can you get a horse overfit?

[Murphs]

Not that i've got this problem at the moment! But, i have a cob cross who i keep for pleasure - hacking only. I want to be able to do fun rides with her thru the spring/summer so she needs to be relatively fit but someone told me once that you can get a horse too fit for the work you then ask them to do - is that true?

[lamprellsarah]

i suppose never thought about it, if you build a horse up a lot then suddenly stop this properly effects them more mentally than physically, but they may feel over excited and actually want to work and keep moving!!
but letting them down slowly is no problem!!

[Wally]

Never heard that one before!

You can get them fit and sick and tired of what they are doing, I used to do endurance, 100 mules a day rides, the nags were fit, during the winter and the end of the season they didn't suffer from just hacking and mucking about, then we brought them back for the summer again.

[Murphs]

..for the replies. like i say, we'll probably never have the problem but just wondered if it was true or not:D

[H & Bailey]

the person who said this might mean, that if you are used to hacking and a steady plod once a week then if you fitten the horse up to be ridden every day for a fast ride.If you have a week where you didnt ride as much the horse might be full of itself and a bit of a pain and too forwards going.
I dont think that a cob type will get too stupid like a TB would maybe just a bit strong.
This is one of the reasons why I sold my last horse.I like to just hack around and have had a baby last year.My mare had about 9 months off while I was pregnant but as soon as I could ride I was back on.It didnt take long to fitten her back up and rode as much as possible,but found when I couldnt take her out(as some weeks I could ride almost every day,but others maybe once a week)She had plenty of turn out but know one else to ride her.
She was so full of beans and too much,in that I ride to relax and spend sometime to myself,I am not that competative and just like a steady hack and a chat with a friend.Not sitting on a horse who is jogging and swinging her head around because she wants to go faster,when Im too tired and want to relax.
This is one of the reasons why I have sold her on to a young girl who will ride her out and do some jumping,as she was probably bored.This is another reason why I have bought a cob type instead as they dont seem to fizz up as much.

[THEO]

I had a twenty four year old and I got him fit and he was good to handle he was an Anglo arab. I suppose it depends on your horse but in my opinion a cob should not be that much of a handfull when fit. There is fit so you can canter and gallop and have long rides and there is mega fit for point to points etc.

Watch what you feed exercise daily and your horse will be fit to the level in which you want. Respect your horse and he will respect and look after you.:p :)

[heland]

We have 2 cobs at our yard and one of them is really fit:)

This cob can be ridden every day or have a few days break and he doesn't fizz up at all. He's just so pleased to be ridden:D

[lamprellsarah]

ohh i don't know i broke in a cob, and for a whole year and a half he was going well, then i started endurance riding, and he got very fit, then due to exams and moving fields riding him had to be cut down to 3 days a week, and he went off his head, jogged bombed, reared everything, and as bailey said you get fed up with it. i cut off his food, and he got worse!!!
so i sold him to a mad lady how would ride everyday but he's still the same a year later!!

[heland]

whoops:) The one at the yard must be a good one then:D :D

[ros]

I'm not so sure it's always to do with breed - you get fizzy cob types and laid-back TBs as well. Merlin is cob body with a TB brain; he's a silly b----r when he gets going and snorts and prances with the best of them! My friend's full TB was as gentlemanly as they come.

[Wally]

A great deal of folk get fit and fizzy confused, a fit horse should be little more forward going or fizzy than an unfit one.

If the horse is forward going by nature he will be forward going whether he is fit or not. If he is a plodder he can be fit and plod all day without becoming fizzy. Hákon is VERY forward going and can be fizzy and a headcase, he will try to take opver the world fit or not. As the season goes on he gets fitter and less silly.

Magnus will never be fizzy, but he can go all day.

I find in general, the fitter they get the calmer they get.

[lamprellsarah]

i will agree with that one wally, my mare is as calm as anything go all day but at a plod and is very fit!!!

[ros]

No, absolutely, that's the point I'm trying to make. It's not really anything to do with fitness. Merlin isn't at all fit but he's still fizzy; I'm quite sure when he gets more work and gets fitter he'll calm down a lot, but he'll never be a plod. (And no, I don;t mean "plod" in a derogatory sense!) I always find horses are more spooky too when they don't get out regularly. Someone once said to me that half-fit horses are daft; once they get properly fit they settle down again!

[Speedy]

My mare is TB and fizzy, even when she isn't fit!! In the summer, I took her for a lovely long hack - she was fit enough to do some steady canters, but hadn't gone out this far before. We did some long canters and were out for hours and she never flagged! She jigged and jogged all the way home and was totally excited about the whole thing! I was exhausted and she should have been too, but mentally she will go all day! I gave her (me!!) the next day off and she was the same as always - she just never tires. The only real difference between fit and not fit with her is that when she isn't fit she blows harder after a decent canter - mentally she is always the same