Fittening program for podgy cob?

[Olliepoppy]

Hi can anyone suggest a fittening program for my podgy rising 7 cob? We do not have many hills around our hacking routes so would just plain interval training be good? E.g 5 mins walk, 30 secs trot for half an hour or so to begin with? He has had most of the winter off and has been getting retrained to get over separation issues from his winter pal and it is only now that he has the confidence to go out on his own again so we have only done 30-45 mins a couple of times a week mostly walking for the last 3 weeks. Any ideas, as always, much appreciated

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Just a thought, and a suggestion really - but the people who are really good at fittening their horses, and know what they're doing (not that everyone else doesn't either, if you see what I mean ) - are the endurance riders. So it might be a case of finding out your local Endurance GB group and picking their brains.

I have friends who do it, and seem to remember something about just staying in walk (whilst normal hacking, say three times a week for an hour each ride) for the first week. Then during the second week introduce a bit of trot AND some walk; then the third week introduce some canter, some walk, and some trot. Then up the pace a bit in the fourth week and aim for more trot than walk........... apparently whilst hill work is good in walk it is NOT good to trot up hills. I was able to sit-in on a lecture by a vet who does a lot of vettings for endurance, and she said that this is a commonly-held misconception, i.e. that trotting up hills is a good way to fitten horses. It isn't apparently, it can do harm.

 

[Olliepoppy]

Thanks, that's really interesting about not trotting up hills (not that I have many hills to trot up!) but I also thought it was a good way to increase fitness! Will try and track down some endurance guru's

 

[C1airey]

I spent the winter getting the lard off the lad and trot reps worked a treat - 10 strides on one diagonal, 10 on the other, then back to walk for say, 15 paces. Gradually increase the number of strides per trot rep and then decrease the number of walk strides in between.

He was worked four or five times a week, usually 30-45 mins with a long hack (1h30/2hr) in walk, at the weekend.

This worked for us - weightape said 511kg in November, last week it said 458kg.