So, curious to know what do you expect from a three years old under the saddle, how many days a week do you ride, for how long etc.
Depends on my goals for the horse and what he’s being used for.
If in training for show, I’d expect to ride at least 5 days a week.
My ranch horses, I’d pick and choose my days as not to take him on too big of a day to pull his plug and it’d depend on how many days off in a row he could handle.
Pretty wide open question and really depends on the horse.
I’m back in the land of greenville with a 4-year-old mare. I could ride her longer and harder but
- I’m a chicken
- I’m making sure we have confidence building positive rides
- my arena has barely been available due to tons of rain … although last time I rode in there in the 40 mph wind, her rein ends blew in the wind and scared her
I know she’s totally behind, and I’m going at a snails pace on her, and she’s totally behind for her age, but I’m okay with it.
So I think your question is very subjective.
I have a three year old who is still 15.1 1/2 in front and 15.3 behind. We… are going for a lot of walks, mostly bareback because NOTHING seems to fit her well.
Until she evens out a little, I’m waiting… which is very frustrating because I’d had this year all planned out, but here we are. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
We go for walks around the property a couple times a week for 20-40 minutes at a time. And maybe do a 10-15 minutes longing session once or twice a week.
If the weather, my time and footing was not an issue I would ride 5-6 days a week. Nothing overly taxing but just building on what the horse is learning and building some confidence/ fitness/ endurance under saddle as they grow.
It really depends on the physical and mental maturity of the individual horse.
