Fitting work

Irishcobs

Irishcobs

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25 August 2005
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What do you guys do?
My boss has changed mine for me as we didn't think it was working as well as it should, so I was wondering what everyone does to fitten up their horses and what you do to maintain it?
 
I don't seem to do that much, but IMO my horses are usually very fit, fitter than most.. i'm blessed with proper hills, not those little slopes that most people call hills!! that's got to give me an advantage i guess!!

I'm also old fashioned in the way i start them off after a holiday.. no one else seems to bother with 4 - 6 weeks of walking any more, everyone wants to get on with things too soon.. but that gives a good base to the fitness..

After that it's a mix of road work, flat work, jumping and gallop work, just to keep on top of things.. i'll make the gallop work more regular and prob. a bit harder for a 3day.. but i don't tend to do any for 1days (although i'll probably do a bit more next season with Ernie as hopefully we'll be going Adv.)
 
My mum has always been obsessed with horses fitness, usually because ours are not the most talented and need to be a bit fitter than the better horses. My Irish Draught mare literally has to be trained like a racehorse to be fit even to compete at dressage!
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The TB Boys on the otherhand are the ones who literally stay fit on turnout and hacking.
Last winter I tried to let Sov down a bit but he really thrives on hard work
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We also live at the top of a small hill, which means they are always walking uphill at the end of a hack, which I think makes a difference.
*SHOCK* I also do a lot of roadwork in trot, and before the debate starts, I have never had a horse with a splint yet, and that includes driving/showing/ jumping ponies and horses!
 
Hills. Lots of. Simple as
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Even got a road on a hill to spoil me
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Also combined with a nice sandy track to have a blast down for a few mins. Enjoyable and does the job
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Lots of hacking, schooling, jumping and I also trot on roads, then nearer the events work back every 5 days and do fast hacks / interval training, havent got a fizzy horse so i can get away with him being very fit
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I try to keep mine fit all the time, but the Sadie pony is now off work for some time(bummer!) When it's time for her to come back into work I'll do road work for about a month in walk (or atleast try! She seems to think walking and trotting is boring) Then I'll slowly build up the amount of trot we do. Thankfully we have lovely big hills 20 min hack away so it's pretty easy to keep/get fit!
 
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