Bringing a retired horse back into light work?

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chestnutx

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Does anyone have any experience of this?

I retired my mare 5 years ago because I wanted to compete at a high level and didn't want to put her through that when she was 20 so I bought a youngster and turned her away. My situation has now changed and she is my only horse as I have 2 very young children therefore I was thinking of bringing her back into work just to do light hacking (i'd never have time for anything else!) obviously I'd get her checked by the vet, dentist, chiro etc... before doing it but I wondered if anyone had any experience or advice for me?

She could do with some exericise as she is very fat!
 
Is she 25 years old now? Bless her, she's lucky to have you who could retire her etc and she could stay on after her 'hard' working life was over :)

No advice I'm afraid, as you've already said you're getting teeth/back/vet check, other than check her tack, esp. as she's put on weight, before heading out...
 
Yes she's 25 now. I'll have to get a new saddle as I sold her last one anyway! Even if I hadn't sold it there is no way it'd fit her now! She never used to hold weight on when she was stabled but as soon as she lived out all year round she has gained loads of weight and has never needed feeding either which is amazing considering when she was stabled she needed tons of feed! She'll stay living out as it obviously suits her!
 
Yes i bought mine back into work after being retired - i had to start totally from scratch!
Lots of lungeing and long reining to get back into a routine plus i used to ride my other horse and lead her to get her fitness up and get her used to going out and about.
I had kept her well but the only thing i had to do was get the saddle checked as she also had piled on the pounds!
 
I have a lovely little 12.2 mare rising 27.

When she had time out 3 yrs ago (no fault of her own, just no rider at the time) once I had found a lovely family keen to go hacking, I slowly got her fit by taking her alongside the 15.1 on a lead rope (ok you wont want to do that! :D)
What we did was the gentle roadwork (on our great local roads and off-road well made tracks) - keeping to level surfaces etc for a 5-6 week programme, just as I would with starting to get the hunters fit in the old days.
Young rider joined us on board in week 3 & helped the mare get fit gradually.
They both hack out 5 or so days a week during spring/summer, but during winter its reduced to a gentle 40/45 min hack at a weekend. They build up again during March & the easter holidays.
Mum (aka Dappy livery:D) got herself a long term loan horse (also not the young side of 20) and together she & daughter pootle round the countryside.

Mind you, my old mare still shows a good turn of heel - and can happily go on show-ring mode for young jockey when the right buttons are pressed.

Sorry, been waffling - I'd suggest building yourselves up together slowly by doing short 15/20 min walks for the 1st week or so & progress onwards over the weeks building up your fitness.
 
start off walking for about 20 mins. build up to an hour and a half over 4 to 6 weeks, introduce trot at about 5 weeks if all is well. increase the trot work, introduce a bit of schooling. around 8 to 9 weeks start a little bit of canter. please do the pavement pounding as she is senior. any problems will raise their head on the way. once you are 10 weeks down the line you can pretty much please yourself with what you do. ideally when starting out you need to aim for 5 to 6 days out of 7. Enjoy. if she was alsways good you could do the first few weeks bareback and see how she shapes up before you get another saddle for her. Enjoy her all over again!
 
Thanks for the replys. I like the idea of bareback but I've not long had a baby and haven't ridden properly in ages! Think I might struggle the next day! Think I might get a treeless or even go Western I've always fancied that.
 
Go for it and see how you get on! I brought my 18 year old back into work after being retired for 3 years (Turned away becasue of navicular) She is sound in light work so we're just doing light hacking - although she behaves more like a just backed 4 year old!
Have fun! I'm sure she'll enjoy doing a little bit of work to mix up her week!
 
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