building muscle up....

[amandaco2]

How does everyone do it?
My young mare is really hard to muscle up....
She does 5-7 ridden sessions per week at the moment and is out 12-20 hrs a day.
Work wise I've added in raised trotting poles and am booking some jumping lessons to start us off jumping....
She normally does 30minutes of actual work, mostly trotting , plus ten minute warm up and cool down mostly walking. This is either working on the bit or stretching.
I plan to take her to the gallops every week or fortnight which are set on an incline.
Should I carry on and she will just build up slowly....?
Hacking is only if I box somewhere as the lane is too busy and I am too nervous after one of my other horses got hit by a car on it.

 

[wench]

Is she working correctly or slopping along? What are you feeding her? If its low in protein this will not help muscle to develop

 

[amandaco2]

She's working forward to the bit, I'm really careful she's in front of the leg.
We do lots of lateral work too, just starting traver.
She's fed fast fibre, linseed and a powder suppliment plus her hay and any grazing she finds.
I was thinking of adding some ers pellets on....
She has had a reduced workload this winter due to the weather, but the other horses muscles haven't shrunk like that.... She's quite a light type.

 

[Firewell]

She might need more protein in her feed. FF is v low in protein and there wont b much in the grass right now. Hillwork and raised poles can work well .

 

[KatB]

I'd pop her on something like grass pellets or alfalfa pellets to increase the protein level in her feed. Is there any where in particular where she's dropped muscle tone?

 

[amandaco2]

She doesn't seem to build anything much on her shoulders..... Her neck looks ok, back could do with more muscle particularly by her withers, her bum is quite muscled....
Will plough on with raised poles, box to do some hill work ( usual hill field is too wet )

 

[amandaco2]

And start some baby grids for her jumping....
And I normally do some hill work at the same time as the gallops...
Wish I had decent hacking, all the paths are about 30mins hack down a horrid fast lane to get to......
I've only added the poles in to the work for two weeks so guess it will take at least another few to see anything.....

 

[amandaco2]

The ers pellets say they are good for muscle building with decent protein levels.... ?
Gunna add them in as got some for the big lad....

 

[Kikke]

Hill work, trotting up hill long and low is great for building muscles. And on the gallop should also do the trick but perhaps more for getting fitter rather then muscle building.

 

[Coblover63]

I would also add groundwork into the equation, I personally like long-lining, perhaps with a training aid like a Pessoa, although only a couple of times a week and short sessions to start with.

 

[amandaco2]

Will add some trotting on the gallops...they are quite a steep slope!!
Thanks

 

[rowy]

Do you work her in the school to the point she is just getting tired? Is she sweating a bit at the end?
My tb mare is pretty weedy. She put on loads of muscle when I upped her training so she was ridden nearly every day with 3 schooling sessions a week which are fairly taxing- really making her bend correctly and work properly. Lots of stretching work powering through from behind and getting her to stretch down whilst doing shoulder in and leg yield.

Changing her food helped loads! I starting feeding her and Rowan bailey's performance balancer and at a similar time they both started beefing up and looking much healthier in the coat and feet.

Doing suppling work on hacks works quite well. I Had been leg yielding up and down hills which I can tell they find quite difficult really stepping through. I have just started doing road work with my rising 6 year old- doing mainly trotting, but quite slow and really stretching down over the back and also doing some walk traver/ renver and shoulder in along the road. It worked really well today

 

[amandaco2]

She's normally veiny at the end of a session....It's quite hard to get sweat unless its warm weather....

 

[amandaco2]

We do lateral work in various frames too so she's always being flexed etc.....

 

[siennamum]

I think hacking is fantastic for building correct muscle, my 6 year old is getting lovely muscle from just hacking and pony nuts (which are still 11% protein) rather than working on a surface - I think it has to be better long term if you can manage it.
I was just having a grope of his trapezius this week and discussing it with a dressage trainer haha.

 

[philamena]

Sorry, sounds predictable, but if she's building in some areas but not in others, definitely worth getting her checked by an all-over body worker of some sort (osteo or physio rather than chiro) as it may be she's not using some areas properly because of tightness

 

[amandaco2]

She's got the routine physio and Saddler coming for the 'spring' checks in the next two weeks, so hopefully nothing will be found there....

 

[amandaco2]

I'd love to do more hacking but with me feeling so nervous and her being inexperienced its not safe.... I've got use of a lovely big field in summer/dry weather which I will use 3x week...there are various slopes on it so we walk trot or canter on those to build strength.....

 

[Festive_Felicitations]

How old is she? Some horses don't really bulk up till they get older (7-10ish).

Do agree that her diet sounds like a bit more protien could help (but then I dont really know what fast fibre is! )

 

[TarrSteps]

I'm another to say more protein and amino acids would not be a bad thing to try. I've been quite interested in the last couple of years as 'barefoot diets' have taken hold, to see how they inspect on young horses' development. While I think forage based, low/no cereal diets are ideal, they don't seem to provide for optimum muscle development in all horses, especially particularly athletic ones. Grass nuts are an option, or something like Re-leve, or - ideal in many cases - a small amount of good quality oats. This time of year can take a lot out of horses anyway, what with changing their coats, increased work requests and reliance on end of winter forage, so definitely with experimenting with ways to get a bit more fuel into her.

Just a note about raised poles and even hill work. It's not just about doing it, it's about HOW you do it. If the horse is dropping its back and hiking its legs up, then it will build up many of the wrong bits. This is particularly likely if you do a bit too much when the horse is tired and/or don't prioritise the way the horse is working vs amount of work.

 

[Goldenstar]

Add some oats and micronised linseed to the diet and see if that helps.

 

[amandaco2]

She's already on the linseed meal.
I could add oats....am I best to soak them...I think there are rolled ones at the shop.

Will definately be careful to do the pole work properly, very good point. She likes to arch her neck down and I can feel her back come up and I can see her front legs picking right up if I glance down.
Booked lesson for some small grid work jumps too.

 

[amandaco2]

Forgot to say she's not fully matured yet,she's 6. (not backed until four and half as not ready) so guess this year is the bulk up year

 

[sarahhelen1977]

Equitop Myoplast is supposed to be very good for helping to build muscle - although quite expensive

 

[amandaco2]

Will keep that in reserve if needed then

 

[TwoStroke]

Does the supplement you're feeding contain lysine? If not then it may help to supplement it. It is the first limiting essential amino acid, which means that it is the essential amino acid most often lacking in a horse's diet. Without sufficient levels of each essential AA, the horse will be unable to effectively utilise any of them, so it's important to supply enough in the diet.

 

[amandaco2]

Will check. It's pro hoof.

 

[amandaco2]

It's got it in, just checked. She's on half scoop so could increase that to a whole one.

 

[TwoStroke]

Ah, yes pro hoof has decent levels I think. May be worth feeding the full dose and see if it makes a difference.

 

[amandaco2]

Marvellous thanks will see how things improve over the next three weeks