Conference noted::equitation

    Ive usee both methods (morning and evening) and each has it's benefits
    and drawbacks.  If I ride in the morning, I have more energy, but I
    always feel rushed.  Also, in the summer the mosquitoes are worse in
    the morning, and the grass is wet and slippery.  If I ride in the
    evening I dont feel rushed, but I'm also tired after working all day. 
    (Gee, I'd like to win the lottery!)  But in either case, it is a bit of
    a problem taking a hungry horse and expecting him to keep his mind on
    work.  One solution is to feed lots of hay in a hay bag, so your horse
    has something to munch on all day long and won't be quite so hungry. 
    Then, before you ride, give just a few handfuls of grain, to take of
    the "hunger edge".  With all the hay, I don't think your horse will
    really be very hungry, but he might still feel deprived and resentful if
    he gets no grain at all when he is expecting it.  ANother thing to keep
    in mind here is to be sure not to feed as soon as you bring your horse
    into the barn.  I'm not talking about the dangers of feeding a hot
    horse, since I'm sure everyone is aware of that.  But even after he's
    cooled down, you want to be sure he doesn't make the association that
    the end of a ride means getting dinner.  This could make him barn sour
    really fast.
    
    Another strategy I've used in the past is to come in to work later, if
    that is possible.  I used to work 10 - 6:30 at my last job, and I left
    home at 9:00.  So I'd also do stalls in the morning before going to
    work.  I would feed first, then do stalls, which took about an hour. 
    By this time, the horse I was going to ride had had time to digest her
    food, and I never had any problems.  I was doing just basic schooling. 
    If you were going to be doing any really hard work, you'd probably have
    to wait longer.
    
    -ellie

I ride as soon as I leave work. I make a great circle every day - home to work
to barn to home.  I'm usually out of the house about 13-14 hours a day.  My
beast gets a 5:00pm meal and I get there shortly thereafter, usually by 5:30.
Even if he is still munching his grain, I figure that the time I spend grooming 
and warming up is sufficient for his digestion. I usually ride for a little more
than an hour (medium work, unless it's a lesson - then it's harder).  So far I 
haven't had any problems.  Amos gets 3 quarts of pellets at 5:00.  He gets 
another 3 at 8pm, usually very soon after he's back in his stall.

Since your riding seems quite light, if I were in your shoes (riding boots?),
something you might try is to feed your horse a *portion* of his evening grain 
when you get to the barn, so he thinks he's eaten.  He can digest that as you 
get ready to ride.  Then, when you're done, feed him the rest of his supper.  
That way, he's not a jerk because he thinks you forgot to feed him, but he 
gets *more* (in his eyes) after the ride.

    I ride after work, too. Ride in the MORNING?!? Gasp! I could never pull
    myself out of bed before work. I'm one of those who readies the morning
    feeding the night before, so I just toss hay and grain at them and beg
    them to please remain in their respective paddocks for the day....
    My horses don't expect to be fed supper until later in the evening, and
    they both have free choice hay all day so I don't find them
    particularly hungry or cranky about riding when I get home. I ride
    first thing, (only one horse per night, the other hangs over the fence
    and watches), then horse goes back out to the paddock to roll and cool
    off while I do stalls and groom the other horse. By this time the one
    I rode is cool and ready to go in for the night. The part I hate is
    the time change, now that we've set the clocks back it's dark by the
    time I get home. My ring is lighted, but it eliminates my preferred
    relaxing method of wandering about the property a bit on a loose rein.
    I can't wait for spring!  The suggestion of feeding just a handful of
    grain sounds like it may be helpful, too, although my gelding would
    probably get cranky wondering where the rest of his supper is ! :-)
    Good luck, horses and jobs don't always mix perfectly, keep buying
    those mega-bucks tickets!
    

    I prefer to feed after I've ridden, making certain of course that he is
    thoroughly cooled out.  More time to digest = colic prevention and
    better utilization of feed.
    
    I'm lucky in that my gut is midway between work and home, so I get to
    the barn shortly before they feed dinner.  I ride, walk him for 20-30
    minutes, groom him, leave him on cross-ties for a bit while I put away 
    tack and brushes, pick his stall and putz around a bit.  That gives him
    40 minutes minimum between end of work and grain.

    
    My guys get ridden first thing in the AM, then fed afterwards.
    
    They never seem to mind being ridden on an empty stomach (I'm usually
    hungry too!) but they're both TB's and maybe they are used to this routine 
    from the racetrack.
    
    Evening riding never works that well for me - I'm usually tired and
    work can put me in a bad mood occasionally (believe it or not...).
    
    Amy
    

    
    	My horse gets fed at 5:30, he only gets 1/4 of a coffee can
    	of pellets anyways, (which means he's done with his grain by
    	5:32), so I've ridden him as soon as 6-6:15. I could never get 
    	myself to ride before work, but somehow I have managed to ride 
    	at 6 AM on a saturday.... :) 
    
    	Sherry
    

    We've tried riding before and after work. What works best for us is the
    morning routine.
    
    When we are conditioning for competition, each horse gets an hour of
    work 5 days a week, plus warm up and cool down time. Then, unsaddling
    and clean-up grooming to remove sweat marks, etc...So about 20-30
    minutes after they finish work, they get fed.
    
    Sometimes due to schedule conflicts, we have to get 3 horses worked
    on the same day. If that's a weekday, that means one of us rides after
    work. We are usually tired,( more like "brain dead"?) etc so the evening 
    workout is likely to be an hour of trail work at 6 to 10 MPH(i.e. little 
    or no walking) rather than a schooling session. Similar routine after
    riding and they just get fed a bit later than if we don't ride.
    
    I remember sveral years ago when EQUUS magazine had a questions column,
    somebody wrote and asked whether it was better to feed before or after
    a workout. As I remember it, EQUUS gave a one word answer...followed by
    3 paragraphs of backup. The answer was, "afterwards".

    Two years ago I had my horse boarded 5 minutes away from work.  I rode
    at noon-time, the site had shower facilities and my manager allowed me
    to make up extra lunch time taken at the end of the day.  It worked out
    well since no one was ever at the barn or using the arena.

    
    I board my horse about 10 minutes from work. I ride after work. Every
    time I ride in the morning, I'm late for work. The barn opens at 8:00,
    so riding ealier is not an option. As for being too tired or brain dead
    after work - I am until I pull in the barn parking lot - then all the
    work stuff just gets left on the street. Wether I'm working hard or
    hacking lightly, riding soothes the work worries. 
    
    Based on the previous replies, I'd say you are going to have to try
    both ways until you find what works for you.
    
    Nancy
    

    Wow, what great response! 
    It's been a great help, (also nice to know your not alone
    doing the juggling of work, family and horse)
    
    Thanks,
    Sharon

    I arranged to get to work earlier so I can leave earlier, although
    it dosen't much matter these days when it's dark so early.  But I
    usually get to the barn at 5, groom and tack up and am out by 5:30.
    Ride for an hour and goom and putz more till about 7pm.  I feed the
    grain at 7 (or I'll wait longer if my horse is still too hot). They 
    are in around 5pm and get their hay first.
    
    I wish I could ride in the morning, but I get up early enough in the
    morning as it is.....the after work ride always seems to put me in a
    good mood no matter how bad the day has been.
    
    

Well, I rolled myself out of bed every morning this week. I think the 
secret is to position the alarm clock far enough away that you have 
to get out of bed to shut it off.  The air was cold and crisp and so 
was the horse. I think we both enjoyed it.

On the long drive to work I was still thinking about how nice it was and
as some thoughts came into my head I wrote them down and made a poem.  
(my car is the self driving kind.)

At the risk of being laughed at I showed my masterpiece to my adoring
family.  Behind their snickers they let me know that in their view poems
ALWAYS rhyme, and, "well mom, yours doesn't". :^} 
 
They'll all get E.E.Cummings books from me this Christmas! (and coal)

At any rate the 'poem' made me feel good and I thought some of you might 
relate, so at the risk of being corny, I thought I'd share it with you. :^)



                                   A Crisp Horse
 


               Give me a crisp horse.
                   One that crackles and sparks at my leg.
               
                       A CRISP horse.
                   One that unfurls and curls into my hand 
               like a new sail in a steady wind.

               Crisp...
                   enough to make you wary,
                         like a 
                         TarT
                         apple.

               Let me hold a crisp horse on a cold morning 
                                       to scrape my senses.


                                                           S. Smith

    Great!!!! poem!
    
    Thanks  :-)  :-)  :-)
    Mary

I enjoyed it too, especially since I know the horse that inspired it!

Melinda

    Your poem is GREAT!!  The imagery is perfect -- the crisp-and-crackling
    theme carrying through to the tart apple and the image of scraping.  
    Send it to the Chronicle -- it's better than most that they get!
    
    -ellie

    I loved your poem!!  Crisp and cracking is wonderful imagery!  Thanks
    for sharing it!

					-Caroline

    I too thought your poem just wonderful, I could just hear the
    crackling and feel the feelings you so beautifully and simply
    conveyed!
    
    Thanks!
    Deb

    Wow!! Loved your poem!  
    
    Thanks for daring to share with us!
    
    Marci

    I really enjoyed your poem. It conjured up memories of similar
    situations with my own. It's absolutely amazing what a crisp morning
    will do for their attitude!
    
    If you're going to compete with e e cummings, shouldn't you sign
    your poems as "s smith" ? Naw, to "copy-cattish". How about a rubber
    stamp with your name embossed in the rim of a pair of horseshoes?
    
    Thanks again
    John

    What is a reasonable amount of time to expect a horse to go between
    feedings?  If I'm feeding hay and grain twice a day, should the
    feedings be spaced equally?  I know most people feed early in the
    morning and again early in the evening.  Is it possible to have a horse
    on a schedule where he's fed mid-morning (around 9:00) and then fed
    around 8:00 at night?  
    
    Also, how much can you vary your schedule from day-to-day?  I'd assume
    that a consistent schedule is the best thing, but on days when you
    absolutely can't stick to that schedule, how far from it can you
    deviate?
    
    
    

    
    Since my move to a site 77 miles from home, the horses get fed
    on a 12 hour schedule.  Between 6am-7am, and 6pm-7pm.  
    They each get grain & hay in the am & pm feedings, and then hay
    when I bring them in at night 10pm-11pm.  No problems have
    occured if I have to bump them an hour either way....Unless
    you consider an indignant horse a problem! (8

    During the week, I feed at 5 am and again at 7 at night. In summer, on
    evenings I ride, the nite feed is closer to 8. On weekends I sleep
    later and feed at around 7 am and again at 7 pm. They do have hay all
    day, I make sure they have enough in the morning that they can munch
    all day (I learned how much will go all day by simple trial and
    error, my two horses eat about 3 flakes between them during the day).
    I've never had the least bit of trouble with this system.
    

    So twelve to fourteen hours between feedings is OK, especially if they
    have hay to munch all day.  Do you think that not feeding until later
    in the morning (as late as 9:00 am) is a problem if they've been fed
    the night before around 8:00?  I do understand that if the horse if
    used to being fed early in the morning you'd have to move slowly
    towards a new schedule.
    

    I would think that schedule would be fine.....the key thing to
    remember is consistency (within an hour or two of the same times
    daily) and also to adjust your riding schedule accordingly, so that
    they are not worked within at least an hour before and after the
    feeding time (this for grain feedings). And you're right, you need
    to adjust them to a new schedule gradually, sudden changes in diet
    can upset their disgestives. Talk to your vet, too, to be sure that
    the schedule you set up is appropriate for your individual horse and
    his needs and that the quantities of hay/grain you offer will maintain
    weight but not overdo....my horses have always done wonderfully on
    free-choice hay, but my friends gelding is fed hay almost exclusively
    and is a real porker (but then, he gets only a limited amount of
    exercise, too).