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Welfare Conditioning and Fitness
If you have a question about your horse’s or your own conditioning program or fitness levels, email Jeanette from this website and she will offer you some free advice.
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Lighter evenings and hopefully better ground conditions will mean you can spend more time with your horse and make plans for what you want to do together in the coming summer months. It is also time to make an assessment of how fit you and your horse are now and how fit you need to be to comfortably manage the activities you have planned.
If your horse has been in light work – e.g. ridden at weekends over the winter months plus he/she lives out in a rolling to slightly sloping paddock, is well fed, covered, regularly drenched, teeth and hooves checked, then your horse will have the advantage over the horse that has not worked at all over winter living in a flat paddock with very little grass, uncovered with little or no supplementary feed.
Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, the ‘good doer’ that seems to thrive on very little. These horses and ponies often become victims of being ‘locked up’ in small paddocks with little or nothing to eat. Such horses still need HAY and EXERCISE!
In the horse’s natural environment, the horse is a trickle feeder which means it roams and grazes a large amount of the time gaining exercise and muscle tone in the search for food. Long periods with no or very little food and exercise leads to digestive, internal problems and mental depression. Shifting an electric fence every so often encourages the hungry horse to gorge large amounts of food resulting in colic. The horse has a small stomach and is not able to vomit like other animals or able to regurgitate food like cows and sheep. Small grazing areas are more prone to higher worm larvae infestation and in some areas ‘grass staggers’ may occur.
Key point:-
Remember the horse’s natural lifestyle and keep as closely to it as you can. If you have to ‘lock up’ your horse supply HAY and EXERCISE!
I know of several horses that may not have been ridden for several weeks and then are taken out for 3 or more hours often including a gallop along the beach. This is unfair on the horse we are supposed to think so much of and say we love.
Key points:-
What ever fitness levels you need to achieve, put in the time to do the work on your horse and yourself if needed.
Think about and preferably write down an outline of when, where and how you will increase fitness levels of both you and your horse. Plan how you are going to condition your horse for what you want to be able to do.
Divide the time you think this will take into 3 parts –
Part one - where the slower and quieter work will be done - mainly walking and some trot work on a good level surface to start to improve muscle tone. Always check for any heat pain soreness after work.
Part two – increasing work at trot and some cantering particularly if you are training for competitions. Shorten your stirrups a hole or two and get your weight off your horses back for this canter work, not only is it a good fitness exercise for you it will allow your horse to use his back and hind quarters to work freely.
Part Three – now you can introduce some faster work, it might include jumping to improve agility of both horse and rider or cantering for short periods of time when out riding. Over galloping before an event can be counter productive with the horse losing condition and becoming ‘jarred’ from concussion particularly when the ground is hard.
Checking how long it takes for the horse to recover from this type of work is important. It will give you a guide as to how the horse is increasing in condition and fitness. Full careful warming up and cooling down is vital. Increase the energy levels by giving certain types of food.
The horses body shape will change as it becomes more toned and fit but should never look thin, ‘run up’ or light in condition.
Keeping the work varied and interesting – this is very important, always working at home in the paddock can be very limiting and results in the horse (and you) becoming bored – unless you are very creative – many horses will become difficult to get to move freely forward if work is boring and repetitive.
Lungeing, walking through water to get the ‘drag on the legs’; longer rides at week ends with hill work will all help keep up the interest for you and your horse. Variety is the spice of life!!
For the young horse that may be being conditioned for the first time and older horses need particular care and attention. Over stressing horses in these situations can cause permanent damage – be aware of extremes in weather and ground conditions – the weight the horse is carrying – the changes of the horses back shape as it matures or grows older– well balanced feet with every attention paid to comfort and care is important to all horses but particularly to the young and more mature equine..
Go well and enjoy your summer riding.
Jeanette Contact Jeanette to book your session now!
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