Fitness regime for the older ponio?

[GinaB]

I need to make up a fitness plan for an older ponio (late 20s) but she's still going very strong! We only hacked once/twice a week at most over winter but now it's coming into summer we're both getting fit!

I'm currently just hacking her at the weekends, 40mins roughly round the block. I have access to another hack (all road hacking) that takes anything from an hour to an hour and a half as well as an outdoor school. But I can ride on Tuesdays, Thursday and Fridays as well.

She is currently out during the day, in at night with one feed in the evening of half a scoop of pony nuts, half a scoop of garlic, half a scoop of cortaflex and then a section of hay (she was on haylage but got a bit too fat

)

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[zelli]

I would start to slowly increase the days to include tues and thurs (personally would leave fri, 4 days is enough for a week in my opinion, as otherwise you have 3 days without a day off to allow for recovery time). and with these two days i would begin to intoduce the school. So 20 mins on both days of walk and trot in the school, focusing on bending etc to keep it interesting, this can then slowly be build in time and type (increase trot, introduce canter etc) Depending on what you want to do, could increase the hacks at weekends. Monitor her whilst building up work to ensure she can cope well.

As far as feed goes, if shes a good doer, maybe consider moving her onto lo-cal. This will ensure she gets all her nutrients, which 1/2 scoop wont provide

 

[madmav]

Agree with Zelli. Secret is variety of exercise and rest in between. Also think stretching out legs - and necks with carrot stretches - is useful after work especially for older horses. Also for older riders (maybe not with carrots though)!