exercises for young horse

[jastanequinegirl]

hey, at the moment im loaning a 7yr old new forest cross. he is very round and has quite alot of fat. i want to start showing him both in-hand and ridden. can i have some advice on showing and what exercises can help me to keep the weight off him and build his muscle, ive heard that hill work is good but i cannot access hills at this moment in time.
thank you

 

[kc100]

I'd get some advice from an equine nutritionist if I were you - if you are limited in terms of no hills to get some of the weight off then you are going to have to focus on his diet first and foremost, hence the nutritionist will be best placed to advise. Many will come to your yard, and saracens do an online service - you have to fill in a fair amount of detail but you get excellent advice back from them http://www.saracenhorsefeeds.com/nutrition/feed-advice-form

You should start weighing his hay if you arent weighing it already, make sure you know exactly how much you are giving him and cut down accordingly if that is too much for his height/weight/breed etc.

Then in terms of exercise, what has he been doing previously? If he hasnt done much work recently then you are going to have to start off slow with him as he will need to build up his fitness gradually. Hacking is ideal, even without hills. So hack him out a few times per week (depending on how much he is used to), just in walk. You can do a bit in the school with him as well, again mainly walk with a bit of trot until he gets fitter. I wouldnt say there are any specific exercises that are going to help get him fit and build muscle, you just want to work towards a supple, healthy horse so hacking and some general flatwork schooling sessions, doing the usual stuff like leg yield (lateral work), transitions etc will start to help him.

Have you got a flatwork/dressage instructor? Showing you need a horse with nice paces, that is calm and confident with good conformation. So to best show off your horse's paces your flatwork needs to be good, so you need to work on having a rhythmical walk that is going forwards without rushing/jogging, a balanced and forward trot where the horse is working correctly over the back into a soft relaxed outline, and the canter needs to be the same again, soft relaxed outline, forward but not rushing. Transitions between the paces need to be smooth and polished, no falling out of canter into trot for example. Some classes need to show a gallop (I think, I'm no showing expert!) but you wont be able to do that with him for a little while until his weight is under control and he is fitter.

So get his diet sorted, presumably he'll need to cut down on hard feed and hay, maybe even restrict his grazing - but check all of that with an expert. Then get him into a routine with exercise, as much hacking in walk as you can manage with a session or two a week in the school working on the usual flatwork exercises you'd do with any horse. If you can have some lessons with a flatwork/dressage instructor that would help make sure you are working him correctly and give you plenty of exercises to work on. The showing season tends to happen over the summer and I think finishes September/October time so perhaps aim for the 2017 season, you are unlikely to get him fit enough in time for this season and its not fair to him to rush him, that could potentially cause injury.

And finally as he changes shape and hopefully gets fitter and less round, his saddle will no longer fit as it used to so you need to have regular checks from the saddle fitter and ideally the physio as well, to make sure everything fits properly and isnt causing him any pain.

Good luck with him!

 

[tristar]

lots of work sessions, warming up and down properly, loads of gentle work, as many times a week as poss, give him time to get fit, put the work in and see the results, don`t hammer him, just be persistant and keep him moving, riding, lunging, loose jumping as many different things as poss to use all the muscles and make life fun for him. good luck