a day he gets ridden.
ReplyDeleteHe's never gone backwards in training after some time off. We usually pick right up where we left off.
If I am gone on a vacation during spring summer or fall, he gets trainer rides. Over Christmas, he gets a vacation. I'd hate to ask my trainer to keep him in work over the holidays in crappy weather, and it's not going to kill him to have a couple weeks of 1-2 rides.
ReplyDeletesince you have an indoor...I would be tempted to do training rides. Anytime I've vacationed, my horse was kept in training. She would have stood around all day in her stall otherwise, which I didn't want.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could split the difference...give him a couple days off at Christmas, then have one or two training rides before you get back (depending on how long you're gone, of course)
I usually only travel for 7-10 days tops, so I just give Miles that time off. Luckily I'm at a full service barn, so he dtill gets his regular turnout
ReplyDeleteParker is the only one I let people ride and not without me there so they just get a holiday. They are all off for the rest of the month now anyways, they like their breaks!
ReplyDeleteI'm never gone for very long, so Moe and Gina don't get much of a change in routine. I'm grateful for the kids that take lessons on them- they keep them moving when I'm out of town!
ReplyDeleteI really think that down time is good time. Especially if he's being so good and getting the concepts of what you're teaching. Obviously if he's getting it... You're doing an awesome job. But in other thoughts... Some horses get cranky when not worked. I think it really depends on the horse and how long you're going away for. Unfortunately B has very few... Well... 1 other person that can really successfully have a non-spaz ride on him which is good, but I usually have some cleaning up to do in the end.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was showing competitively, they got training rides when we were gone. Now, Lucy just hangs out at home, much like she does the other 11 months of the year. Retired life is good.
ReplyDeleteI normally do a combination of trainer rides/lunges and barn-buddy-favor-tag. I'll arrange for a horse-sitter when I'm gone for more than a long weekend (usually a friend who is a great rider but doesn't have a horse currently).
ReplyDeleteI do a combo, a few days extra off won't hurt, but I don't want her to just sit around in the cold, so maybe have a junior rider or another adult hop on her for a few spins around the arena.
ReplyDeleteHafl gets one or the other day off - I guess that is ok for him too :D
ReplyDeleteI usually do a combo of training rides and enlisting friends to help. I always make sure someone is looking at him every day whether they are riding him, turning him out or hand walking just to make sure he's ok. This past trip I was gone 10 days, he got 5 training rides, 1 massage (yes, very spoiled) and 4 short hand walks from a friend. Since he's in a stall with no turnout all I care about is that he gets out to do something every day and someone is making sure he's not bleeding or anything :P
ReplyDeleteMine have plenty of turnout now so I don't mind just giving them some down time. The only time i got trainer rides was when I was boarding where turnout was limited and I didn't want them standing around bored all day.
ReplyDeleteI keep mine at home, so dad just checks on him for me and he gets time off. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm currently on holidays!
ReplyDeleteMy boys are on 24/7 turnout so they just get time off. I uhmmed and ahhed over getting one of my students to ride the TB, but decided against it. I'm lucky that Arch and Petrus are good after time off (and Rom is spelling!)
I've had to pay for a horse babysitter, though.
This year the holidays coincided with my horse's African horse sickness shots, meaning they have to be pretty much off for six weeks (it's a pretty scary virus and even the shot can be dangerous if they absorb it too fast). So my ponies are resting but for little short walking hacks. Not riding on Christmas Day is utterly unthinkable, though, so my li'l sis and I will be saddling up for a short hack, her on her new mare and me on a client horse that didn't get his shots in the hoidays (he is quite a tired horsy currently...)
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm on vacation so are they :) If I was in a boarding situation it
ReplyDeleteWould be different.