Comments | equestrian: Building muscle/topline on unfit horses

regentlion in equestrian

Building muscle/topline on unfit horses

Jun 22, 2008 15:28

As most of you know, I have an APHA gelding named Tuff who is in continuous work and training at my trainer/sister in law's.

You may not know that I have FOUR other horses that are kept at my in-laws house. They are really doing nothing but eating grass and getting fat. They are thrilled with their life, but I need to get them into shape!

I've ( Read more... )

weight management (horse)

Comments 24

remix22 June 23 2008, 01:04:26 UTC

I'll take Star :) I've been looking for a pony to love! haha

regentlion June 23 2008, 01:22:04 UTC

If you're serious.... ;-) We could work something out.

remix22 June 24 2008, 02:10:07 UTC

Oh...I skipped over the part where she is 14.1hh...I'm 5'10", that might not work out so well =P Otherwise I would love to!

12to15steps June 23 2008, 01:04:56 UTC

Make sure that the work you do builds up gradually. Don't be afraid to hit the ground running, just be smart about it. A great rule of thumb is that trot sets build muscle, and canter sets build "wind" (ie, cardio & breathing fitness). Regular breaks in the work as well. Get the heart rate up, and then take a walk break; the respiration and muscles can recover while the heart rate stays high, building fitness without building lactic acid that can create soreness.

How cute is Tryzen!

regentlion June 23 2008, 01:30:38 UTC

I love Tryzen! There was a little girl hanging around the farm the first summer I was married. I think she was the daughter of a friend of my mother in law's. Anyway she liked to "help" with the horses without doing any work. She'd tag along as I let them into their stalls to get in from the bugs. She always called Tryzen "Tryzer." She just couldn't get it. ;-)

But yeah, Tryzen is the stereotypical "bareback down the road on the buckle with a beer" type horse, although I've never done the beer part. She even swims (as per the pic). And I love her but she's DEFINATELY Daniel's baby. I tried to ride her once while he was gone for work and it was a disaster--but I'd successfully ridden her before with him around. I think there's been a total of 2 people that have ever ridden her--me and Daniel.

Ok enough about her.

Do you think I could start trot sets on the longe? With side reins maybe?

12to15steps June 23 2008, 10:05:23 UTC

Certainly a good option. Be mindful of keeping the circle as big as possible, to avoid torque on the legs from moving in a circle too long. Lunge work on a slight hill is also a great way to work on fitness.

aniabania June 23 2008, 01:08:07 UTC

i don't know a lot first-hand about it, but my sister has had a lot of success with ground driving. during the fall/winter she was having saddle fit problems so she would take her mare (she does endurance rides with her) out on the trails and would ground drive her. a few times per week they'd work in a ring (also ground driving) but i think the great thing about it was that she could still get a good workout without being ridden or even being in a ring. the benefits of even just taking a horse for a walk are great even just to get them in minimal shape.

also- i *love* the picture of star out in the field with all of the dandelions (assuming that's what they are) around her. soo cute! :D

regentlion June 23 2008, 01:26:08 UTC

Isn't that picture cool? I actually think it is "wild carrot" but I'm not even sure if that is the technical term. I think ground driving would be great. I can do that in part of the pasture, which is good. I just need to buy another longeline!

xihateyourx June 23 2008, 02:02:54 UTC

toast is probably the best name for a horse EVER.

THAT IS, next to "bucket"

regentlion June 23 2008, 02:15:43 UTC

I'll tell you what--"TOAST" is a damn good name when you've driven non-stop from Michigan to Boston, picked out an OTTB, and then are driving home saying "Ok, she has to have a name when she steps off the trailer."

I love it. :-)

Altho, BUCKET is damn good too!

xihateyourx June 23 2008, 02:17:37 UTC

we had this little black pony:

( ... )

regentlion June 23 2008, 02:19:51 UTC

AW I love that story!!! She's super cute!

I once had a dream I had a horse named "Haybine." Apparently a "haybine" is a farm implement used to bale hay. I had no idea. But someday, I will have a horse named HAYBINE.

What was your pony made of? (breed?)

Thread 11

young_modern June 23 2008, 02:10:57 UTC

i second the ground driving suggestion. at the beginning of the pasture puff to riding horse transition, they can do more trot and canter work comfortably with lunging or ground driving than they could with a person on their back. and you have a lot more control over how much they use themselves with ground driving.

personally, whenever i'm bringing a horse back into regular work after time off, this is the schedule i try to stick to: first day, ride for half an hour doing mostly walk work, maybe some stretchy trot thrown in at the end. second day, lunge in halter, w/t/c. third day, ground driving, w/t/c, asking for little bits of collection here and there. fourth day, off. rinse, repeat. obviously every horse is different. if they can't do that much right away then take it slower, if they're already kind of fit then ask a little more of them. if you don't have time for that sort of regular schedule, alternate between ground driving w/t/c and mounted walk work to start and go from there.

regentlion June 23 2008, 02:18:11 UTC

Well most of them haven't been worked in 2 years so I will be taking it slow. I like your plan, though. Also, I feel more comfortable working them from the ground as there really isn't an arena, there's not often someone around in case something goes terribly wrong, and finally, since they've been pretty much living together doing nothing for 2 years they are a LEEETLE bit herd bound!!!

young_modern June 23 2008, 02:30:47 UTC

i'm really a big fan of lots and lots and lots of mounted walk work to start. it can do so much to bring a horse back into working condition. hell, even just doing walk work while ground driving would be a good way to start.

if they're all super herdbound and you don't have a riding buddy, i would suggest not fighting the herdboundness. use it to your advantage if you can. while you're working with one have the others nearby. i work with polo ponies that are horribly herdbound, but it's not really something that needs to be corrected considering what they do. there's one mare in particular that's on the crazy side, and it only gets worse if her buddies aren't nearby. so i just bring them all out into the paddock i ride in and let the mare feel like she's still with her herd. i'll even ride her right through the middle of the group if she starts getting antsy and she'll chill out immediately. it's easier [and safer] for both of us that way.

regentlion June 23 2008, 03:02:11 UTC

I'll probably be working one in the pasture while the others mill around. I know that is really a taboo thing, but I can deal. The thing that is so frustrating is both Hazy and Star have lived "real" lives at "real" barns and never had herdbound issues then.

And walk work was GREAT for Star when I started her in work a few years ago. We'd just walk on the buckle. The arena was huge and I let her go wherever she wanted. It ended up really relaxing her and helping her calm down-especially as when I got her she couldn't just walk in a relaxed way. We then did the same with the trot--on the buckle.

Darnit that I don't have an arena and they don't have a routine!!!

I guess I"m going to have to suck it up and just get on her. I can't describe my loathing for Star when she's not in work. I know it sounds terrible....

But Hazy and Toast will get ground driven because of Hazy's weak looking swayback and Toast's old injury. If that goes well I'll sit on them too.

Thread 5