Building fitness and stamina in a cob

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mnb

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Hi everyone,

I am after some advice on developing a fittening plan/programme for my horse and my self to improve his fitness, stamina and interest in work.
I have a traditional gypsy cob who I bought 16 months ago to help build my confidence after numerous incidents with previous horses. Bailey was 10 when I got him and had only ever been used for hacking and plodding around and never really schooled. Because of this we was very right legged as he had been able to choose which leg he wanted to go on in canter and would only ever canter on that lead. We have pretty much cracked that issue now and 98% of the time we get the correct lead. He has massively increased my confidence so are ready to start doing more things however we haven't yet found his forte. I believe that he is reasonably fit walking and trotting but lacks interest and stamina and I struggle to hold him in canter for more than 30 seconds and he takes so much work to get him to do a jump he certainly doesn't take me. But when I have been to the beach with him he will canter for as long as I want and last week on a xc course he took off in excitement doing flying bucks (first time since I've had him). I unfortunately don't do this exciting things often enough as the beach is an hour away and I'm very nervous when jumping and he had never jumped before I got him. I don't think I have helped the situation, I take him in the school too much and have made him stale but I am wanting to change this. I was at a show yesterday and where a lot of horses would be excited to be somewhere new he was as cool as a cucumber. Walk and trot was fab but I had to bully him into canter and again wouldn't hold it and to get him to extend just doesn't happen. His teeth, back, tack and health are all regularly checked.

I would love to get him to more shows, do some dressage and get round a 50cm show jumping or working hunter but I need to get him interested. If my nerves hold up I would also like to take him cubbing as I think that this would give him a new lease of live but need a weekly plan that I can add to each week to increase his stamina.

My currently plan is:
  • 3-4 days 35-40 minutes schooling, walk, trot, canter starting some lateral work and rein back lots of transitions as he is very behind my leg and occasionally I will pop a cross pole if there is one up in the school maybe once a week.
  • 1 8-9 mile hack in walk and trot loads on hills.
  • 2 days off.

What would you suggest?
 
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I will stick my neck out and say that it isn't a fitness issue, but rather that he is ignoring you! When you put your leg on does he instantly react?
 
I have a similar issue with my pony, she's very stale in the school, so now we have an agreement that I only ride in the school if we are having a lesson, at the moment this is at least once a week. I try and hack out Saturday and Sunday, 6-9 miles at a time and making sure that I am doing transition, after transition after transition (especially if we are on our own as she tends to plod), Saturday I had the dog with me so ended up hacking round the far (only about a mile but LOTS of hills) and then I came back later in the day to lunge, again LOTS of transitions. I'm going to start introducing a flat schooling session once a week in the school but making sure I have a plan of exactly what I want to achieve and how before I start to stop us getting bored.

Your plan sounds good but I think there is too much schooling, maybe change it to school once, lunge once, jump once although ideally hacking more often would be better?
 
Take him cubbing, that usually gets them interested. I clip my cob out, that helps with making work easier for her. As BBH mentioned it is important that they respond to the slightest aid.
 
Thanks for the replies,

I have been working on getting him more responsive ie ask with a squeeze if nothing back in up with whip, if still delayed he getting the works including me yelling like a lunatic which more and we keep doing this in the session and he ends up fantastic. But the next session he's back to how he was before :mad: So not sure what to do. He thing he responds to most is shouting/growling but I feel so silly. His trot is getting better but his work is awful he do two good strides then back to plod unless I us my whip every stride. But when he's on his way home the walk is fantastic. He currently on endurance mix and oats after my instructor advised me to start competition mix about two months ago but I decided to get endurance. I think I may now try comp mix as the what he's on now makes no difference. I was wondering if interval training for example start off with one minutes canter work to every two minutes trot and three minutes walk and change the times as we get better and maybe do this once a week.
I have also bought a schooling while you hack book.
 
I think you're absolutely right to look at his fitness level and feeding regime. With the best will and all the responsiveness training in the world, he can't give you what he hasn't got to give, so fittening him up will do no harm. As Munchen has said, try ditching some of the schooling for the time being and do as much hacking as you have time for. If you've got hills around you start by walking up them as much as possible and really concentrate on the push you are getting from behind, which means not letting him wiggle and get out of walking straight. At the same time, assess the quality of all the work you do out hacking - he doesn't have to be going fast, but he does have to be working hard. I would school a maximum of once a week atm if that's possible.

You can check in the Feeding section of the forum for threads on feeding for more energy, but I'd address the fitness first.
 
Yeah we have loads of hills which is great, I just need to get over my fear of hacking that's why I haven't been doing it often. I have been walking up hills so that he has to use his bum and not pull himself up then and I have been trotting on the flat sections. So do you think I should carry on with this or just work on his work. Any suggestions on how long I should hack for?
 
Is he fat? If so get the weight off and do lots of fast hacking, forget schooling him until you have sharpened him up.

We do 15-20kms most days sometimes twice a day and the other half of we is on a mini Shetland ;)
 
OK, so start doing more trotting up the hills and lots of walk trot transitions on the hills, again absolutely insisting that he is straight and using his back end properly. And when he finds that easy then make him trot S L O W up the hills, making sure you are absolutely dictating the pace. How long a hack depends on him - enough to make him tired, but quality rather than quantity will work him hard without the boredom factor setting in.

Why aren't you keen on hacking - is he not great out or do you just find it dull (I fit into the latter category and hack purely for the benefit of the horse ;))
 
Before I got Bailey I got bolted with several times on the road and got to the point where I wouldn't hack at all. I went for hypnotherapy and all sorts. I then got bailey and didn't feel to bad hacking with others but we couldn't keep up with them. I am loads better as I no do about 8 mile hacks on my own but just need to push my self to do it.
 
I have a cob who was very unfit and fat when I got him.

Questions:
Is he overweight? If yes, you need to get the weight off and he will have more energy.
Is he clipped? If no, you might want to try this. Mine is clipped out all year as he gets so hot and is much more comfortable working hard.
Is he smart? Mine is and doing the same thing all the time just switches him right off.

Suggestions:
Forget the schooling for now and do LOTS of hacking. New routes, lots of hills, lots of transitions, lots of fast work. Make him work. You can also school on the hacks. Measure your hacks on mapmyrun.com or something and see how far you are going and how fast - and your improvements.
Do some fun rides, pleasure rides.
Try to get out to do some training if you can.
Try some different stuff - trec training, despooking, gymkhana games, horse agility
Go exploring with him.

The fitter he is, the better he will be and the more energy he will have. That is my experience anyway.

Good luck and have fun.
 
tiga71 said:
Questions:
Is he overweight? If yes, you need to get the weight off and he will have more energy.
Is he clipped? If no, you might want to try this. Mine is clipped out all year as he gets so hot and is much more comfortable working hard.
Is he smart? Mine is and doing the same thing all the time just switches him right off.
Click to expand...

No his body is not clipped but he's good to clip so I could do that. He is very clever and knows every trick in the book and switches off quickly but takes ages to wake up.

Does anyone have tips to improving his work. I end up doing more work than him.
 
He's a really similar stamp to my old boy. He was similar with his canter when I first had him and I spent the first year or so not getting much better as the hacking round us was rubbish and we didn't really.

Then we moved and I got a new safe hacking buddy and I worked on his fitness and schooled him out hacking. Schooling always included poles or jumps to keep his interest and I lunged him once or twice a week.

Cantering out in a hack started off up hill, much easier to keep control and he had to work hard. One particular hill has a nice flat bit at the bottom so I'd school a bit there and then canter up the hill, walk back down and repeat if he could take it. This turned into proper interval training up that hill and his canter got stronger and stronger. Before I sold him I was placed at BE finishing on his dressage score with NO time faults.

During the winter I had a sharer who took him for 1 or 2 2 hour hacks during the week. Made a massive difference to maintaining his fitness as I worked full time.

So I agree lots of hacking and lots of hills. Build up to cantering slowly though for your confidence and his fitness. And get a safe hacking buddy!!
 
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i had this issue with one cobbie, turned out the saddle were a little narrow for him and the points to forward and effected his shoulder, changed saddle shape width etc and we have a different horse

just a thougth
 
hills, pole work in the school (including raised poles), and lots of transitions to and from the walk (with the lazy ones it's quite good to have them walking along expecting to trot or canter any minute).
 
This is a very interesting thread for me, thanks for starting it mnb!

I'm currently trying to up my cobs fitness, have extended our hacks and schooling sessions, and am now pushing him to trot and canter that bit further each time while we are out. Have found a fab hill we can use to get those bum muscles working ;)

His coat seems to have grown like mad over the last week and he seems a bit lethargic which I am putting down to the sudden hair growth! So will be clipping him to see if it helps.
 
Yeah I am thinking that I may clip Bailey too. Those of you that clip all year how often do you clip?
We have been on a hack this evening only for an hour in walk, but he was really made to go forward (there was no plodding allowed) and in the middle we went for a 4 small canters, first time was as slow as a slow thing but by the 4th he was moving well and ears pricked so I think he quite enjoyed it.
 
I clipped mine every 4-6 weeks through the winter, and then in about April, June and then his winter coat would start to grow about now ish so would start the winter clipping again. The whole lot came off, legs, head the lot. It was a lot if work but he was fairly good to clip and I got pretty quick at it.

He's the coloured in my avatar!!

Ooh and well done on your hack. Good start just repeat that for a few weeks and you'll be going great guns!!!
 
DabDab said:
Sounds ideal :D
How did you feel about it confidence-wise?
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I felt good. When I've watched the videos back he was going slower than he felt hehe.

The first video is the first canter and the speed he usually goes.
http://youtu.be/DAofd5aHBko

The second video is canter number 4.

http://youtu.be/Zsf7sR5p15o

Please be nice everyone this is a big deal for me. I usually to one canter then not brave enough to do any more.
 
It looked great. You're not expecting him to be foot perfect at this point and he looked forward going enough to me. Better than my first attempts on boo!!! Nothing wrong with the first video and the second he was bowling along.

Fab well done. I bet you feel great and it will help with his schooling!!!
 
Thank you I did really enjoy, he and beginning to anticipate and take me more at the end rather than have to pudh him. It was nice to have him a little joggy afterwards.
 
I was expecting much much worse from your descriptions ;). He is lovely! I would just keep plugging away at it , Frank << isn't the most energetic of ponies (and has an awful walk so can't help with that!) and sometimes he will stay in his little pony canter rhythm when hacking which is fine sometimes but I do encourage him to stretch out of that when keeping him fit. I do also do some things to wind him up and then he expends more energy.... so he doesn't like the hedge one side of our canter track.. I'll make him go next to it.. we have some random soil bumps and going up and down them works too ;), or if I have mum with us I will let her horse (much much faster than him anyway) go off and make him wait (this usually results in welsh cob bouncing) before letting him go... he then maintains this faster speed ;).

He likes the beach too :).

Schooling wise- instead of hollering have you tried two schooling whips? I have found that being able to tap both sides can come as a sufficient surprise to click the forwards button.

I'd listen to tiga.. she knows what she is talking about for definite!

I'd also clip (also makes more reactive to whip tickling ;) ).

Feeding them can be difficult - F is on oats this summer on the basis that it will make him more energetic so he burns off their energy rather than going on his waistline.

oh and def go cubbing :D
 
ester said:
I was expecting much much worse from your descriptions ;). He is lovely!
Click to expand...

Thank you very much. Tonight really wasn't like Bailey but then again I don't do this often. On the first video I really had to push him, that is what he is normally like and awful in the school. He will break from canter after a couple of strides. My instructor calls him Kevin (Kevin and Perry) as he can be like a naughty teenager. I am very tempted to clip him tomorrow. I clip him in the winter and rug him, however what do I do now/autumn in regards to weather/turnout/rugs?

Thank you everyone for your advice and encouragement:inlove:
 
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