How often should I ride my thoroughbred?

Question

He is a 10 year old ex racehorse (bay gelding) but he very trained in dressage and jumping. He gets fed twice a day (usually) In his feeds i give him Triple Blend Chaff, Oaten Chaff, Rice Bran, Racehorse Oats, Barley, Sunflower Seeds, Equilibrium and Peppermint. We have noticed that he has dropped off in weight and is showing his ribs. I was wondering how often I should ride him, and any other tips would be greatly appreciated

Answer 1

I would worm the horse if is losing weight and talk to a vet about having a blood test to cheek that the horse is on the wright foods. you can ride the horse but just be careful until he puts the weight back on.

Answer 2

I think you are really asking two questions - how much can I ride my horse, and is how much I am riding my horse making him too thin.

The amount you can ride your horse each week depends on a) his conditioning, b) how hard you work him and c) his nutrition.

The first thing you should do is to assess your horse's "body condition score." Try http://www.shady-acres.com/susan/conditi...

If your horse is below 5, you will want to consider increasing his intake. First, however, you may want to also consider having his f***s tested for worms. This is an inexpensive and quick test. Check with your vet. If the horse is clean, then you need to see about balancing his intake with his work schedule.

My horse (an eight year old gelding) has maintained a 5 rating for the nearly four months I have owned him. He gets free choice hay (about three flakes) two times a day, two flakes at midday, and two scoops of grain containing extra protein and fat in morning and late afternoon. He is ridden four to five days a week. Three or four of those days, he is ridden in the arena for an hour with a 10-15 minute warm up and matching cool down at walk and trot, sometimes using cones, poles or just lateral work. One day a week he goes on a trail ride in the morning and does arena work in the afternoon. In the arena he does lateral work (half pass, sidepass, haunches in and out, etc.), walk / jog / lope / canter, and he is usually doing a ton of circles in both directions at lope and canter. Several days a week his peak workout includes hard reining pattern type work with rundowns, rollbacks, spins and stops. He gets rest from time to time during his routine, sometimes for as long as five minutes.

My horse is a quarter horse with a fairly narrow conformation, and he has been putting on significant muscle with this workout and diet. But your horse could be completely different.

This is a great paper on performance horse nutrition that can help you plan your horse's diet: http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/e...

Some horses need more grain with more fat to add weight, but you need to look at his diet holistically. For instance, first look at how much forage he is eating. If your horse runs out of hay during the day, add more until he has leftover hay all the time. If he's still thin, you may need the additional grain feed because he just won't eat enough hay to bring up his weight.

Are you overworking your horse for the state of his conditioning? One way to determine this is to use a heart rate monitor or count his pulse so you can identify how fast he returns his heart rate to normal. There are a number of sites on this topic, such as http://www.horse-vacation.com/artConditi...

On a final note, if you have an indoor arena you can ride year round (including winter) at the same intensity. You need to manage your horse's coat growth so he won't get too hairy - that makes it hard for him to let go of sweat. And, even in New England, horses can be turned out 24 hours a day even in winter, except for nasty storm conditiions. It's actually better for them, because they walk more. Kept in stalls, the lack of exercise (a recent study says about 800 steps a day vs 4000 steps a day) will lead to an osteoporosis type of condition as well as weakening muscles, tendons and ligaments. Just imagine keeping an Olympic athelete in a jail cell and then expecting him to run a track and field event...

It's surprising to most people, but horses actually deal better with cold than heat. That's because they are large and have lower surface area to volume ratios than people, so heat doesn't get out of their bodies very fast, which can have bad effects if they are working in hot weather. They generate a lot of heat from digesting forage, so consistent hay diets in the winter are important if they are kept out.

Well, I hope you find this helpful.

Answer 3

This happened with my new horse Pretty Boy! We were very unsure of what caused this! We were feeding him 3 times a day, riding him 5 times a week (at least) for about an hour a day. Everything was going well. It could be he wasnt adjusting to his home very quickly. I recommend calling the previous owner and asking if this has happened before (this is what we did). Maybe your horse just looses weight in the spring! If they say they dont know, or dont think so, or you can contact them... call the vet and ask them to do a full checkup.Including in their mouth! If your horse is dropping food out of his mouth constantly...you may need to get his teeth floated ( filed down with a rasp). Good luck!

Answer 4

I am concerned of his weight loss.  I would call a vet to have him checked out. If he is losing weight, I would think there has to be something going on with his body.

Answer 5

When ever you want! Don't ride him 3 hours everyday unless he has goo d endurance and has worked up to it! Don't do it to much or to little. Ride him normaly!?

Answer 6

Here are a couple of things you might want to do:

a. Check his teeth - see if they need floating. If you can see / feel the sharp edges and points in his mouth, you might want to call the vet.

b. Is he up to date on deworming and vaccines?

c. Did you buy him recently or a couple of months ago? If you did - check with previous owners if he drops weight in summer season.

d. Also if C is yes, ask previous owners what they used to feed him. Sometimes in the hay there are these small pine type leaves (dont know what they are called) that get stuck in the teeth and can cause problems with eating.

e. Is he in a stable or a paddock with other horses? If he is in a paddock, do any of the other horses dominate more during feed time? If so, he might not be actually eating all that you feed him as others would be helping themselves.

As far as riding goes, you need to ride him depending on how much of a horse he is: is he always full of energy? does he get bored in the stable? - lots of things.

Generally:

If he is in work:

a. Give him a day off - pref if he can be turned out somewhere

b. Exercise him lightly 3 times a week

c. You can really work / jump him hard twice a week.

d. The rest is dependant on your schedule - i.e. if you are competing some months, and if you are not.

If he is not supposed to be in great form:

a. Ride him around lightly 2-3 times a week to stretch him.

b. Let him out in a round pen or arena twice a week if you can.

Answer 7

Occasional riding is fine during winter. This means that your horse is ridden less than once a week. Riding in the winter should be limited because of the cold. Horses, especially warm and hot blooded horses, can easily become chilled if outside too long during the cold winter months. During the summer, spring, and fall, not riding often can be bad for your horse. Most horses love the warmth and want to be active when the weather is nice. Riding once a week is best. Any less can affect your horse's training.

Answer 8

4 days a week in the summer and i usually give my horse the winter off to relax.

Answer 9

I would deffenately reccomend feeding him fatty foods such as rice bran and soon if given like 5 pounds will gain weight soon. Also while he is skinny ride him a normal amount unless he seems tired i would also reccomend lunging with sidereins to build up some muscle

Answer 10

He needs grass hay

Answer 11

I have had several thoroughbreds over the years, and they are a very sensitive breed. First of all, they are a totally man made breed. They couldn't survive in the wild and require very special care. They do make great jumpers, though, and I Love them.

You say that he gets fed twice a day, usually. A throroughbred, espeically one that has been bred for the track, has got to be fed on a regular schedule. Choose times about 10 to twelve hours apart and stick to it. Some other horses can easily tolerate deviating from a feeding schedule occasionally, not so with a horse like yours. Also, try to give him a hay snack at midday if his is stall kept. Thoroughbreds do tend to run lean, but ribs showing is a little too much.

Have your vet come out and check him out, especially his teeth. IF he isn't chewing his feed completely, he could be passing some of it undigested. See what your vet advises. It could be a lot of things. (Is he wormed regularly?) In the meantime, giving some whole wheat bread as a treat can help put a little weight on. Have you tried a medium protien sweet feed?

As to your other question, It depends on whether he is stall kept or out at pasture. Most thoroughbreds requires regular exercise, whether that is being turned out daily if you can't ride at least several days a week,  or some combination of lunging and riding. they have high metabolisms, and really do require regular exercise. let me know how it turns out!