Never ever thought i would say this!!

lauren123

Well-Known Member
Feb 3, 2007
3,329
1,397
113
East Yorkshire
As you lovely peeps are aware i am slowing building the boys fittness up. De are now.up to 50mins with walking and some trotting...
The issue is whether i take him in the school or hack him he get So So excited he cant help himself and starts bucking and leaping off the ground,normally something has triggered it.
He is normally worked 3 days per week,I have been taking overtime at work. However this week i have onñy worked him once as the school was frozen yesterday.
I am tempted to increase the amount of times he is worked soon however i arent sure if this would make him worse as he gets more fitter???
 
I tend to find mine is calmer, even though hes fitter as daily exercise becomes the normal routine. Both mine like going out seeing the world rather than being in the field all day. I dont have a school but I do try to mix up going out versus schooling/jumping sessions in the field. I also mix up the hacking routes.
 
Daily brain exercise is key I have found over the years, lunging or lots of fast work increases fitness much quicker, but steady brain work tires them quicker :) even out hacking you can do lateral work, change within the paces, lots of transitions (2-4 per minute type lots), in the school lots of pole work, precision work, things like turn on the forehand/haunches, not just endless circles trying to 'wear them out' :)
 
Thanks both.
I remeber trying to do transitions once walk to trot etc if that fired him up
So do walk to halt or within the walk, ask for lateral work before too much forward, having to concentrate and be precise can often frustrate them if they aren't used to having to, so you have to increase the duration gradually. Make sure he's had plenty of turnout before and maybe even a belly full of hay, both will help him to be more settled under saddle, but going to daily exercise will probably make the biggest difference.
 
Daily brain exercise is key I have found over the years, lunging or lots of fast work increases fitness much quicker, but steady brain work tires them quicker :) even out hacking you can do lateral work, change within the paces, lots of transitions (2-4 per minute type lots), in the school lots of pole work, precision work, things like turn on the forehand/haunches, not just endless circles trying to 'wear them out' :)

Too true. I remember being told Storm would be too sharp for me if she got fit. Hmmm. I think really regular daily riding helped us. And giving her mind things to focus on - you couldn't wear her out!! So poles etc worked well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: lauren123
Too true. I remember being told Storm would be too sharp for me if she got fit. Hmmm. I think really regular daily riding helped us. And giving her mind things to focus on - you couldn't wear her out!! So poles etc worked well.
Yes.
I spoke to my YO who said when se hacked to the yard 4.6miles afterwards he was quiet but not tired.
 
I think it depends on the horse, I'd find Jim would become more settled the fitter he got whereas Little Un gets hotter. On the flip side if Jim was fairly fit & had a couple of days off getting back on was often "interesting" but Little Un can be left for a few days and is no different. Also Jim's version of settled was still sharper than Little Un's take on hotter!

I wouldn't expect 4.6 miles ridden quietly to tire out a healthy horse carrying a light rider even if it wasn't particularly fit, after all for most horses that's only just over an hour in walk!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jessey
newrider.com