Hmm, After reading a article in a horse mag recently about turning away most horses at some point in the year for 6-8 weeks I am considering doing this with Harvey. Piccolo will need to be turned away at some point this winter anyway so she can be brought back up into work aas a rising 4yr old in the spring.
So...Do you think turning away is beneficial?
Harvey had taken in a lot this last year and also competed well at riding club level in showing, dressage and SJ. We also do a lot of groundwork. He has been re-schooled quite a lot and his attitude has changed dramatically for the better.
Recently though I have felt a bit stagnated, not sure what to work on and competitions are over until next spring for us now. I am considering working on tidying up loose ends over the next few weeks so he is turned away after doing 'good' work where he feels he is getting everything right, gentle hacking for the last week and then turning him away with Piccolo from 17th Nov to 29th Dec, then at end of Dec bringing him in overnight and having him clipped and start training ready for the next year.
At the moment he is living out in a 200g rug and has a chaser/irish clip. He is keeping good weight and is on balancer, hi fi lite and a little bit of speedibeet By the time he is turned away his clip will have grown out, I'll stop his feed as he won't be working at all and give him adlib hay instead if the grass is lacking and will try no rug unless it's wet and cold and a rainsheet if he needs it.
It will mean he'll get 6 weeks to reflect....is that a good thing?
The alternative is to keep working him 4 times a week during the winter and have him stabled at night, clipped in irish/chaser and rugged. Prob is I've got a bit stale in what to do with him!
Pic will be turned away this winter regardless. If Boo ges too disapointed at having a 6 week break then she may get a riding lesson every two weeks lol.
What do you think? What do you do?
So...Do you think turning away is beneficial?
Harvey had taken in a lot this last year and also competed well at riding club level in showing, dressage and SJ. We also do a lot of groundwork. He has been re-schooled quite a lot and his attitude has changed dramatically for the better.
Recently though I have felt a bit stagnated, not sure what to work on and competitions are over until next spring for us now. I am considering working on tidying up loose ends over the next few weeks so he is turned away after doing 'good' work where he feels he is getting everything right, gentle hacking for the last week and then turning him away with Piccolo from 17th Nov to 29th Dec, then at end of Dec bringing him in overnight and having him clipped and start training ready for the next year.
At the moment he is living out in a 200g rug and has a chaser/irish clip. He is keeping good weight and is on balancer, hi fi lite and a little bit of speedibeet By the time he is turned away his clip will have grown out, I'll stop his feed as he won't be working at all and give him adlib hay instead if the grass is lacking and will try no rug unless it's wet and cold and a rainsheet if he needs it.
It will mean he'll get 6 weeks to reflect....is that a good thing?
The alternative is to keep working him 4 times a week during the winter and have him stabled at night, clipped in irish/chaser and rugged. Prob is I've got a bit stale in what to do with him!
Pic will be turned away this winter regardless. If Boo ges too disapointed at having a 6 week break then she may get a riding lesson every two weeks lol.
What do you think? What do you do?