how to fitten up the podgy pony?

[notpoodle]

angel's had two months off and im trying to bring her back into work at the moment (she is rather spritely on the hacking front, but not a big fan of err schooling). ive started off with walking her everyday for a bit (hacking is somewhat limited round here!) and am now doing bits of trot and the odd little canter (pony is quite keen, so i think she should be ok health-wise. shes not the sort that does things she doesnt really WANT to do!).

what else could i do? ideas? more trotting? more walking?

(and please no long-reining suggestions! ive tried that once - she hated it!!)

Julia
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[KateWooten]

Ahh... now Julia, what are we gonna do with you? Hacking is limited and the pony is not a fan of schooling ! You're just gonna have to convince that pudgy pony either that schooling is fun (cos it is !!) or that it's just darn great when out on a hack, to spend ten minutes here and there trotting round in little circles and pretending it isn't really schooling :D

If it was me, I'd be doing a whole bunch of work on flexibility - at a halt, at a walk, from the ground - isolating each body part in turn and asking it to move - for example, 'step that shoulder away from me .. no, not your butt, no not forward ... that's it, just your shoulder one step sideways'. Same with asking her behind to take one step over ... then asking the ribcage to take one step over, ask the head and neck to flex around without any feet moving, ask the head and neck to flex while keeping the the shoulders moving to the left and the butt moving right ...

... ok, ok, I know, I'll stop there before we end up flat on our face .. the point is this - the more different, interesting, even silly challenges you can make up for your horse - the more interesting, challenging and fun schooling gets, for you and the pony - and then it ceases to matter where you are when you do it - ten minutes in a school, or 30 seconds on a grass verge - it's all about keeping the horse's mind alert and interested, and at that point it becomes an adventure in itself andnot so much boring old schooling that it can get to be if all the poor horse knows how to do is trit-trot around in circles.

And that's all just using the pony's body and you - that's before you've introduced poles, and buckets and tarps, and other friends on their own ponies to challenge and compete with - and all things silly - I have to admit, the older I get, the more of a fan of 'silly' I become ! Silly games, silly challenges ... anything that keeps you and the pony laughing, smiling and trying your best, in my book that's the best way for any of us to get fit.

[notpoodle]

but will that flexing business on the ground actually fitten her up? id like her to be more flexible, of course, but i thought it'd be better to work on the 'we can trot for a bit without the pony conking out' thing beforehands :)

i think she's just not into riding in the school at the moment because she had so much time off ie she should be back into er the swing of schooling again sooner or later. im just not sure what to do ie do longer trots? walks?

Julia
x

ps: about the poles ... she gets bored with them after going over about twice. then it quickly turns into a giant sized version of Kerr-Plonk :rolleyes:

[KateWooten]

I know, I know... I completely sidestepped the whole fitness question didn't I :D

Mark Rashid tells a story in one of his books - he calls up some older feller and asks how to stop his horse running away with him - and the old felller starts rambling on about control of the horse's hindquarters or something ... and Mark Rashid thinks the old feller must be deaf and asks him again... and the old feller starts talking about the hindquarters .. and Mark Rashid hangs up... and doesn't see until later the connection between the horse bolting and control of the HQ.

Yes, if you focus yourself entirely on flexibility, and setting up new training goals and working toward them, and being silly, and having fun ... you will find that fitness follows effortlessly without it becoming a chore. For example, you get a huge amount more achieved in 5 minutes of active beautiful trotting with beautiful bend, and a horse that is listening so intently to you that you can reposition his shoulder, or his back end to the inch, every stride ... than in an hour or two walking or jogging in a straight lines.

The reason I suggest this to you personally, rather than just being more direct and saying 'ten minutes trotting and 45 minutes of walk' or something prescriptive like that is because of the give-away line about her being bored with schooling. That's almost always an indication that somewhere along the line, the pony has been subjected to 'boring schooling' which is where the rider (not necessarily you) has fallen into the trap of endless circling without understanding the HUGE impact of perfect release timing. If you develop perfect release timing (by practicing all the flexibility things) you find that there is absolutley no situation that your horse 'switches off' and gets bored ... all of a sudden, you find that they're just as eager to go and have adventures in a school, on a grass verge, in a field, even a straight line down the road becomes an excuse for a fun learning experience - and you just get so much fitter faster when everything's fun.

[notpoodle]

alright, point taken :)

id like to point out though that she is not a problem horse by any stretch of the imagination and has very good manners :)

it's not easy getting her off the forehand (not for me, anyway), since she spent most of her like being a hackingpony and isn't at all well-schooled, so not one of those ponies where you do XYZ and hey presto! they launch into this beautiful walk/trot/etc. we usually only manage very (!) short burst of off-the forehand or correct bend in the school (but working on it!).

the post wasn't about her not liking schooling, but about how to get her back into work (any type of for the time being) and improve her stamina in general.

im quite happy to have a go at schooling on a hack though, that sounds like a good plan :)

Julia
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[KateWooten]

I know - I didn't mean it to sound like she was a problem or anything .... or that you were struggling or anything ... in fact it was precisely because you're so obviously intelligent, funny good -humored etc that I knew I could take a risk and push you to more schooling when it wasn't what you asked for :D

I'm on a roll about the schooling thing, because just recently - the past 3 weeks or so I guess, I've really gotten into it with my young pony ... and almost as a by-product of my getting enthusiastic about it (I'm used to slobbing about any old how on a loose rein !!) - well, as a result of me shaping up and riding more actively the pony has just got so much fitter - and I'm just doing like 40 minutes a day because it is just so darn hot and humid here.

So, it's suprised me how much fitter they get from really concentrated effort on getting them to go 'well' rather than just getting them to go which is what I've been doing ... so that's why I'm a bit blinkered and obsessed about schooling at the mo' ... I think if someone posted 'what brand of jodhoppers fit best', I'd be right there banging on about how they didn't need new jodhoppers they need to go and do 40 minutes of schoooooliiniiiinnnngg ... so yes, you're quite right, I'm obsessed and pushy about it (think of it as part of my charm :D !!!) and am not the slightest bit offended if you want to tell me to take my stinky schooling and stuff it :D

[notpoodle]

thats ok :)

i will give more schooling a try once its a bit less hot (no shade in school, its very hot round here at the moment) :)

Julia
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[KateWooten]

humid ? In London ??? Bleughhh ... at least we have air conditioning here ;)

[BeachRiding]

Lots of trotting.... That did it with my horse!