Chronically unfit horse - hacking v schooling?

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Acolyte

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As I have said before, I have been riding a 16hh MW/HW hunter since March; he looks like a Shire cross of some kind to me to give you an idea of how substantial he is
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The horse is on full livery so the YO is responsible for feeding him, and for the past three months I have been arguing with her that the horse is far too fat and is fed far too much. She wont have it
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which actually I find quite worrying - she genuinely doesnt seem to be able to see it, and she is a YO!

However thats by the by now, as the vet saw the horse today about his allergies which result in respiratory problems. We have got the all clear to continue exercising the horse as there is no crackling in the lungs, and the vet has prescribed ventapulmin for the time being. He has also recommended that the horse loses weight and gets more exercise, particularly canter work - HURRAY!!!!!!

Bearing in mind the horse has been ridden roughly 5 times a week for the past 6 months I took him into the field today and did 3 x 2 min canters, with 1 1/2 mins walk between each one. Although the horse had a whale of a time cantering, and appeared no more stressed than any other horse I have done that with, it took 15 MINUTES for his breathing to return to normal afterwards
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So obviously I am going to rethink his fitness programme completely - he is not the same as any horse I have ever ridden before, and I have owned two cobs which were both in fantastic condition. So one question first of all - would I be better schooling than hacking each day in terms of raising fitness levels? My hacks are 40 mins long and there are two good hills to trot up...

And has anyone got any other ideas? Sorry this is so very long by the way
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Hacking has definately helped my mare, she was so unfit she would cough and wheeze after trotting for a minute or so, now she can handle an hour and half hack with trotting and cantering easily! I just gradually did more trotting with her each time, its taken me a good 6 months to get her like this tho
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How much trotting is he doing when you're out? You might need to build that up first, plus bear in mind he'll need to lose a bit of his extra weight as well!

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I would say he trots for roughly half of the hack? I am just flumoxed, I have my own horse for 12 years now (four different types/breeds) and had them on loan before that and I have never come across anything like this one
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I will text the owner tomorrow to make sure she has told the YO to cut his feed down....
 
Although I only started riding him in March time this horse was also hunted all through the winter.... I am beginning to wonder how he managed it though
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So he has been in regular work for a good number of months now
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If this horse is fat then schooling will be harder work for him than hacking. He needs long (longer than 40 mins) slow hacks to build up his stamina. Big horses of his type are much harder to get fit that TB types for example. He really shouldn't be blowing that much after short bursts of canter though. What does his owner say about his weight?
 
Def would hack. How old is he? My horse is of a chunkier type but narrowish (or was as a youngster) in his chest. He used to (what I called) hyperventilate after strenuous exercise but i think it was cos he was underdeveloped physically so he didn't actually have the space in his chest cavity for his lungs to work effectively.

We have a lot of hills round us and some nice long gallopy spaces so I found a lot of hill trotting was as good as anything and then some long more collect galloping with short bursts of speed to gradually build up his stamina. The type of horse you describe will take longer to fitten up. They will never find it easy stamina wise like a lighter weight TB sort would. They are made more for power type jobs really - ie mine was trained as a SJer and is perfect for that job but i also do some (low level) eventing on him. Overtime he has got better stamina wise but i know his limits.

I think you will find if he loses some weight this will certainly help though. Also maybe try supplementing him on some blood salts or similar to help improve the uptake of oxygen to his blood. If he does have some respiratory probs then a supplement of some kind may help along with the ventapulmin.
Oh, also my horse was slightly anaemic we found which may have contributed to him struggling with fittening work when he was younger
 
Maybe he is just more HW than anything I have ridden before then - I had a Section D, and an "ISH" which was actually a LW cob, but thinking about it he is more MW/HW than either of them... If I have the time after work he gets a longer hack (over an hour) but this isnt always possible, and his owner has not ridden him at all in August...

Also his owner doesnt really say much about his weight TBH, so I am not sure what she thinks - frustratingly we only really exchange text messages, as she doesnt work so comes to the yard during the day when I am at work!

I couldnt agree more that he shouldnt be blowing that much after a relatively small amount of cantering, it is starting to quite worry me now. I wish I had been there when the vet was there today as I am the one who has been riding the horse most for the past few months!
 
Not sure how old he is LadyT, I have never thought to ask! He is not a youngster though, as he is a schoolmaster hunter type for his owner and her husband.

I will keep plugging away with the interval work at faster speeds I guess, and will also have a lesson on him (something I have been resisting since he is not my horse) so I can start schooling him more. Gahhh, I hate riding him in the school as he is so unschooled, hence all the hacking
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Sounds like you are in a bit of a difficult position to be honest. Could you call the vet and have a chat with him? You could then speak to the owner and voice your concerns about his weight with the back up of actually having spoken to the vet yourself.... of course the owner could think you are overstepping the mark
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Some tact required I think, but you only have the horses welfare in mind and hopefully she will agree and address his weight issue which I am convinced is the cause of him huffing and puffing
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Mmmm, this thread and the advice I have got has convinced me
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I will text the owner tomorrow and ask whether she is having his feed cut back, then if she isnt going to do so I shall phone her or ask to meet her at the yard to discuss in person.

Oh dear, the owner is a really lovely lady too, I shall be treading very carefully as I would hate to upset her but also care about the horses welfare
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Thanks for your input Icestationzebra
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C - he is certainly not something I would put in the HW category by a long shot!
Be very careful with the interval training; start out with walk/trot sessions longer than the canters, then once he is coping with that walk for an equal time that you are cantering before eventually cantering for longer than you are walking. This could take weeks, but it is really important you don't overstress his lungs.

Cantering is a completely different level of exercise to a horse than walk/trot in terms of aerobic demands and al that other ex phys stuff, so I'm not surprised that he was blowing if you/she haven't cantered him since he last hunted!
 
I would have thought he could have coped better with the cantering with the hacking you have been doing - could the respiratory problem be knocking him back a bit? Perhaps he might be a bit better when the ventapulmin kicks in?
 
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Let us know how you get on
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Will do ISZ, thanks! (sorry, spelling failure when I type your whole user name
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C - he is certainly not something I would put in the HW category by a long shot!
Be very careful with the interval training; start out with walk/trot sessions longer than the canters, then once he is coping with that walk for an equal time that you are cantering before eventually cantering for longer than you are walking. This could take weeks, but it is really important you don't overstress his lungs.

Cantering is a completely different level of exercise to a horse than walk/trot in terms of aerobic demands and al that other ex phys stuff, so I'm not surprised that he was blowing if you/she haven't cantered him since he last hunted!

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Ah ha, M you star, I had forgotten completely that you had seen him! Thanks SOOOO much!

TBH he has been doing some canter work since being hunted but not much.... so I completely take your point about reducing the length of time of cantering, he will have to do one canter circuit to two walk circuits I think! Hmmmm, I can forsee us going round.... and round...... and round..... the field
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OK, back to square one, new routine starts tomorrow
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Does he lunge? If you're short on time, it's easier for you both. No offence but it's easier for a horse to move when they don't have us to carry. That way you can build up steadily without asking too much of him!!!!
 
LMAO - very tactfully put
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I am not sure whether he lunges TBH - I would very much doubt it, he is hard put to walk a 20m circle in the school (waits for Bounty to shoot her down now
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)......

But I shall ask his owner, good idea CR
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I know this isn't possible for everyone, but hill work works wonders for increasing stamina. It's all we've got, so they work their back ends well! Uphill trotting builds up their wind well.
 
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