Can you make a horse too fit?

HollyB66

HollyB66

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Hello :)

Sorry, but another newbie/numpty question.

Following on from the 'how often do you ride?' thread, Stormy123456's comment about her 4 year old's fitness level blowing her mind, got me to wondering if you can make a horse too fit.

My horse is 18 years old, I have had her for 6 months and she is becoming quite fit.

Anyway, through the winter she was ridden most days for 15-30 mins in the sand school. 1 hour if my daughter was having a lesson (once a week). She has recently had a week off as she was footsore, but new shoes have fixed that and she is back in regular work.

We have quite good hacking where we are, so now she is likely to be ridden on either the 2.5 mile circuit most days of the week and once (max twice) around the 6.5 mile circuit. Most of the ride will be in walk, with a few places at canter and trot. Which ever way we leave the yard involves a hefty hill climb as we are located down by the river.

She never comes back sweated up or tired. Even during her vetting she had to be galloped to get her heart rate up sufficiently.

So, my question is can I make her too fit? am I setting myself up for problems?

Any comments appreciated.

TIA HB :)
 
I always think the fitter a horse is, the better health they will enjoy, and the easier they will find their work. Thats not to say an unfit horse is in any way unhealthy or unhappy.

I think it depends very much on the horses personality, as to whether it blows their mind or not. If you have a laid back type of horse, its likely that its fitness level will not affect its actions too much ie explosive bucking fits etc. However, if the horse can be inclined that way anyway, then the fitter it is the more likely it will happen. My old boy was kept pretty fit all his life and went on til he was 32. Never naughty, always looked after me no matter how fit.

The guys I have now get sillier and spookier the fitter they get, but are not nasty with it. still don't buck or run away with me, but are a bit daft.

Hope that makes sense!!! :D
 
The Old Appy was pretty good at keeping herself pretty fit, as in fact is the Current Appy, both walk/walked across the field with real purpose (as opposed to others who mosey around :D ) The Old Appy would get very silly if she was half fit, but actually calm down again once she was working more. When she was half fit, she would half pass down the road, try to jog and be a right pain, once we got past a particular point most of that would stop. The Current Appy is not as bad, but can be rather spooky, but that is the case no matter how fit she is! The old Appy lasted until she was 33, but retired at 30 as she refused to slow down any and I was concerned that she would get over tired and be injured or cause herself some other problem. I think some people equate fit with feeding and some of the silly behaviour is because the horses are fed more 'corn' than they need. :)
 
I always get remarks from an instructor at are yard of my horse apparently being to fit! But i think the fitter the better :) he is rather laid back so the fitter he is the better work i get out of him and the easier he finds it. He very rairly sweats tbh unless he does alot of jumping an galloping lol ... hes also an exracer so is apparently uncharacteristic :P
 
My pony when i was a kid was an arab and i got him when he was 15. He was mega fit. He couldnt be kept in a stable for a day otherwise he was a mega bouncy ride putting it mildly. In the summer i would ride for 2 hours a day, more on a weds (i had half day school on a weds) and on a sat afternoon and sunday it would be several hours long.
He was super duper fit but super healthy. He naturally kept himself fit and i never ever tired him out! We once went out and got lost....really lost and were out for nearly 9 hours...he was still jogging and jumping and messing around when we finally got home and the next morning was raring to go!!
He was the absolute best. But you couldnt try and lesen his fitness, he lived for his work! He would have been amazing for endurance if he would have loaded into a trailer.
I sold him at 18 to go to a girl to do team showjumping and endurance (they had a lorry).
I definately think the fitter the better. If you find it to much the best thing you can do is to let the horse go to someone who will work them to the level they thrive on. But no...i dont think they can be too fit.
 
skewby said:
eh? Aren't tbs built for fitness? What have I missed?! (Please educate me lol!!) xx
Click to expand...

Ha just read my comment, totally dont make sense lol .. i meant that mine apparently doesnt fit the "stereotype" of a tb because hes so laid back, if that makes sense!
 
Pysically they can't become too fit, the fitter the better usually, although mentally they can be. Think it depends on each horse.

My 15y/o mare can be hunting fit the whole winter, but then come Spring I try to bring it down a little, because the mentality for the dressage just isn't there. Plus too much work and not enough outings usually leads to her standing vertical on her hind legs. She tends to keep herself fit too. When we go teamchasing (against the clock), Ballet always comes in first, but barely sweats up, and hardly puffs either, someone once asked me if there was a hold on course and how long had we to wait until we got set off... after we'd been round! Every other horse we see is completely knackered, wandering around on a long rein and Ballet's still dancing on her back legs ready to go again. Every horse is diferent I guess.
 
i would say that yes you can get a horse too fit. my friend's mare gets very fit with the work she does with it- to the point that she can't get any sense out of her on the flat because she just gets too full of it, wanting to canter about etc. i wouldn't think that would happen tho, OP, with the work you are doing :)
 
I always thought that horses were built up to be at pique fitness like athletes do, especially for a particular race or ride ? Sometimes that fitness piques too early or late, which I guess is the art of all fitness work - getting the balance right ?

That said, I wouldn't think a non-competition horse could be over-fit, could it, unless a vet had suggested it be worked lightly due to a heart murmur or something ? A very interesting question :confused:

One thing I do know - I am in no danger whatsoever of being over - fit. Ever. :D
 
I think a lot depends on the rider.

I have seen people work their horse fitness levels up and up (especially with lunging) and then not be able to cope with the fact the horse is full of energy and stamina.

A fit horse can require an equally fit rider.
 
I have seen people be unable to manage their horses when they're too fit, so I guess a horse can be too fit for the rider's abilities if the horse is inclined to be silly. There are some horses where I am now that are not fit, but I suspect their owners would have trouble if they were. I keep Genie fairly fit, and fortunately she's consistant no matter her fitness levels.
 
I agree that the fitter a horse is the better they are health wise as all their internal systems are working well and not being put under undue stress.
I would say though for the poster that 2.5 mile circuits is not a great deal...even every day of the week...cetainly a horse would be fit and well with this routine but I cant imagine they could be made too fit on it. My lad has been brought back into work following 8 months off through laminitis and we are currently up to doing 2 hacks of 2 miles per hack at walk and 2 hacks of 3 mile walks per week. Even after 8 months off he has not sweated on this despite the fact that we live at the bottom of some very steep derbyshire hills.
When we were doing pleasure rides/endurance at a lower level I would clock up 20 - 30 miles per week on him and sometimes more depending on the length of the pleasure ride! He was fit on this granted...but not overly by any means.
 
Our lot are generally kept as fit as possible because they're in hard work all year round, withh two six week holidays to keep them fresh.
However... my old boy (24) can't be kept too fit or he becomes a complete nightmare! He was super duper fit last year (not thinking anything of our 12 minute galloping hill...if anyone in Glos/Ox would like to know where this is, I'm happy to show you, it's AMAZING for fittening horses, and FREE!) and in very hard work. However, riding him became a chorse as we went everywhere sideways, did a lot of bucking and rearing, and couldn't possibly just walk up a hill! Where we are it's 4,500 acres of setaside, so not much road work, which became a problem when he was too fit as he just thought we should gallop EVERYWHERE. He's a poor doer anyway, and being over fit absolutely blew his mind - he lost loads of weight, his box walking went up to a whole other level, and he literally smashed through three sets of post and rail fencing one day to get to his mare!

This year I've kept up his fitness from hunting last season, when he was out twice a week, but we only go for about 4 hours on a slow day, and just 2 on a fast day because he would hunt on adrenaline until he dropped down dead! He's fit enough to do just about anything I ask, but he does puff and sweat a bit going up our galloping hill - which doesn't bother me because now if I want to just go for a quiet wander with my horse and my dog, I can do it without having to go sideways and sit giant bucks!
 
I read somewhere (many years ago!) that a horse can never be too fit. Or atleast, it shouldn't be a problem if you have trained your horse correctly and have control...

although I kinda disagree... :S
 
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