Well for me, I usually put mine into horse
sickness end of september - mid october, due to the "Rhino ride"
this year I'll do mine at the end of october,
Will they be at maximum immunity
by Feb - when HS is at its height? I was going to leave mine until
after the show on 17 / 9 but I think we're going to have late rains, so it
should be okay. I would worry leaving it till end October, but I
understand your quandary with the ride.
This means they are out by end
november/beginning december which gives me two months to get them working
again before the first ride at the end of January. I don't usually train at
all during horse sickness except for the occassional walk/trot around the
block in the 1st and 3rd week of each shot, as they have worked hard
throughout the endurance season and i see this as time for a well deserved
rest,
Now we get to my problem : they have not done any real
endurance training yet, and if I put them into HS next Monday, it means they
will only come out of it on 30 October. Will this give me enough time
to condition for the ride in December? I know it's only a 25, but I'm
still worried.
I know of some people who do very light riding
throughout the vaccine period without any side effect, but I am not prepared
to take the chance.
I've always worked almost at normal level in 1st and third
week, and only walked second week, but have never jumped them or gone on any
seriously hairy rides during HS. No ill-effects, either.
If your horse is fit the six week layoof won't
affect them too much, they come back quite quickly.
Toc should be fine, but PG will
be the horse from hell! For some reason, he stores energy when he's on
a lay-off and is downright stupid when brought back into work. He
bolted with me on Saturday, because a plover divebombed us. I ask
you!!!
Tracey