Yep.

We put miles on the horses. We ride them in the trees, across the prairie, and up and down hills. We trot alot, we dont lope much, we move cattle, we swim rivers, we do some arena work (but not much), we put pack saddles on them and have them carry salt to the cattle. We spend many hours in the saddle teaching, guiding, instructing. This is where the term "wet saddle blankets" came from.

We warm them up correctly, we keep a close eye on them, they get shod, they are well fed, the are cooled down correctly, they are saddled and tied up often. We make good, sound, usable, safe horses out of them. At five most horse can physically handle working hard, and its good for them. At six, we start roping on them, or team penning, or whatever that horse may be most suited for.

Edited to ad: I would never ride like this on a horse at the age of two or three...often not at four (depends on the horse). Some of the quarter horse lines CAN handle it at four, Ive seen some arabians that were ready at four, but for the most, part, I dont expect a horse to work that hard until age five.
I was the daughter who wouldn't lift a finger in the house but cycled madly off in the pouring rain to spend all morning mucking out a stable.p067.ezboard.com/bhorseloversdotcom