Advice needed about retraining point to point

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twiggys

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Hello,
I have been on this forum a few times just being nosy! But i'm in need of advice and I find this is the best place to come so have made myself a quick profile.

I'd like to know what would be best to do with this horse:

16.3 6 year old thoroughbred, been out of work since June just turned away in a field. He is in poor condition, very underweight but not emaciated.
Came from Ireland last year, ex point to point as it says in the title and hasn't done much more than this.

Ideally he needs to become a safe hack who won't be doing a great deal more.
I'd like to know what he should be fed, work he should be doing etc. etc.

Please be brutally honest if need be ;)

Sara
 
Do you know why he's in such poor condition, shouldn't really be at this time of year, what is the grass like where he's been ? Have you just bought him ? Have you ridden him yet ?
 
no idea for either of the first 2 questions but by the looks of him the grass hasn't been the best.
he is on trail and can go back at any time, been at the yard for around 3 weeks and only ridden twice just in a school.
 
Bit tricky to answer your question in that case, he's big and young so I would just feed him ad lib hay/haylage, grass if you still have it and keep his feeds to non heating brands. Work wise just go hacking, keep it to a walk while he's still underweight and maybe keep the schooling etc till the spring when hopefully he will look like a different horse.....do you have any photos ?
 
He needs to be brought back into work very slowly, ideally walking out on the roads with a sensible horse to give confidence in case he is not used to going alone, that will be the best start to his future job as well, gradually increasing the length of time he walks for over about 6 weeks when he could start short trots, as he is thin it should be done as slowly as possible to allow him time to build up muscle.
Plenty of good hay, grass and a fibre based diet with a decent supplement and linseed should enable him to gain weight as he gets stronger without him getting too silly by having too much, worming and teeth being done may make a big difference, just be careful not to over feed and end up with a horse that you cannot settle, winter is the worst time to be dealing with a horse in poor condition.
 
no photos i'm afraid but i'll try and get some :)
what weight would you say he could carry? I'm only 9 stone which i'm sure is fine!! but what is the top end of the scale
 
thank you for all your replies, he's very sweet on the ground and pretty quiet but i'm aware he's probably feeling a bit sorry for himself and i'm concerned that he will start to put on weight and get a bit fitter then turn nuts as i've heard happen to a lot of ex racers.
 
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