Getting fit for hunting

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LuckyRed

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Hi guys

I bought a new horse at the end of August and had been starting to get him fit with lots of walk work, schooling and hacking with the intention that he would be fit enough for some Autumn hunting/hound rides with my bloodhound pack.

Unfortunately, 4 weeks after I got him he developed ringworm around his girth and has been off work as a result since the beginning of October. He is now (hopefully) clear of the ringworm with no fresh scabs for a week and the damage caused around his girth is healing nicely so I'm going to start this week with some ground work while the girth finally heals before starting ridden work.

My question is how long will it be before I can consider him to be reasonably fit for hunting and what is the best way of getting him fit? I'm resigned to not hunting him until after Xmas and maybe not jumping him for the first few that we do go on - and I'll take him down to kennels for a couple of hound rides before we go just to make sure - he's only 4 and a half so I'm not going to rush him but some advice on getting him fit would be useful. We don't have a walker (just waiting for the concrete to be laid as the rest of the walker is installed and ready - yippee!) so it'll be school work in the evenings and hopefully getting someone else to ride him during the day (or maybe ride and lead) with hacks at weekends

Any advice appreciated!
 
I would try and do as much road work as possible, I think when it comes to hunting roads and bridleways are a lot more effective than circles in the school! Realistically I don't think you will be out until after xmas. I'm not overly sure with bloodhound packs, I suspect it may be different, but certainly with us as the season progresses we pick up more momentum, and the days get harder.
It is such a shame he has had to have a few weeks off, have you been doing anything with him since he's been off, lunging?
 
I would try and do as much road work as possible, I think when it comes to hunting roads and bridleways are a lot more effective than circles in the school!
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I agree - you've got to get out on the roads. Start with walking for an hour or so a day, gradually building up to some trot work by the end of week 2 and carry on building the work up from there.
 
I've not been doing stuff in the school even lunging, cos I didn't want to risk him infecting any of the other horses during the worst of the ringworm

I might find myself doing the road work in the dark! I keep him on a farm and we have some roads that go around the fields - it'll be boring but at least I can do some hacking/road work and it'll get him used to wearing hi-viz and putting up with me riding looking like a Christmas tree with lights all over me! I'll have to see if I can afford to get the staff to do some road work/fittening stuff for me too
 
A lot depends on how long it is since he was hunting fit, if ever, once you can do a full hour of road work and forty minutes jump schooling in one day, you can try an hour or so out hunting, just keep things quiet, it will take a minimum six weeks to get him to this stage, and he will need plenty of work, don't give him any days off.
You might be able to save up a bit of cash and send him to a training centre for a week or two, this can work out cheaper than paying someone to come in, and gets him going over cross country fences at pace.
 
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I must admit I was wondering about sending him off somewhere for a couple of weeks 'finishing' once I've got him going well.

Fortunately for hunting with our bloodhounds the horses do not need to be fully hunting fit as we're typically only out for a couple of hours and there is almost always a way around the jumps.

I'm told that he hunted last winter in Ireland but as i've only had him for a few weeks and he certainly wasn't hunt fit when I got him, I'm pretty much starting from scratch - especially given that he'll have had a 4 week period off ridden work (assuming he doesn't develop any more damn scabs!)

Thanks
 
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