In general, I like to give horses three months off without any weight on their backs. I will start by giving them 60 days of turn out followed by 30 days of any other kind of exercise without weight on their back. That would include lungeing or walking or jogging in an exerciser machine or hand-walking That period of rest can be very beneficial to a horse’s mind and body and keeps them fresh and eager to do their job.

That said, you have to take each horse’s racing schedule into account. You need to allow for about 12 weeks of training before your first race, so there are a few exceptions when the three-month break is not recommended:

1. Horses that raced right up until December and stay in Canada over the winter. If you want this horse to race again in the spring there won’t be enough time to get him fit again.

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