Bringing a horse back into work.

[Werehorse]

Say it's been off for three years then ridden a bit but mostly not ridden for the last 9 months.

Where do you start?

Extra info: horse dislikes schooling quite a bit but can walk around the school for 20 minutes or so without playing up. Shortest round the block hack is three miles long and takes 45 mins to an hour??

 

[eml]

I start with sit on and walk up and down yard (3 minutes) then no pressure walk up drive , around car park and back...5-10 minutes, next is walk to school , walk around school then walk back, about 15 minutes. Then we walk to school and do more schooling starting trot and do down drive around set aside and back walking hacks about 30 minutes.

Next stage is full 30 minutes schooling or 45 minutes off road hack (which we have to box to!)

This is for a newly started horse and we repeat each stage until they are ready to progress. An older horse coming back into work may well shortcut these!

 

[Rabo]

You don't say why the horse has been out of work.

In order for the muscles to build up to be strong enough to carry you, you should do most of your work (20 mins) in hand or lunging and just 10 mins in the saddle to start with.

Walking round the arena in hand, doing some simple pole work (one pole for the first week) to lift the back, some lunge or long-reining is good and then 10 mins walking out.

Gradually increase this until you are riding for about 40 mins out before you try doing any trotting and schooling.

I am guessing the horse is not a baby as he dislikes schooling - probably because he just isn't strong enough to do it.

You can also play with some natural horsemanship games and freestyle schooling which gives you a much better bond with your horse.

Lots to do - hope this helps.

 

[Werehorse]

Thank you for the replies, interesting input. The reason she's been such a pain to school could well be cos I rushed her back into it all then.

She's a horse I got on loan last October. Previous to me getting her she had had a foal for her owner and then just been turned away while the foal grew up. I suspect she may have had odds and sods of riding out during that time, but not much. I have done bits and bobs with her but not much cos of the schooling issues.

How quickly is gradually? Over what time period, say I can get to work her 5 days out of 7.

 

[eventerbabe]

i wouldn't even start with riding. Lots of carrot stretches and belly lifts and lots of walking out inhand to get some kind of muscle back. I'd do this for a month. I'd then go out undersaddle walking for another 6 weeks, increasing how long you are out for. Then i'd start 'interval training' doing timed sections of trot on the hacks and gradually increasing these over another 4-6 weeks. Then i'd start some schooling.

I would not be working her 5 days out of 7 to begin with when undersaddle. When i brought my mare back into work we started with 3 days a week and slowly increased from there. That was after 8 weeks of inhand hacking and stretches/belly lifts.

 

[where with all]

Maybe consider getting its back checked if she has had a foal, would certainly not be doing any kind of schooling straight away if shes had that much time off. '' a week in walk for every month off''.

 

[bitsnpieces]

If she has had a foal then you will need to take it very slowly, foaling causes all the muscles around the hips and hip joints to slacken off. If they come back into work too quickly it can cause issues with the muscles that keeps the ball and socket joint together, it's also recommended that lunging is avoided as this creates alot of pressure on those areas.

I would echo others and start short periods of in hand walk, 10 mins for a few days then increase by 5 mins every other day, if you feel she is struggling then take it back a step and don't increase the time by anymore until she feels ready.

Once she is up to 20-30mins in hand you can introduce some ridden walk work, but do not ask for a full outline yet as her muscles won't be ready for it.

I'm currently bringing my 18 yr old back into work and am following this, also followed this when bringing her back into work after foaling. I find it best to focus on hacking out to get her fit before introducing any schooling.