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How many times do you ride

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Last activity 2015-02-27 4:35 PM
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chasendacash
Reg. Oct 2008
Posted 2015-02-27 1:10 AM
Subject: RE: How many times do you ride


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Posts: 1586
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Location: west of East Texas
I work fulltime and get home about 6pm.  I end up riding one horse about two days during the week and make it to a couple of barrel races a month.  I ride more outside the arena than inside, about 3:1.  I usually ride with my 12yo daughter and she likes to 'condition' her horse more than work on drills or the pattern.  As long as they keep making nice runs, I'm not going to get in her way.  My horse is a hyper crackhead in the seasoning stage and so I circle a lot of trees and scrub brush while we are out long trotting the pastures, creeks, hills.  Her horse is a bit lazy so she'll breeze her pretty good now and then.  I've used a phone app and I will have covered about 3 miles to her 2 miles by the time we get back to the barn an hour later.  Comp level---we are still improving and Crackhead has gone from 10D to 2D with 100-150 runners since I started her 8 months ago.  The last 300+ race, she was 1.2 off 2 of the 3 days.  Last weekend she was .7 off with 165 runners.  My daughter ran 2D all 3 days at the 300+ race and was .1 off last weekend.  She won Youth 1D at both races.

I used to worry that I wasn't doing my horses justice because they got ridden so little.  Now I'm older and I don't let it bother me as much.  They are turned out and moving 23 hours a day.  They are sound, healthy, and sane.  I haven't had lameness issues to deal with nor illnesses.  In my wise old age, I've decided to enjoy my two days a week and not stress over the other.  My descriiption of me is "It takes me two years to get '90 days' on one...."

 
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scarletohara
Reg. Oct 2004
Posted 2015-02-27 4:35 PM
Subject: RE: How many times do you ride


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Posts: 1056
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Location: somewhere in the middle
Quality,not quantity,is what's important. I'm fortunate to have a 6 horse Driver hot walker that goes really fast. I keep deep sand around it so they can get a pretty good workout on it if I long trot them for 25 minutes or so.I think people really under rate the value of turn out time. A horse that is turned out and isn't completely lazy gets a lot more exercise than a horse that's only ridden for 15-20 minutes and is in a stall the rest of the day. On the other hand you absolutely can not have a top 1D horse if it's turned out full time with a big grass belly. I have a 1D horse that I have never worked on barrels and only ride him out in the pasture or use him to work cattle. I try to ride him once or twice a week and put him on the hot walker other days. I have though started working him on poles just for something else to do. I have a 5 year old that is a solid 2D horse that I do slow work on occasionally and I try to ride her 3-4 times a week as well as put her on the hot walker on days I don't ride her. I have never made a full out run at home on either one of them even the young one that I trained.
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