Help please - topline and fittening plan

[LauraElise]

My new loan horse has arrived today so I am a very happy bunny! He is a 12 year old 17.2hh warmblood who has been in occasional work but has not been asked to work correctly for some time.

I wonder if anyone could spare the time to advise me on the best way to get him fit? I assume hacking and schooling but how much of each and for how long? (we have NO hills so that is a no go!)

He is seriously lacking topline, is pessoa work and correct schooling the best remedy for this? He is currently fed Alfa A oil and Top Spec as this is what he has been on.

He is by far the "best" horse I have had and I want to do the very best for him.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[LauraElise]

Oh, the helpful and oh, so knowledgeable people of HHO - thank you so much for your help. When my horse is scrawny and unfit in 2 moths time I will post some pics for you to express outrage over.

 

[martlin]

No need to get upset
Is he in good condition, as in weight?
I'm personally not a fan of Pesoa, but each to their own.
I would start with hacking only, in walk for a couple of weeks, then slowly introduce short periods of trot and take it from there. Once you have been hacking for lets say four weeks, I would start a bit of schooling - keep it short and sweet, walk a lot and get him stretching.

 

[Weezy]

Gosh, not a nice outburst there OP! Fact is you have answered your own question and if you need and know you need to build topline and muscle then you should know what you are trying to achieve, which you do, so all good there!