question about older horse

Hi everyone. I have the 18yr old qh. We are doing great! I have been learning to ride .He loves it. I love it. He has put on some weight and seems really happy. Anyways...... I was wondering. How often is tooo often to ride him? I mean, I want all the practice I can get and it is good exercise for him. But I dont want to overdo it for him. Do yall have any suggestions? Thanks

 

If you're a beginning rider, I'd suspect you'll give out way before the horse is in any danger. But on the practicle side, if you start off with short sessions every day, and work your way up to longer ones, there shouldn't be any problems. I had a 30 year old horse that we used for riding lessons. He usually spent 3 hours a day under saddle, and he did just fine. Just be sure to warm him up for 10 minutes, and cool him out completely when you're finished riding.

 

How do yall cool down your horses. Usually when we are done with him, we brush him, etc. before we put him back out in his pasture. Is there anything we specifically need to do? Thanks!

 

To cool your horse out you should finish riding him at a walk and let him just walk for a few minutes, untack him and walk him around in his halter until his breathing has returned to normal, and is no longer warm to the touch(feel his chest). Warm meaning warmer than he was just standing out in the pature when you first caught him His sweat should be dry and then you can brush him out.

 

Some horses need cooling out after being ridden, others don't. My Arab hardly ever sweats unless he's worked REALLY hard, so I don't cool him out. Depends on the horse.

 

with a good diet and as long as there aren't any serious health problems then i think you are ok. i wouldn't use him for heavy duty ranch work or anything, but i bet trail riding is fine.
cooling out a horse depends on the horse. you need to walk them at least until their breathing turned to normal, then brush them out and i wouldn't give them alot to eat right away either.

 

You don't want to let him guzzle down a bunch of cold water after a workout either. Water that has been sitting long enough to warm up to room temperature is ok, but still, not gallons and gallons.

Honestly, you never want to find out what "Rode hard and put away wet" really means.

 

You should be able to ride him for at least an hour.It all depends on the horse. If he seems old and all he could really do is walk very slow with bad stamina be easy on him.Once a day is good enough to ride him.Sometimes I ride my horse twice a day,but not everyday.If your horse is still very young at heart you could probably be able to ride him twice a day. Sometimes its good to skip a day. Give him some rest.Excercise is good for them.If you don't feel like riding him one day buy a lunging whip.Stand in the middle of the pasture and swing it around in circles.He will run around and around .Don't hit him with it.That will scare him.When you want to cool him off after a nice long trail ride spray him down with the hose.Sometimes they go in circles while your spraying them but that doesn't really mean anything.If he seems scared stop.Then do a little section and stop again.Get him used to it because eventually he will like it! :wink: