I understand that horses should be rested in between races, so that they can get their fitness up. However they should not rest too long in order not to get fat and lazy. I have heard people say that they rest their horses about 10 to 14 days, but I have also seen numbers as high as 28 days. Should the horse just be resting and doing nothing else? How long do you rest your horses?
I rest them until their Training Summary Stats are about B for energy and A or B for fitness, then enter them in a race. By the time the race rolls around (usually 3-4 days) they are normally fit and ready to go. You will learn how long each horse’s recovery period is through trial and error, but ten days to two weeks is a general rule of thumb to start off with. You will know if you’ve waited too long, because their fitness will go down. If you don’t wait long enough, they will not be at their full energy. It is different for every horse, I guess, so it is impossible to say how long I rest my horses as a whole. Take it on a horse by horse basis, and remember that overracing is worse than underracing, horses can always be brought back up to fitness after a longer break, but they are at risk for injury if they are raced too often.
I give my horses a minimum of two weeks between races. However, a couple of my horses seem to not mind running after 10/11 days rest which is fine by me. Some others seem to need three weeks. You basically need to figure out your own horses as each one is different (as you can see by my small team of racers). Good luck!
I go by the training summery most of the time, but I give my horses 2-6 weeks off especially if they have a big race coming. I always try to plan the next 8 weeks for my horses so that I know when to rest them, what to enter, etc. I also pick a “home track” for the duration of the meet only straying for a few very important races. Like this year my horses from June 1st on are running Belmont & Saratoga and maybe at Aqueduct sometimes. The only time that I really just go by the seat of my pants schedule wise is when I am trying to figure a horse out. Also write down your plan for that horse: Races to come, Possible Nominations, Distance & surface they like, and their favored equipment. And if you have a big Graded race in mind figure out the entry fee and save at least that much so that you can enter the horse. Hope this helped!!