Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE Newsletter Archives

Limited Riding Time over winter

From: Melissa Patton

Hi Jessica!

Have yet another question for you. What's the best way to keep your horses from completely forgetting who you are during the winter? Unfortunately, I don't have the time to ride them except on weekends because of limited daylight time. I usually can turn them loose for a little run then ride them ... but I feel badly because they're only getting ridden once, maybe twice per week.

Is this going to absolutely kill them as far as the stuff they learned during last spring, summer and fall? They're both coming six and sweet horses. Are my job and daughter going to take too extreme a toll on my equine counterparts???

Thanx for the advice/opinions.

Melissa

Hi Melissa! Don't worry, your horses aren't likely to forget anything over the winter even if you can't ride them AT ALL. Horses rarely forget anything at all! They have wonderful memories, and that's why we can train them -- and that's also why we have to be careful that we handle them kindly and correctly.

Your horses will probably surprise you. Riding once or twice a week isn't ideal, of course, but it can work out very well, even if the horses are being trained. Some horses actually do much better, and learn their lessons much more effectively, if they have a few days off between sessions. Many horses (and riders!) exhibit latent learning -- you can come out on Saturday and work hard to teach your horse the rudiments of a turn on the forehand, then come out on the next Wednesday and have him show you that he's figured it out in the meantime. This happens a lot, and it will probably happen with your horses too.

Coming six is just coming into adulthood for horses -- you aren't going to lose any ground. Just be patient with them because they may need to be reminded of what you were working on, and they won't start out in the spring or summer with the strong muscling and quick reflexes that they would get from more regular work. But the memory and the understanding will be there, and you can add the muscling and develop the reflexes and habits when you have more time to ride.

In the meantime, your horses can still make progress even if you're only riding once or twice a week -- it may not be as rapid progress as it would be if you could ride every day, and but it will be progress, and your horses will NOT backslide. DROP the guilt load -- you don't need it, and it isn't appropriate. Your horses are having a perfectly good time being horses, just hanging out in their field. When you have time to work with them, work with them -- and ENJOY them. When you don't have time, don't worry about what you think you "should" be doing with the horses. They're fine, they're healthy, they're happy, and they aren't going to forget anything at all. Melissa, you're juggling a job, a child, a house, and two horses -- my hat is off to you!

Jessica

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