Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Four Rides A Week

“For a horse in full work, I like the number four. This gives you enough time in the saddle to accomplish goals and work towards training without forgetting to let them be a horse and have fun.”

Welcome to the next installment of Thoroughbred Logic. In this weekly series, Anthropologist and trainer Aubrey Graham, of Kivu Sport Horses, offers insight and training experience when it comes to working with Thoroughbreds (although much will apply to all breeds). This week ride along as Aubrey shares her logic on how often to work horses.

I’m sitting here trying to think of a clever way to say, “Life is pretty damn busy right now,” but I think the busy begot the tired, and the only words I have left are particularly direct and simple. Hell, that’s certainly a factor in why horse trainers often don’t mince words – we’re just too damn tired for the extra fluff.

There is logic to the tired right now and a big part of it is this: the drive. It is an hour and ten minutes door-to-door without getting stuck behind farm equipment or tourists to get between the beautiful mountainy location where my horses are and the more cosmopolitan (for the Finger Lakes) area where I teach. And that drive (and the resulting loss of roughly two and a half hours daily to my truck) is finally starting to carve productivity out of daylight hours and frankly just kick my ass.

I mean, at least this drive is ridiculously pretty. Photo by author.

The resulting level of hustle that I’m operating at currently means that my personal horses get the short-shrift when I have to draw straws in terms of who gets ridden and who can wait until tomorrow. Lessons, training and sales horses get priority – as they should. Rhodie (Western Ridge, who is on a light workload through the fall and winter) and Wolf (Louisiana Moon, who is probably forever mine and just being a good goofball) are pretty sure I must be going senile to walk by and not pull them out. But they get to wait. And here’s the better part – they are perfectly capable of waiting.

Rhodie (Western Ridge) and Wolf (Louisiana Moon) at the facility in Bath, NY. Photo by author.

One of the questions I frequently receive is “How many days a week do they work?” I manage to swing a leg over three-to-five rides a week for training and sales horses in my program. But for my personal horses who are not currently competing, by necessity and the limitations of time, the answer might be two. Work is good for these kids – of course it is. But they do not need to work an hour a day six days a week to behave.

For a horse in full work, I like the number four. This gives you enough time in the saddle to accomplish goals and work towards training without forgetting to let them be a horse and have fun. It also gives them breaks and keeps the routine from becoming so fixed that they start to get stressed when little things shift and change. Four also allows that first ride of the week to maybe have a bit more energy and have time and the ability to settle again before a show on the weekend, a hunt, clinic or off property lesson.

Timber (Tiznow True) getting a workout in during his four-ride week. Photo by Izzy Gritsavage

Four rides in my world looks loosely like this:

Tuesday: “Easy ride” – trails to warm up, light flat school if/once they focus

Wednesday: Dressage or more focused flat ride with skills and training goals (work on extensions, increase the ability to stand quietly at the halt… whatever the horse needs)

Thursday: OFF (check legs for new bumps and bruises, feed them a cookie and let them horse)

Friday: Jump or additional skill building (can swap this with the Wed dressage school)

Saturday: Show, Lesson, Clinic, XC School or more skill building at home.

Sunday: OFF (more checking for field ridiculousness… because #horses… and some scratches and maybe a cookie)

Monday: “OFF.” I’m closed to the public on Monday, so generally I don’t ride and try to take some form of day off, but let’s be honest, that rarely succeeds. So if I ride on Monday, I try to make it the “easy ride,” and add another dressage or intensive flat school in during the week.

Hacking Neil (Lute’s Angel) down to the arena for a flat school. Photo by Sarah Hepler.

A few more notes on the rides: I try not to ride them in the same order each time, just to keep things from becoming too set and scheduled. Shows and competitions, trail rides, hunts, and clinics don’t operate by that same daily schedule, so I like to make sure they’re fine to work whenever – early morning, later evening, while the others are eating. Whatever timeline is needed to ensure they know that they get to come out of the paddock or stall be kind and try, do what they can of their job and be told they’re lovely. Then they get to go back and horse more.

My rides range from 20 minutes to an hour depending on how well we manage to get through the exercises. If a horse is going to be perfect, I’m not going to punish them by making the ride longer and harder. We’ll complete the work, make sure we did enough to build their fitness a bit and then head off for a walk and be done. I’ll mentally note that they were super good and plan to up their training game for the next skill building ride.

Ramen (Plamen) enjoying the warm up around the lake yesterday. Photo by author.

Conversely, if I get on for a quick hack and am riding a ticking time bomb, I might forgo the long-rein walks in the woods and go to work for the better part of an hour. There’s no special calculations or strict boundaries here – it’s just a matter of feeling out the horse under you and working within their parameters for that given day.

For instance, I know that Ramen will come out and want to run if he gets a few days off. He’s never rude about it, but it’s silly for me to try to mentally schedule a concentrated dressage school when he needs to move his feet and would be better off putting in some distance and fitness work and coming back to the sand box the following day. But if I get on and expect fast feet and he’s rather settled, I’ll shorten his trail work and mix in some skill building in the arena.

Ramen putting the work in with the best background possible (before the corn grew and blocked the view). Photo by Sarah Hepler.

But one of the most important things here is that they do not need six days a week of an hour of steady work to behave. Sure, it is OK to ride that much so long as you mix it up and give them mental and physical breaks. But, they should not NEED to ride that much to function.

I can give five-year old Needles Highway two or three weeks off to heal up whatever ridiculous new field injury he came in with and know that when I swing a leg over he will be quiet and happy to work. (OK, that statement holds UNLESS he has been on stall rest, then all bets are off). Rhodie likes to get attention seven days a week, and thinks he’s the best thing since sliced bread, but he still is a very good dragon when I mount up two times a week and expect that he will hack out for a bit before working on some of his dressage skills (remember, he’s stuck in light work through the winter).  Neil (Lute’s Angel) and Ramen (Plamen) are on the four days a week plan as they head towards the Makeover next month – and while I have never brought a horse to Kentucky who is “fully ready” – I know they will be reasonable, happy and give all that I ask a reasonably good shot.

Needles Highway snoozing midday before his workout. Photo by author.

So when I hear that such and such a horse needs six to seven days a week to be good, I have a lot of questions. Sure, I am certain there are some horses who just have that much energy. But for most of them, it makes me wonder what they are doing under saddle that requires that much work and what might be causing it. Are they sore and running through the rider? Is their tack making them uncomfortable? Do they need their teeth floated? What behavior is being held in check with general exhaustion? Are they getting enough turnout? And… are they happy in their day-to-day situation?

That last question seems a little mushy but I think a horses’ happiness and comfort level in their turnout and their management in a barn can make them go from complete fleet footed psychos to much calmer dragons. But that is probably a topic for a day when I have more time.

Koops and Needles blasting around in their field like happy fools. Photo by author.

Keep it interesting and enjoy the rides, folks. I’m off to hook up the trailer and head to the track. There’s a super pretty red mare who gets to hop on the rig this morning at Presque Isle and I’m excited to get her, grab a new friend’s new horse from Finger Lakes track on the way home, and then make the commute to Ithaca. Time to hustle.

When health issues arise, always seek the advice of a licensed veterinarian who can help you choose the correct course of action for your horse. Supplements are intended to maintain healthy systems and support recovery and healing. They are not intended to treat or cure illness or injury.

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