Fittening Plan....

[aldato_daz]

Would anyone on here be able to draw me up a rough fittening plan for my 6year old?

hes been out in the field since around april time so i think its about time i brought him in and started being serious with him!

he hasnt done much at all in terms of shows but i am determined to make a go with him this winter.

so how do i start? for the last couple of days i have just been lunging him for like 10 min on each rein and hes clearly very unfit.

he is a 16.2 warmblood x tb and is very strong willed and can get as high as a kite at times! if you get me...

so in terms of like how many weeks should i be lunging him for etc, then what should i do after lunging....it would be a great help if people could explain to me thier own fittening regimes so i can get an idea...

cheers guys!

 

[kayleigh_and_rocky]

My fittening regime would involve roadwork and hacking rather than lunging - as lunging takes a lot of pressure on their joints especially in a school.
Do you have a horse walker?
I would start off with long reining up and down the roads, start with 10 minutes for a week, then 10minutes twice a day, then start some trot intervals etc and then build that up, then go ridden. Pm me if you want a more in depth plan
I'm sure someone else on here would be better with the advice i'm in a hurry so can't go in depth right now xxx

 

[samp]

After a break I personally never lunge my horse but do lots of walking work on the roads (2 - 4 weeks depending on how long they have been off). I will then do 2 weeks of trotting on the road before I consider going in to the school where I will start to then ask a bit more of them. This is just the way I have always done it, but I know others that use different plans i.e. when my horse had 6 months box rest then went to Equine Sports therapist she started lunging and had me schooling him by the 10th day - I was a bit mortified but he did not suffer any leg problems

 

[Zaf]

loads of boring roadwork I'm afraid, gradually building up the time and amount of (uphill) trotting, then introduce some gentle schooling. When I was getting eventers fit I'd allow about 8 weeks from their winter break to be thinking about anything like small hunter trials or some showjumping and 10 weeks to PN type fitness (at least and not counting any time off for bad weather or unsoundness etc), I'd allow longer for any horse that hadnt been properly fit the previous season and do longer roadwork for any horse that had a leg injury at any time, just to be on the safe side