Competing unfit horses..

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EXCATLY! After all the long and slow road work I do I was devasted when my mare did a leg, but my friend who doesn't ride for weeks on end then trots for 50mins solid on the road has no problems. Gah

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Maybe the long slow road work you do doesn't work as well as you think then? Just a thought...
 
I used to get up at 4.30am to ride 2 for 45 minutes each before I went to work and then again for 45 - 1 hour after work when I was seriously competing SJ for 4 days a week, as would usually be SJ at the weekends both days and then the horses and me would get a Monday off. Nowadays the polo ponies are roughed off in September and are brought back into work in Feb on walk exercise (6 days a week starting with 15 minutes per day) so by the time we hit mid to end of April they are on cantercise 6 days per week for up to 40 minutes, this is for them to be able to do 8 - 10 miles non stop round an undulating 1 mile canter track. This willl then in our eyes have them fit enough to cope with a 6 to 8 minute chukka on the pitch. All our horses enjoy their time off and they get to live out 24/7 and be horses in a herd, they are usually asking to come back in to work, and if they don't want to be caught then they are left till they do, as they enjoy their jobs and we like it for them to ask to come back into work. That way they will give you all they have when you ask.
 
It's not a matter of it 'working' or not, it's not a matter of choice. When you are stuck in the middle of nowhere with no school and only a dark bogy field to ride in you have to hack to get anywhere.

Lots of walking up and down hills won't do much harm, trotting a soft horse on roads will, fact!

T_E and I were referring to people who get lucky and people who don't, my walking on the roads was certainly not to blame for my horses 'leg' which was actually caused in the field, yet after all my hard work others just drag a horse out and escape without any injuries ever.

Sods law I guess.
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Just wanted to see if anyone else has views on this really.

Almost all of my horsey friends hardly ever ride, by this I mean less than two or three times a week. Some of these people then take their horses out competing at weekends, with zero or little preparation and then seem completely perplexed when the animal doesn't perform well.

The excuse I always get when I question their horses fitness routine is that they work full time, not enough hours in the day etc etc. This doesn't wash with me, I work full time and I have no facilities whatsoever yet I still manage to work my competition horse 6 days a week and I always have done. This seems to have been happening around me since I can remember. I remember being a child and always being the only one riding daily on a livery yard of 35 horses and wondering why no-one wanted to keep their horses fit.

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If you work full time & have no facilities how do you ride 6 times a week?
Not being rude, just genuinely interested. I work Mon-Fri 8.30-5.30 (at least!) so can't hack when I finish work at the mo as it's dark. And can't ride before work as don't have enough time/daylight. And we have no facilities or a field dry enough to ride in.
 
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IHave been at yards where I was the only one there at night riding and its very lonely

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Seems to be the case with me at the moment as couple are on holiday.... so i'm taking the dog with me in the evenings for the moment
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Blue gets ridden 4 times a week without fail, 5 if i can but have to fit him in around work, pole dancing one evening and college course another evening - i don't have a social life until maybe Saturday evening! Holly however only gets ridden at weekends at the moment as i'm trying to concentrate on Blue this winter.
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I work full time, and have an hour 15 mins commute each way. But my competition horse is ridden 6 days a week, and competes nearly every weekend. I have no facilities, although do have my own stables and land.

During the week I ride before work (I go in late and work late so I can get some form of daylight!) and do an hour of either hacking, fitness work or schooling. There will also be at least one lesson a week (alternate between dr and sj). Weekends competition wise at the moment it's either dressage or show jumping, but will be back into BE by the spring.

I have sacrificed having two competition horses as I felt I wasn't able to give both of them the time and commitment they deserved.

I absolutely loathe seeing people hammering unfit horses round any course. Lower level BE is particularly bad for this and I rarely watch any RC level stuff any more as it's appalling the condition of many of the horses.
 
I have various methods! At the moment when the mornings are still light I ride in the mornings, even when it is at it's worst I can safely get out on the roads at 7.45am if it's a clear day. I work (at the moment) only 5mins down the road which is so handy but in the past I have been 30mins away and still managed it. Sometimes I also ask to come in 30mins early then have a long lunch break and I can just about fit in a 45min ride in my break
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My fields are dry enough to lunge in at the moment so I tend to lunge twice a week at the moment but it won't be long before the fields are too wet.

Mondays tend to be day off purely because she's normally been worked hard the day before and it gives me a head start on the week.

I work roughly 9-5 mon - fri but luckily for me I started a new job two months ago which gives me much greater freedom in my hours, if I want to start late I work late etc etc. Very handy
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Do you think all horses that do lower level BE need to be ridden 6 times a week then?
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Not neccesarily, but I think a lot of people think they may be working their horse six days a week but are in fact pootling about and not achieving a lot.
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There's a difference between achieving and maintaining fitness and just riding.

And then of course you get the people that think that because they are riding more than a few times a week their horses are in medium - hard work so they feed them up accordingly. Another pet hate!!!
 
Completely agree that many RC horses aren't fit enough for the work asked. If it makes you feel any 'better' about the situation a group of four girls from the yard I'm at took their unfit horses hunting two years ago, one had a serious fall resulting in damage to both hers and her horses backs, one horse pulled a tendon and another was lame by the end of the day so not every uncaring idiot who competes unfit horses gets away with it.
 
It really annoys me too. But then I am often the one with the horses that stay fit and healthy all year, because they are kept ticking over. I have one who hacks 2/3 times a week and never competes any more, a youngster who is on a bit of sabbatical ,but still does 2/3 days a week and maybe a small clear round every now and again, then my main man who is ridden at least 5 days a week, some days twice.
 
I agree that many people ride their horses without excercising them properly, but I disagree that many RC horses aren't fit enough. In fact I think many people overdo it esp when eventing at Intro level or similar, and then wonder why they can't get a test out of their horses.
 
QR- i find this a lot and during january i dont usually get my horses ridden more than 3 times a week....so i dont compete. but i see so many people on unfit horses...u have to feel sorry for them especially in some of the late autumn hunter trials... nearly all of the horse finish about to blow themselves out...then you find the rider has entered them for the next class and then wonder why they have been eliminated in the second class! my horses feel ready to do another round but i dont do it because i dont want to push them. also i know someone that has a horse in the field that she occasionally get on and i mean occassionally and then takes it hunting!
 
What is a fit horse? My mothers idea of fitness to mine is very different. But she does a different job. In the winter I can barely ride in the winter due to having no facilities and yet have never had a problem with fitness. I find as my horse is out 24/7 the nutrition is not in the grass so he is exercising himself. A lot of horses I would consider unfit who I see doing stuff but others I see being worked too much perhaps?
 
something that also really annoys me is when a horse has been off due to a serious injury e.g. tendon and then people dont do much walk at all and then go straight into hard work!
 
Certainly not just you, I always had my horse fit and ready to go and if he had had time off then he didn't get competed - I know all too well of so called 'horse lovers' who compete horses that are either unfit, over weight or not what I would deem as sound.

Unfortunately, there is no telling these people, they will always know better - poor horses that's all I would say.

Just stay happy in the knowledge you are doing the right thing.
 
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I absolutely loathe seeing people hammering unfit horses round any course. Lower level BE is particularly bad for this and I rarely watch any RC level stuff any more as it's appalling the condition of many of the horses.

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I completely agree!
 
Depends what level you are competing, I dont get to ride at all in the week, by the time i have got daughter and fed her, its dark, I work full time. I have a lady who rides my horse/s 2-4 times a week if her time allows. Other than that they do hunting (shock horror) most weekends and their level of fitness does not suffer in the winter, we have very steep tops at the edge of our fields and they do keep themselves very fit I can assure you.

If you are planning on doing intro level or something thats a different story but for popping round a 2 minute course at a local show or similar, I think people place too much worry on "fitness levels".

I dont agree with dragging them out of the field and working them stupidly hard but someone who cannot ride during the week should not feel guilty about popping round a small course at the weekend.

People worry far too much.

However, if the horse was not performing well due to unfitness then I would not punish it thats for sure.

My horses sweat and puff less (if at all) than some that are ridden daily!
 
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Certainly not just you, I always had my horse fit and ready to go and if he had had time off then he didn't get competed - I know all too well of so called 'horse lovers' who compete horses that are either unfit, over weight or not what I would deem as sound.

Unfortunately, there is no telling these people, they will always know better - poor horses that's all I would say.



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Couldn't agree more
 
I am riding less this winter - 4 times a week, maybe 5. However I have a 110 mile round trip to work and just not enought time - my career is very important at the minute. However, I have a youngster that's out all day and is not competing at the moment. He will start dressage in a few weeks but I wouldn't take him unless I knew we were ready.
 
Riding is a good way of calming down after a stressfull day at work, as soon as I get on that saddle the world seems a nicer place again. And a double bonus is that they are always fit to compete.
I does wind me up when people think there horses are fitter than they are though and then expect to take them out and do well, with no regards to the horses health.
 
I get annoyed when people with finer TB types assume because their horse is thin it's fit. When I was eventing my big ISH he was kept super fit & as a result usually came home with less time penalties (or more too fast penalties
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was that mine!!
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No actually
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yours just didn't want to get his toes wet! Hope you're there next May. I didn't notice it in the Int but the novices were def unfit!
 
Well, I think it depends on the horse. Of course, fitter is better. I have 2 horses I compete, during the winter (ie. now onwards) I CANNOT ride daily as I only have a paddock to work in so it totally depends on the weather / ground conditions. I dont hack out so that's not an option. Some days I literally can just get on and do some bending exercises in walk because the ground is too slippy / hard etc.! Luckily my main horse does seem to keep himself quite fit. I guess because they live out 24/7 so are always moving about. He competes at BSJA most weekends and performs very well! He's actually better fresher!

However, for eventing I do make a big effort to try and keep them fit. Although, saying that one of mine is hell to get fit - a Welsh D. Its SO hard to get him fit because as soon as he gets a bit tired he gets so grumpy! He's naturally a bit of a lard ass unfortunately which Ive accepted - I dont think I'll do anymore than the odd intro with him though purely because I couldn't get him fit enough for PN - some are built for speed, others aren't!
 
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