How often should you work your horse

[Sp1cer]

Hi,

If all goes well and Murphy passes his vetting I should be moving him in a few weeks.

Hes a bit unfit at the moment as hes not been ridden for about 6 weeks.

How often should I exercise him each day to start with, and what should I build it up to?

Pam

[RingLass]

I he's out of shape, you might want to start slow - only ride a few times a week, and spend the rest of the time conditioning (lunging, long-lining, etc.) You can soon start to ride him more and more often, but again keep in mind that if he isn't in shape, he won't be able to perform up to his full potential. Keep the lessons "short and sweet" for now.

[jUmPingIsLifE]

In the spring when i first start riding again i ride 5 days a week for short periods of time. and slowly start working up the amount of time i ride. starting out at 10minutes of walking and slowly adding troting, adding minutes then adding the canter work. If you have a trail with a good sized hill, hill work is great for getting into shape walking or troting up it is great.

[4_white_socks]

My aunt bought a new horse a couple of months ago. He'd been living in a field for a year - never exercised or anything. Well, we let him settle in, and did everything like normal. We started to show him the common routes, and the scary benches ;) I think once we met a tractor :D He was great! However, from 15 minutes of walking, and the occasional tiny trot, he was sweating heavily. He was extremely unfit!!

Now, I have taken him out for 2 hacks - a 1 hour, and a 2 hour. I fell off both times, because I'm strange (but then anyone could fall off at his trot! Honestly!! ;)) Once, it was his fault - he stopped from a canter to eat grass ;) He's a fat pig but I love him.
When we hack out together, we have a great time! He doesn't like to canter for too long at a time, but can rip off and race the fastest horses ;) I can really get him going on the hacks (not in the school though :D) and I think we go quite well together. I think now, he knows it's me, and knows what I want from him, and is superb. He does tend to buck and kick if you go near his saddle or bum, but we're working on that. He threw a girl off today grr, my cheeky monster!

I think once you find his level of fitness, and the level of work that suits him and you, he'll be fine. Try to start with short periods of riding, maybe a bit of lunging etc if he's ok to. Work at a level that suits you both and try to keep up his fitness if you can. Obviously, his fitness may not have gone down at all, but it's worth going steady. Especially if he's still getting used to the area.

Hope I've helped
socks xx

[Wally]

6 weeks isn't that long, maybe an hour at a time gentle hacks, and half an hour in a school.No longer than 2 hours of very gentle hacking after a couple of weeks. Then he'll let you know what he wants to do.

If he's been out for 6 weeks he'll not be too out of shape, if he's been stabled with limited turnout take it slowly.