Building an older horses fitness

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loopy3585

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Morning all

Looking for some advice if possible?

I've recently started riding an 18year old cob mare who for he past year has only been being used for the odd hack here and there. I want to start getting her fit and am after some advice if possible? she's not great in the school but the past couple of weeks i have been working on her napping and this seems to have now stopped ( sometime i don't have the choice but to ride in the school so had to work on this first)

Has anyone got any advice or experience of getting an older horse fit again? i'm only going to be doing pleasure rides on her and the odd bit of schooling won't be jumping her etc

Any advice greatly appreciated

x
 
loopy3585 said:
Morning all

Looking for some advice if possible?

I've recently started riding an 18year old cob mare who for he past year has only been being used for the odd hack here and there. I want to start getting her fit and am after some advice if possible? she's not great in the school but the past couple of weeks i have been working on her napping and this seems to have now stopped ( sometime i don't have the choice but to ride in the school so had to work on this first)

Has anyone got any advice or experience of getting an older horse fit again? i'm only going to be doing pleasure rides on her and the odd bit of schooling won't be jumping her etc

Any advice greatly appreciated

x
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My experience is that it is best to build up work slowly, and try and do light work as many days a week as possible, progressively increasing the workload.

18 isnt old, if sound and otherwise healthy.

I think the key things with older horses:

Keep feet well balanced
Warm up slowly, cool down slowly
Keep them warm enough eg. Exercise sheet in chill wind
Build enough fitness for work you want to do
Try and work 5 days a week, and keep them moving rather than 2 days hard work, rest of week off
Considerate work regularly is best thing for most older horses IMO.

Muscle is slower to build on an older horse, and faster to drop, but it can be done, you just need to work a bit more diligently at it.

If do have a more intensive day, try and get them moving the next day, lightly so don’t stiffen up.
 
I wouldn't treat her any different to any other age horse. I would start with hacking as straight line work is better till she has some fitness. Mainly an active walk, introducing trots and gradually increase frequency and duration. After a month, start introducing canter. Then start with schooling.
Good luck.
 
If you have to start with schooling take things slower more weeks walking before trotting and so on because the circles and turns are harder work than hacking. If you are not that into schooling I recommend buying a good book with lots of ideas for things to work on, so you do not end up doing the same things each time which would lead to boredom and increase any tendency to nap.
 
Agree with suggestions above about hacking.

I'd also suggest that she might be quite stiff, if she's older and not as used to work, and this can make a lot of schooling exercises tricky. I worked on this with my elderly girl by doing polework, in walk, but bearing in mind she had Cushings your horse is probably up to slightly more than her. One excersize that worked well for her was laying out trot poles on a curved line, sort of like a fan if that makes sense? You can alter the amount of bend, and go further to the inside or outside of the curve to alter the amount of distance between the poles, etc - does any of that make sense?
Also, stretches can help with stiffness - this video has some great ideas (and the people who make it are fun to boot! :D) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx6rfJYVQ64
 
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