Semi-retired horse, help with a riding schedule

[SugarCubes]

My 17 year old gelding will be going to his last show in two weeks and then will be moving from my trainer’s barn to my house to enjoy semi-retirement. He is totally sound, and has no prior injuries, but is requiring more and more maintenance to keep him jumping around comfortably, and I’d rather retire him too early than too late - while he IS still sound!

I’m trying to come up with a good riding schedule for him when he comes home as he does love to work, and won’t be happy in full retirement. I’ve already arranged a dressage trainer to come teach us weekly, and I’m planning on taking him trail riding once a week too. I’m guess I’m trying to figure out what’s a good balance of maintaining his fitness and topline without overdoing it. Does four rides per week sound reasonable? I’m thinking one other flat day, and maybe a day where we just walk for an hour or so and maybe incorporate some poles and cavaletti?

Any other ideas? What do you all do with your semi-retired guys?

[retiredhorse]

When my horse semi-retired, I did not have the option of bring him home and we didn’t have trails, unless you counted a stretch of road with semi-trucks and small speedy cars and then an intersection with more traffic. He got out for several hours a day, but there was not 24/7 turn out either, so I still rode him 6 days a week, sometimes very informally in just a halter, sometimes asking for more work on the flat.

Your plan sounds good to me, depending on what the horse is doing the rest of the time. If my horse were out a lot more or living outside, I could see riding him 3-4 days a week. Maybe take him out on more trail rides if he enjoys that. You can always reassess and adjust the riding schedule to how your horse feels/looks after you’ve had him home for a bit.

[Bluey]

Let the horse tell you what it wants.

At first he may miss his training barn routine, he may not know any better.

Once he has been home for a while and settles, some like to just lazy around most of the time.
Others stand by the gate wanting to go when others go.

You can also add, if your horse needs more exercise, a time when you pony him from another horse in a light exercise day, or pony another horse from him.
This way you can exercise two at the same time.

[Magicboy]

Maybe a gentle lunge session, big circles, etc over cavallletti?

[atlatl]

I rode my old QTR horse a couple of times a week until he died at 32. He was the go-to guy for my husband and any visiting relatives/nieces/nephews for years.

My retired dressage horse was ridden 3 times a week when he retired at 19 and spent the rest of the time in turnout. With this guy, he needed to keep moving properly so I rode him or the trainer rode him.

With both of the above, we did trail rides and walk/trot/canter on big easy lines.

The horse will tell you.

Kudos to you for continuing to care for him in retirement!

[emipou]

Listen to what he tells you. We work my guy almost 10 years older than yours 5 days a week, 1 day turn out, one day off. He enjoys his work and we have modified in the past to accommodate whatever comes up, but he is completely sound and happy as a clam.

ETA: He’s working arena dressage, up to third level. He goes nuts outside the arena so trails are not possible.

[joiedevie99]

I’d start with 4-6 rides per week, and listen to your horse. Many of them are dealing with some arthritis at that age, so more movement is better than less. However, more intensity is not better!

Here are two different work plans. I’d try these for two weeks each and see which he prefers. Some do really well on the 2 days on, 1 day off plan. Others do better working every other day. From there, you just need to listen to him and adjust as he tells you

Monday: Off
Tuesday: 15 minute walk, 20 minute light flatwork focusing on suppleness and stretching, 15 minute walk
Wednesday: dressage school
Thursday: 1 hour hack at walk
Friday: dressage school
Saturday: dressage lesson
Sunday: 1 hour hack at walk

Monday: Off
Tuesday: light school
Wednesday: hack at walk
Thursday: dressage school
Friday: hack at walk
Saturday: dressage lesson
Sunday: hack at walk

[Lucassb]

My semi retired guy works 5 days a week - light trail riding, maybe 2-3 arena (flatwork) sessions, often out for a hack around the property afterward. He is leased to an older lady who enjoys hacking out and rides maybe 40-60 min per session, but the work is fairly low key. He also gets put on the walker 3x/week for 30 min per session. Again not intense work, but good regular exercise to keep him supple and moving around. He does get daily turnout (5 hrs) but rarely gets more than a few feet from the gate; he likes his grass and prefers to focus on eating, LOL.

[SugarCubes]

This is super helpful, I’m sure I’m overthinking it but want to have somewhat of a plan in place before he comes home. He’ll have a lot more turnout than he currently gets at my trainer’s, he’ll go from 2hrs of turnout (I know, it is what it is in my area, unfortunately) to 24/7 access to a dry lot plus several hours of pasture per day, so I’m hoping he’ll thrive being able to move around so much more.

@joiedevie99 I like both of those schedules, I’m thinking the second plan would be perfect in the summer when he is his quiet, lazy-self and then we can step it up to the first plan in the winter when my spooky-winter-monster horse makes his appearance :lol:

After years of doing hunters and jumpers with him, I’m actually really excited to be able to focus on dressage with him! I know my dressage trainer has been secretly waiting for this moment for years - haha! And I would imagine, that without the added stress of jumping, he’ll be able to handle stepping up the flatwork?