The Benefits of Giving Your Horse an End of Season Break 

We asked Justine Parker – Enduro Equine Ambassador and Programme Director, The Howden Way, ‘Should I Give my Horse a Holiday?’ Justine Parker is an advanced event rider, competing her string of event horses internationally up to CCI 4*.  She is also Programme Director of the Howden Way, an exciting new training programme for riders […]

We asked Justine Parker – Enduro Equine Ambassador and Programme Director, The Howden Way, ‘Should I Give my Horse a Holiday?’

Justine Parker is an advanced event rider, competing her string of event horses internationally up to CCI 4*.  She is also Programme Director of the Howden Way, an exciting new training programme for riders of all levels along with a young horse talent pathway programme.  

What To Do in The Off-Season

Should I turn my horse away?

This a personal decision but some people who can help you decide that is your vet and your coaches.   It’s likely to depend on how much your horse has done throughout the season, so how busy has their workload been this past season. Also, if your horse has any type of management issues or confirmation issues where letting them down for a period of time may not be beneficial, so it’s good to check with your own coaches and your vet as to what is best for you and your horse.  They will know what is best for your horse mentally and physically and what type of work pattern your horse has throughout the season. 

My horses have had a busy season with one of them competing up to Advanced.  Each run takes quite a lot out of them, so they have certainly earned their holiday this year.

When to Turn Your Horse Away

This will be influenced and depend on when your season finishes and what your competition goals are. Also, your lifestyle and what you have planned in your life. 

For me, after they have had their last run of the season, that’s when they tend to go out on holiday which is usually the end of October and the whole of November.  It may depend on grazing and the weather. I really like my horses to have their shoes off which is really good for their feet and just have time to be properly turned away 24/7, out in the field, just for them to really relax, mentally and physically.  It’s important that they have their holiday and downtime, which for me, is a really nice thank you to my horses for all the hard work they have done for me over the season. It’s their time to chill out, relax both physically and mentally and an important part of their annual routine. 

What does your horse’s holiday look like?

Remember, your horse’s holiday will depend on your own personal circumstances too!

It may not be practical to turn your horse out in the field on his own 24/7.  However, if your horse has had a busy season competing, then a rest can be extremely beneficial. 

Your horse’s downtime could be time off schooling and time out of your normal routine. You may be able to turn your horse out for longer periods or move fields for a change of scene.  It’s a chance for your horse to relax and unwind.

Consider the age of your horse when deciding the length of your horse’s holiday. Young horses may benefit from shorter breaks to maintain their mental and physical conditioning.  Healthy adult horses can typically handle a longer holiday whilst older horses might require more tailored breaks based on their health and workload. For seniors, maintaining light exercise during this period can help with mobility and muscle tone.

What to do when your horse is on holiday

It’s an ideal time when your horse is on holiday, to reflect on the season to date how it’s gone.  It’s a really good opportunity to look back across each of the phases – think about all the things that you were happy with and also the things that you might want to improve on going forwards into the winter and into next year’s season.   It’s a really useful time to be able to do that because what it means is that you can identify your areas of training that you want to work on and your goals for next year.   I think it’s important to have tactical goals, which maybe a particular skill development for you and your horse as well as performance outcomes ie. improving your dressage test by 2 marks or making sure that you are within the cross-country time.

It’s a useful thing for you as a rider to be doing while your horse is on holiday.  

Reflect on this season and plan for next season which can be a really useful tool to make sure that your training over the winter can be really targeted and dedicated to help you achieve your aims and goals for the 2025 season. 

When to bring my horse back into work 

Bringing your horse back into work will be largely dictated by how long they have had off work.  So, depending on this time, it will dictate your work pattern in terms of their gentle progression back into full work.  If they’ve had a long holiday ie. A month to 6 weeks you would like to start with some gradual hacking and then again depending on how long they have had off you would probably want to do some walk/trot hacking and then start to increase that over the next couple of weeks before then introducing the schooling work – starting on some flatwork and then it would be a gradual amount of time before you start building up to some gymnastic exercises over cavaletti and then progressing that into full jumping exercises.

Depending on the length of time that your horse has had on holiday, I would work around one month’s hacking, one month’s schooling moving onto pole work and progressing into full jumping/lesson type work.  Speak to your coach and your training team around you which will help to influence what bringing your horse back into work looks like for you. 

For other useful equine tips around horse heart rate monitors or how to utilise our fitness training app be sure to check out our other posts here.

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