CARDIOVASCULAR EXERCISE

[MANDM]

hello
Can anyone help me re advice on Cardiovascular training for my horse. She has never been fit and when I got her was very overweight . I have had her checked by my vet who says she is O.K other than having Pharyngeal restriction which affects her breathing and she has a very unfit heart(I asume because there is a lot of internal fat)
I was told to try Cardiovascular endurance type exercise but cant find any info on the Web.
Anyone got any advice Please?

 

[Oaksflight]

Following typical fitness plan will help. Lots of walking (and walking only) for first week, with lots of hills, then the next week gradually introduce trotting, then trotting up hills. When she is coping with a good length of walking and trotting fine then introduce cantering, gradually increasing the length of time you canter for. You should be able to find a good fitness plan on the internet though. Also, what are you feeding her?

ETA: If she's VERY unfit then you might want to think about extending the lengths of time you walk for, then trot for, etc.

 

[SillyMare]

I would assume what he means is just building up toward long rides where you include plenty of trotting and cantering.

It will take some time though, especially if her breathing isn't good - start with short, slow hacks and build up over several months.

If she isn't in any work at the moment then you will need to start off walking for at least the first 2 weeks (preferably longer)

 

[eohippus]

cardiovascular training is aimed to establish stamina and not strength, therefore, you need to start with LSD, long slow duration work. This can take upto 8 weeks depending on your horses prior level of fitness and or obesity. To get weight of a horse, doing long purposefull walking, gradually building up duration, will help, and reduce the risk of musclular and respiratory distress and injury.
Therefore, walk briskly, starting with a good 15-20 mins working up to 1.5hr. Then gradually intorduce the trot, say 0ne minute to every five minute walk, build this up so that you are doing 3 mins trot to every one mins walk, over time, do not push the horse past his fatigue or stress levels. Monitoring recovery time is essential, your horse should return to normal breathing and HR within a minute, if your horse is puffing, sweating up profusely, or struggling/tripping/loosing balance, then it is too much.
When the LSD phase is sufficient for the horse to be able to cope easliy with the task you ask, then you can start on the strength, ie hill work, schooling, and the canter work.
hope this helps
Dawn
hope this help

 

[MANDM]

Thank you
very helpfull