Fitness Program for unfit horse

[Ina]

Hello again everyone!

I need some advice on a fitness program format. The horse in question only gets ridden about once a month for the last 5 years or so.As a result, he is slightly overweight, and of course, unfit. He is a lovely ride though, and very well schooled. I have just given him his summer shots, so no riding for six weeks.

When I start riding him again, I would like to put him on a structured fitness program. Can someone tell me how often to ride, for how long, what exercises, how to tell when he is over worked etc? Also, how long should it take? When he is fit again, I would like to take him on daily hacks, since we live on a farm. Thanx!

[lamprellsarah]

To start off with you might want to lunge him and free school him just to start you off, and to get him more supple, don't put him to to heavy work straight away ride him three times a week to start with and increase this every couple of weeks, he should always have one day off a week.
if you are schooling him start off for the first couple of weeks with a short tome say 15 minutes, as you ride him more often you will be able to increase this to 45 minutes, any signals of him getting bored stop while you are ahead.
do not do a lot of jumping until a couple of weeks into the programme. Lots of bending work, circls, septines, leg yeilding, backing up, quarters in will get him relly listening and working in the right outline, don't expect him to do them really well to start off with, because he is likly to be slightly akward as you are not riding him reguarly at the moment. he is overworked if he is heavily sweating in not hot conditions, he has become stiff and does not want to work, his idea of being overworked might not be the same as yours, so him refuseing to do certain things tells you he feels overworked. if it is only daily hacks you want to do with him it should only take a month or two, depending on him and his condition.

Good luck hope this helps

[Libby]

what do you think about a horse that has had two weeks off.
Do they lose their fitness that quickly. I have been taking it easy with my horse, but I wonder if I'm doing do little or two much?
any ideas on what I should do. We have a one day event coming up in a couple of weeks.

[Sarah]

hello!

Apparently it takes a horse 17 days to lose fitness and muscle mass when not exercised. If your horse has been turned out during the 2 week break and had a good level of fitness before then you should be fine.

bye!

[lamprellsarah]

Horses can vary, some take a week some take a month! most are still fit after having two weeks off.

[elle]

you should start off by lunging your horse for a couple of days and then after that you should ride him every day increasing the work a little every couple of days, if you look in a good horse book there should be a good basic training ritual which will maybe help you

[Helen G]

I too need some advice with regards to an unfit horse?
I have been given the chance to look after a 15.2hh 12 y.o. horse - hurray! The only problem is that he hasn't been ridden for 8 months - he has been out in a field getting fat and unfit! He was previously ridden regularly by a girl who had him for about 6 years, prior to that he was a racehorse!
What is the best way to go about getting him fit? Should I be lungeing him first - how often and for how long? Should I then lunge him with his tack on? When should start to ride him? I don't really have any experience in getting a horse fit to ride! Also he doesn't have any shoes on - is it ok to lunge him in the school without any and get him shod when he starts being ridden again?
Thanks for you help.

[lamprellsarah]

If you lunge him a few times a week for 3 to 4 weeks, this should get him fit, keep lunging short between 15-45 min building up this time up over the 3-4 weeks. His hooves should be fine left unshod, until you start to ride him again. It could be a good idea to put his tack on again after the two weeks of lunging him. to get him used to it again, although he shouldn't be too bad, but if he is fat his shape has properly changed, make sure the tack fit properly!. After about 3 weeks you can start to lightly ride him. Good luck, tell me how you get on, i'd like to know!
Saz

[silly mare]

Like you Helen, my friend and I have just taken on the shared loan of a 15hh mare - although she is 23 years young! Because I've had a long break from riding myself, we have started off very gently - only riding her for 15-20 mins at a time, and never faster than a trot. She has been turned out for over a year, but isn't in too bad condition considering. We've only had her for two weeks, so it's still early days, but as long as you take it easy you can't go wrong. We're going to start lungeing her at the weekend to improve her schooling.

Good luck - keep us posted~!

[Helen G]

Hi - thanks a lot for all your suggestions, I will definately try them out. The next problem is that I have never lunged a horse before! Could anyone give me a rough guide as to how to go about this.
Thanks

[Silver1]

but what do you mean summer shots? Do they have to have shots during summer?!?

[lamprellsarah]

Shots as in injections are you talking about.
Lunging- as long as your horse has been lunged before you shouldn't have to much of a problem, if your lunging so the horse is going anti clockwise, you should have the lunge whip in your right hand,and the lunge line in your left hand. to slow him down you say it low and long to speed him up you, say it perkily and quickly. e.g walk to trot, you say 'trot on'. but to slow down you say 'waaalllk'. you trail the lunge whip around with you and if you need to speed him up you flick it. to get him to slow down you should bring the whip in front of him, while saying the command. change direction regular but make sure you work him on both side evenly. if he hasn't been lunged before you will need afriend to walk around with him until he gets the idea.

[Ina]

Yes, I mean injections. In South Africa, horses have to get a course of two injections in the early spring, September or so. These injections are three weeks apart, and is aimed at innoculation against all new equine diseases. During this time, they are not allowed any strenuous work. I don't know if this applies to other countries as well.
Thank You all for the advice so far, I have only two weeks to go now, then I will give feedback.