Sports Massage Therapist (human & equine), equine osteopath and WINBACK therapist covering Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire
21/03/2025
*** LENGTH OF SCHOOLING SESSIONS and TIRED HORSES ***
My horses are never, ever, schooled for longer than 30 minutes. This is more than enough time to achieve something, and if you haven’t achieved your goal after 30 minutes, it’s unlikely that you will by plugging on for longer. This 30 minutes includes my warm up, and a couple of short walk breaks.
I haven’t really had lessons for many years, but when I trained with Jennie Loriston-Clarke, the lesson time was 40 minutes. This includes warming up and warming down. Frequently, they wouldn’t go on past 30 minutes. Horses learn by repetition, not by grilling them for an hour at a time.
Horses also break easily. They damage ligaments and tendons. Yes, this is often unlucky and frequently caused by a sudden twist in the field. But it’s also frequently caused by too much schooling, especially if the surface is deep, or uneven. Proximal suspensory ligaments are not designed to take the weight of a horse in collected work for hours. Once a PSL is damaged, you are often looking at a lengthy rehab, or surgery to cut the nerve that supplies it (neurectomy). That is not to say that every horse with PSD has been overworked, before I offend anyone!
Horses break more easily when they are tired. A tired horse is more likely to trip, possibly resulting in ligament or tendon damage. Muscle needs some degree of fatigue to condition it, but not to the point of complete exhaustion. Note this very important phrase: “point of exhaustion”; not the same as a tired/exhausted horse, but one which is on the point of collapse.
A horse’s brain also breaks easily. Fatigue can also be mental. Granted, some horses’ brains don’t take much to break, but if a horse becomes stressed or can’t work out what you are asking him that day, then take a 24 hour break, and go for a hack, or just lunge the next day. Or give him a day off.
Most horses will be fit enough for their job, without being ridden 6 days a week. However, they will NOT be fit enough for their job ridden once or twice a week. The main issue with lower level competition horses, is that many are fat. I’m aware that this term will offend lots, but it’s a fact. Exercise is a great way to get horses to lose weight, true, but not without reducing the amount of grass or hard feed they are receiving. Schooling a fat horse for an hour, will cause joint, tendon, and ligament problems in the long term. Find hills to slowly jog them up, or even walk them up, if you are wanting to exercise more to help with fitness and/or weight loss. Don’t school them more. Trotting endlessly around a flat arena isn’t really going to help with fitness. Likewise, underfeeding your horse so that he/she looks slim, does not mean they are in any way fit enough for their job.
If you are going to school, then add plenty of variety. Make sure the horse is working from behind, and not dragging himself along on his forehand. If you don’t enjoy schooling, you will be more inclined to switch off and trot endless 20m circles. So go for a hack first, and then just do ten minutes of intense schooling when you get home. That will keep both human and horse brains fresh!
This is an enormous topic, and it would take me days to cover it all, so this is really a brief summary. Keep schooling sessions short and productive, and if the session is going wrong, take a break!
Photo is of Johnnie, en route to an amazing double clear at Houghton 4*, 3 years ago.
