# Riding a single horse, how many hours per day, how many years?



## HeartofClass

Can anyone tell me how many hours per day one horse should be ridden at most? And how many years can a horse work with beginners? I hope I'm phrasing this understandable. 
I've visited quite some schools as I'm interested in riding and have already had a few classes. Each riding school seem to have their own philosophy as to how long a horse can be ridden per day and how many years a horse is able to work. So, what I've experiences is this. The school that had the most obedient and well trained horses works with one horse three times per day at most for 25min. The school in which I experienced the most stubborn horse, that they had to repeatedly tell to trot each time (and would still stop randomly and then refuse to move again), told me they work with one horse 5-6 times a day per 60min. I'm no expert at all, and I can't say whether the stubborness of the horse had anything to do with how much they are being ridden per day. I also know that horses differ by breed and all (although afaik these two horses are the same breed) so this is purely my personal experience. As for how many years the horses can work, the first school told me the horse I rode was 15 years old, had been working for ten years and that they're currently trying to find a place for him to retire. The second school's horse was 16 years old, had been working sinc 5 and will be retired after 20. 
These are all pretty different information I'm getting and while I know there may be no right or wrong answer as everyone has a different technique, what do you think?


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## Argent

I've experienced it myself that an overworked horse will become stubborn and ill-tempered. A pony I was assigned to groom/clean out/look after etc when I helped out at a riding school, was bought very young, around 3 or 4 and put straight into work ferrying around the smallest kids. 

She was a popular pony, and although I think there were only lessons over weekends and she was turned out monday-friday, there came a point when she started to act a lot more stubborn. She hated me coming near her to groom her because she knew her tack would follow. She'd stall and go extremely slow during lessons and had to be 'encouraged' with a tickle of a long crop. Eventually, she just started sitting down in the middle of lessons. At one point she nearly rolled on a kid whilst trying to get them off her back. She'd had enough.

It was only when I inadvertently started to help out what turned out to be her breeder a few years later, that I learned what had happened to dear Bubbles and why she acted the way she did. Worked far to hard, far too young, it broke her.

On the other hand, they had a pony named Topic, who was the pony I learned on. From about 20 years of age, the school kept trying to retire him, but he became depressed - he lived to work, so they carried him on til he was ready to call it quits.

I don't think there's a set age on horses and when they should retire, I think that unless there is illness or injury, they will let you know when they're no longer happy to work.

I'd go with the first riding school you mentioned. The horses sound much happier there.


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## HeartofClass

I will definitely stick with thr first school, there's no question about that as I prefered their attitude towards me and the horses. But I find it astounding that the philosophy of trainers differs so much when they're all registered proffesionals and have been in the field of riding for a long time.


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## Argent

HeartofClass said:


> I will definitely stick with thr first school, there's no question about that as I prefered their attitude towards me and the horses. But I find it astounding that the philosophy of trainers differs so much when they're all registered proffesionals and have been in the field of riding for a long time.


How many or few years people have been involved with horses means nothing to me. You either have respect for the animals or you don't. People who say they've been keeping and training horses for 25+ years, could have been doing so in a constantly cruel way, using bullying tactics and pushing the poor horses around.

There's some newbies to the horse world who will not abide by any of that, and have already chosen to go the route of natural horsemanship, getting the horse to _want_ to work with you and enjoy working too.

It's a bit of an old tradition, which thankfully is starting to turn for the better, but there's still these awful, stuck up organisations using cruel practices.


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## HeartofClass

Yeah, I met a few of those. The problem is they try to justify their methods by suggesting that because they've trained so many horses they know exactly what they're doing and of course I can't do anything but nod and smile since "what do I know, I'm a clueless beginner."


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## Shady

I personally think that 5-6 hours of work a day is too much. Especially in a school environment. Where I used to work, they were worked for no more than 3 hours a day, and always had at least an hours rest between lessons. Of course, these horses were not just ridden by beginners, so it wasn't just plodding around the school in walk and trot. I still think 6 hours of plodding is a hell of a lot. As for retirement age... it does all depend on the horse/pony in question. As already stated, some may be ready to pack it all in at 15 others may go on until they're 50 (yes, I do actually know a pony that still wanted to be ridden at 50. He used to neigh at me every time I tacked up his younger friend and when I placed the tack on him, just to test the theory, his ears would perk forwards) And as for the laziness... sometimes I think school horses just get plain old bored! Wouldn't you just going round and round all day long? Most the time you get those 'lazy' horses out in an open field and let them gallop for a while, they're a whole different horse


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## AutumnAngel

There are no hard and fast rules.

Some horses take to riding school work and the constant change of riders, unbalanced and clumsy beginners, unskilled riders, etc whilst other horses won't tolerate it all.

Some horses will work happily in a school for years, others not at all, and others will jack the job in after a year or two when they get bored with it and start chucking riders off. It all depends on the horse's temperament.

How many hours a horse can work a day in a riding school will depend on a number of factors - the horse's enjoyment and willingness to work, the variety of its work, the horse's temperament, condition and it's fitness.

The same is true for how long during it's life it can work in the school - some horses remain active and fit for most of their lives and continue to enjoy working, others deteriorate with old age, become cranky or just don't enjoy work as much as they used to. 

If a horse is used in a school for beginners to ride doing mostly walk and trot, it's not like it's really doing any hard work. 4 hours a day of their work is probably less "work" and exertion and requires less fitness than an advanced show jumper or dressage horse would do in an hour. The work of a horse for beginners also doesn't have the strain on their joints that an advanced show jumper or dressage horse would have in the work that they either so can continue to work far longer over it's life than an advanced show jumper or dressage horse would at their level.

The stubborn horse could be because it doesn't enjoy its work, is tired from doing the amount of hours it does in a day, or just because it's got a cheek character. It's hard to say which. 

But at the end of the day, as a rider learning to ride you want to ride horses that enjoy their work, are fit for the job and obedient as this gives you the best enjoyment and also the best horse on which to learn to ride. Whether that's on a horse that does 1 hour a day's work or 5 hours a day's work, whether it is a 10 year old horse or a 20 year old horse really doesn't make a difference. You are paying to learn to ride and the school should provide you with a horse that is suitable for the job and makes learning to ride easy, safe and enjoyable for you.

So if you enjoy riding the horses at one school, but not the horses at another, then stick with the one that you enjoy and don't worry about their age or how much work the horse does. As long as the horse is fit for the job it's doing, doesn't seem tired or stubborn and enjoys its work then that's really all that matters.


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## Roofs

Our horses at work tend not to do more than three hours a day, this would be peak of the holidays, probably twice a week, we only have lessons three days a week so even if they are ridden six days a week they won't just be going round the arena, hacking is usually an hour in walk or trot, not hard exercise at all. The horses on lease (who have an owner who rents them) although they will do more with their leaser this allows them to do less work in the riding school. If a horse starts to get sour being in the school then we will give them a holiday and if they still hate being in the RS we find them a private home.

The only time I could see a horse regularly doing 6 hours a day would be a trekking centre, even then I imagine that they not doing that 6 days a week and trekking is far more enjoyable than going round the school!


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## flyballcrazy

The riding school I used to go to used their horses no more than two hours a day. The horses had Mondays off and were turned out at night not later than 5pm even in the summer, bought in at 9am. Some ponies were only used at weekend and holidays for 30 mins beginner lessons.

I learnt to ride on a 25yr old she was great, steady and willing. She also didn't want to retire she would escape out of the field. She also used to whinny when you bought her tack.

I do think its up to the horse/pony when they have had enough. But a veried routine helps.


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