Building muscle in tb

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SarahRicoh

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Hey all,

Just taken on a new horse and shes a 15.3hh, 13year old tb mare. She's been out of work for a year due to owners circumstances so is a little thin and has no muscle what so ever.

She will have adlib hay and im going to put her on a conditioning feed once I get her to help build her up a little.

Going to have to reback her so will only be able to lunge etc for a while and walk inhand so does anyone have any tips on building muscle especially topline?

What do people think about lunging in side reins? Will walk her out but wont be able to go too far so mainly lunging/free schooling/long reining for now.
Looking to buy some sort of Pessoa type aid to help build muscle! What ones do people feel are best as theres many on the market.

Any other tips would be great :)
 
long reining up hills slowly, but making her use her self! Dont rush into buying gadgets, as she has been out of work for so long, it will most likely be too difficult for her to work in a pessoa etc. When you get a bit further down the line try doing pole work and raised pole work!
 
Miles and miles and miles and miles of roadwork, hills, hills and more hills. lay off circles lungeing and definitely side reins while she is weak as it's hard work for them and not really fair.

In my opinion you will get a far better result going as above, roads will harden her legs up, hills will build muscles, if you can hack off road eventual trotting and cantering up and down hill will give a great result. You as rider must make sure she uses herself properly and does not slop along, it's not just horse that has to work :)
 
I need to build the muscle up before I ride her though so cant really do loads and loads of roadwork, and have a hill next to us but its very steep and long and not really ideal to walk her up inhand although I can do a bit.

Any other ideas but thankyou for your advice once im onboard il definitely be doing loads of hacking and roadwork to strengthen her up :)
 
If she leads ok (in bridle). Ride and lead or walk and lead her for miles up and down hills (at least you'll both be fit). Do nothing in school while she's under weight and has no muscle. Also plenty of good old fashioned daily strapping will really help, remember its a TB though and use a folded stable rubber rather than a brush.
 
Thanks all, cant ride and lead as no suitable horse so looks like im going to be doing a lot of walking.
Im obviously going to have to lunge though to get her used to tack again and then with a rider so she'll have do some lunge/school work?
 
amymay said:
Why does she need re-backing?
Click to expand...


This.
She has only been out of work a year so a bit of ground work and build up with long reining and walking out and she should be fine!

I say this because my new horse has been used as a companion for the last nine, nearly ten months and he has been lunged a handful of times recently and they popped a saddle on him and pottered round the school for fifteen minutes and then a few days after that I got on him for ten minutes and he was fine. He is a 14 yr old TB so in a similar situation as you. He acts more like a pony than a TB though so im lucky he has such a good nature, lol :o
 
Hmm that's very true just want to do it properly and you never know exactly what she's done before, just relying on other people. She might accept it straight away but she might take a little refreshing, either way she's not that muscled to just whack a saddle on and go...
 
I would long rien as much as you can at first .
A lunging rope ( rope over the back through forelegs and to bit ) and lunging in walk over poles dotted round the school will help .
Build up to gradually to trotting and if you want to try some sort of lunging aid try an equi ami not a Pessoa .
But take time walking walking walking until you see improvement , you will be fit at the end .
 
I know the importance of walking and the fact that you need to do loads to make them truly fit but there's a limit to how far I can take her inhand etc although I can walk her up and down hill as its a bridleway as long as she's not scared of cows. I would only be lunging at a walk for a while anyway and I can long rein too and see how she gets on. All depends on her and how naughty or not, she is and if she accepts me getting on board well I can do loads of hacking with her before any schooling!
Yes someone else said the equi amis better. Thanks :)
 
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