What does your hunt horse do for summer?

[ab06]

Our final hunt is this week and now I’m not sure what to do (besides wallow in misery until cubbing season begins :lol: ) This was my horse’s first season and I worked him hard - conditioning 5 days a week and hunting at least once a week, sometimes twice. Our country is very hilly and he was a superstar with a neverending gas tank, so he certainly deserves a break.

I’m thinking of giving him at least a full month off, but then what? Let him frolic in the pasture all summer? Just flatwork? Try to keep them relatively fit with flatwork and jumping? Or do they have another job altogether (i.e. eventing, hunter/jumper shows)?

[Elghund2]

Mine stays relatively fit through the summer. We’ll do the pairs races until the end of april. Then we spend a month just hacking around. We’ll do the hunt trail rides. Once we get to July, we’ll do some jumpers and then start legging up in August.

I don’t believe in just throwing them out in the field. I know if I don’t do anything then I get out of shape. As I got older its harder to get back into shape. I figure it is the same with the horses.

[Jaegermonster]

I learned after my first season hunting with my first hunt horse to let them down a bit in the summer. By the end of the second season hunting she was so fit I almost couldn’t ride her. (my horses are TBs)
Of course let down for her is still pretty darn fit anyway. She has never been one of those horses you can just put on pasture for the summer. With her, I trail ride a bit and do fun stuff for the summer, she is now semi retired.
With my 5 year old (her daughter) she just got a week off because I was sick, and we we trail rode over the weekend. I have a couple of shows coming up in may and june so I plan to keep lessoning and so forth til then. End of June hubby is due home (fingers crossed) from deployment and it will be too friggin hot to ride anyway so riding will be curtailed until September and/or he gets redeployed in the fall. I work too, so they end up getting a fair amount of off time anyway that they never really need the whole “three months of turnout” thing.
I hunt with two hunts regularly and whip in at one so they will be hound walking and so forth throughout the summer also.
I think even if they are on “vacation” after a couple weeks it’s better for them to at least get light hacks and stuff.

[SteeleRdr]

All of ours have “other” jobs. And lots of times this is also the time of year where we sell some of our sale horses. We only had 3 seriously hunting this year. One is (hopefully) going to a new home this week. One of ours will help out on the hunt club relay teams, and then when that is over, he’ll get a few weeks off, and start schooling for doing local jumpers this summer. The other of the hunt horses will also start doing jumpers this summer. He’s young and big, and didn’t jump a ton out hunting this season, so if he sticks around, he’s gonna have to learn to jump some big stuff. He might event if we get the time to put in some serious dressage training.

We then have 3 that will start hunting this fall. So we’ll take the summer to get them ready for that. Once the season ends, we’ll start flatwork with the youngsters, go on trail rides with the hunt club or in the park behind the farm, and then hopefully a few of them will get to a few local hunter/jumper shows.

Normally, we’ll have more, but one of ours wasn’t quite the caliber to go to our new hunt, and we have a broodmare with a baby on the way. I think it’s good to get them out during the summer, and not let them get too fat.

[Painted_Wings]

Mine Event in the summer. They also do hunter paces and lots of trail rides. There’s also roading the foxhounds and beagles to get them in shape come August. Really not much time off.

My main hunt horse goes to Rolex to outride every year. It’s a vacation for both of us.

[SidesaddleRider]

Except for the older guy (18 this year; he gets his shoes pulled this week and time off as we’ve found that’s the best program for him…he starts getting legged up again lightly in early July–he is outside 24/7, with hills to go up and down), the others all start “transitioning” to their secondary jobs: show hunters or jumpers. They do both local and “A” shows around the area.

[Hotspur]

My guy is most happy when he has a job. We train for and event at a very modest level during the spring and summer. Dressage is not his favorite, but he is just the bomb on cross country as he is having so much fun.

We do a little more in July and early August to polish off his level of fitness, then comes cubbing.

[Acertainsmile]

My horse is going to be shown, just local H/J… and maybe a few Events… talk about mixing things up!

[strawberry_roan]

Mine goes hunter pacing during the summer and some very low level dressage work. Keeps him moving until cubbing!! :D:D

[Beverley]

When I whipped in back in Virginia mine typically got a month to six weeks off, altogether. Then, just trail riding.

Now, well, I just had my hunting season last week and next occasion figures to be August in Wyoming. In Utah I give my horses time off in the winter to go skiing, typically start getting them fit for hunting in mid-Feb. Otherwise, mostly, trail riding, occasional team penning and other such fun.

[SLW]

My riding horse hunted once a week so she’s hardly worn out. After closing hunt this weekend we’ll just continue trail riding and ponying the yearling around the countryside.

[JSwan]

I putz around and trail ride, and work on … gasp… dressage.

This summer I’ll really be working on the 4 year old, but still hope to at least do some shows with The Free Horse. I may never event him - which is a shame.

[Jaegermonster]

[QUOTE=Beverley;3116603]
In Utah I give my horses time off in the winter to go skiing, [/QUOTE]

Do you have to get them special boots for that or does your farrier put them on?

[Melliebay]

[QUOTE=Jaegermonster;3117090]
Do you have to get them special boots for that or does your farrier put them on?[/QUOTE]
:lol::lol::lol:

[jeniferkey]

My main hunt horse usually gets the summer off. I spend that time bringing along the others roading and maybe doing event work.

[Beverley]

@Jaegermonster;3117090

Do you have to get them special boots for that or does your farrier put them on?

Oh, my, I did turn that phrase, didn’t I!

Actually, they ski barefoot. Younger son and I were gonna do some skijoring this winter but we never got around to it. Maybe next year!

[TBlitz]

he battles with the lawnmower over the pasture Our clover and grass literally takes over our pasture in the summer (even with 2 horses grazing on it) and my dad takes his fancy industrial lawnmower to keep it under control. I’m glad the lawnmower has great brakes, because when Blitz sees it come zooming at around 30 mph into the pasture he throws a fit and tries to herd the lawnmower out. :lol:

Heat + Humidity + no covered riding area= lots of time off for the monster. If the heat and sun aren’t too bad, we build jumps and school around them, use the hills surrounding the house for hill work, or frolicking down the dirt roads. I do love doing dressage work with this horse too!

I’ve debated about trying to get the big man back into real jumping competition, but it doesn’t look like I can afford to travel and show anywhere but the local HJ club-- and it doesn’t offer anything over 3’3", which isn’t very fair to our competitors. I’ll probably only end up doing the 4 summer shows with the local club.

[Jaegermonster]

[QUOTE=Beverley;3122650]
Oh, my, I did turn that phrase, didn’t I!

Actually, they ski barefoot. Younger son and I were gonna do some skijoring this winter but we never got around to it. Maybe next year![/QUOTE]

I knew what you meant, I just couldn’t help myself…I had this mental picture of your horses on skis with their little poles whizzing down the side of a mountain,

[LookinSouth]

My “new to hunting” horse does lots of trail riding, hunter paces, lessons in either dressage/XC/jumping weekly, a few LL events here and there, H/J schooling shows. This year we’re going to try our hand at Field Hunter classes and trials at a few venues in addition to some hound schooling/roading etc…

Oh we go camping too, that’s a BLAST!

[wateryglen]

what do my horses do?

Eat, sleep, poop.
Swat at midges, flies. Run from horseflies.
Itch, scratch, get fat.
Trailride…aka:salad bar.

:D:D:D:D