How To Give Your Horse Time Off

How To Give Your Horse Time Off

Here is how to give your horse time off. There will be times where you need to give your horse time off their often, jam-packed exercise schedule. However, with routine being the of great importance to our horses, we could end up winding them up, rather than down, during their rest time!

So, we investigated how to give your horse time off, safely and effectively.

Taking a break over winter is a great when you’re rushed off your feet with social, family and work commitments which seem to fly around toward the end of the year. Not needing to exercise and train your horse, takes one thing off of your plate, plus ensures you are not putting a half-hearted effort into their education and care!

Not only could giving your horse a break be beneficial for your own time-management, it’s also a great thing for your horse to experience for both their mental and physical well-being.

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Much like humans, horses can suffer from over-training, which makes them more susceptible to injury and fatigue, and means they may not be performing at their best. Side effects could include losing condition or muscle not developing at the rate it should. Meanwhile, they may also suffer from ‘burnout’. Burnout is a state of physical and mental exhaustion, causing excessive or prolonged stress on the body. A horse suffering from burnout will be more likely to suffer from illness, with mental and physical stress weakening the immune system, disrupted digestion which may become apparent as colic symptoms, and increased symptoms of stress such as the onset or an increase in stereotypical behaviours. Riders may find it harder to communicate to their horse, a lack of energy when ridden, as well as more frequent, unpredictable behaviours and tension during exercise.

Before you decide to give your horse a break though, preparation is key!

With horse’s thriving off of routine, suddenly stopping your day to day activities with them and changing their schedule will come as a shock to their system. Therefore, just like any change in routine, their rest time needs to be introduced slowly.

It is recommended that winding a horse down for a break in a field should take approximately two weeks. Over this time, day to day activities you undertake in your usual routine should be replaced by a new ‘resting’ routine.

When winding down your horse for winter, you should consider;

Grooming

Once you’ve decide to give your horse a well-earned break, it’s time to lay off the grooming.

We all love our horses to be clean, with shiny coats, however regular grooming brushes and bathing products generally strip away a lot of the horses’ natural oils. The natural oils on the surface of the horse’s skin insulate and provide a waterproofing layer, protecting them from the elements.

Swap your body brush for a dandy brush, and just remove the dirt which may make exercise or movement uncomfortable.

Feeding

Concentrate feeds should also be reduced from that of when a horse is in work.

During their break, horses energy intake will no longer need to support additional exercise. Consider cutting out feed all-together as forage tends to provide all the nutrients a horse needs.

If your horse struggles to maintain weight during the winter, a common problem for elderly horses and those with dental conditions, it may be worth altering their feed to provide the same amount of calories, but in a different form. This means, swapping starch (sugars) for fats. Fats are extremely energy dense but with virtually no starch, so your horse’s digestive system will not suffer as a consequence.

Turnout Time

With many benefits of turnout, horse’s breaks usually include turnout of some duration, even if it’s not 24/7!

Make sure to change your turnout times gradually, closer toward when you are going to put them out and bring them in during their break. Lengthen the period slowly if necessary and always make sure they have company, especially during your transition period to a break.

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