“As a general rule how often do your horses get jumped/schooled/hacked and lunged in a week?”
Oliver answers: It really does all depend on the individual horse. Factors we have to consider when planning each horse’s work include the horses temperament, weaknesses in performance, any health issues the horse may have, the competitions the horse is aiming for, the time of year, level of fitness etc.
If a horse is aiming at a 4* event then it will be galloping every 5 days leading up to the event, going on long hacks at least once if not twice a week and it will be schooled in between. If I have a horse that is particularly tense or anything I might lunge him instead of one of the schooling sessions. I will always jump a day or two before the competition and if the horse is a weak show jumper, it will be jumped more often at home than the others.
The Novice horses will be schooled, hacked and jumped more regularly at home. They will go on shorter hacks than the advanced horses and get schooled probably 3 or 4 days in the week. The real babies will do a lot of long reining and lungeing each day and go out on short hacks once a week when they are ready.
The horses will always have a day off after competing and will then just go out in the field to relax.