how can i get him fitter

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horsey mad matt

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i work my boy 6 times a week with 1 day off. this is roughly what we do:

Monday: lunge in school (using outline thingy) for 20 mins

Tuesday: ride in school for 40 mins

Wednesday: lunge in school (maybe do a bit of lunging over jumps) for 20-30 mins

Thursday: long rein in school 20 mins

Friday: hack out or ride in school 30 mins to an hour (depending whether hacking out or not)

Saturday: hack out with friend for 1-2 hours

Sunday: day off

what more can i do to get him fit and get the poggy belly off him??
 
More of the same, you obviously are not doing enough for him! What breed is he? I don't think 20-30 mins is enough for any horse to get really fit on. My cob needed a huge amount of work to get him fit, he's now fighting fit..too fit for me tbh but it was 6 weeks of intensive working 2 hours a day 6 days a week and most of that hacking out! I hate lunging and wouldn't ever use it personally so would swap the lunging for hacks out but actually properly working him for the time you have spare.
 
Will depend on age but if you want to compare, mine is 9 and is ridden 6 days a week -

1 day a fortnight will be comp (dressage of sj) followed by day off.

The remaining 5/6 days a week consist of alternating

Schooling - 40-60 mins of hard work, includes lots of canter and trot & lateral, she has walk breaks of 5 mins every now and again.

Hacking - 40-50 mins mostly trot and canter, bit of gallop, some walking as breaks and to warm up/ cool down

Also, do jump schooling 30-40 mins weekly/ fortnightly

We also have pretty intensive flat/ jumping lessons fortnightly/ monthly.

She also goes on fun rides, xc schooling prob once a month/ 6 weeks

She is still on full feed from winter, lives out 24/7 on long grass and it trim and fit as a fiddle
 
Hills, hills and more hills. :)

I have been amazed at how fit my mare got (when she was in regular work) hacking around the Welsh hills, compared to the same amount of hacking around flatter land.
 
Personally I'd be wary of upping the lunging just because of the stress on the joints, I'd swap one of your lunging sessions to a hack and do some interval training, so a couple of minutes to raise heart rate, a couple of minutes walking, another couple of pulse raising back to walk etc Other than that, up your hacks to an hour if you have time, and maybe go for a walk out before/after schooling sessions for ten minutes or so as a warm up/cool down so you aren't over doing the schooling, but you are doing a bit more :)

J&C
 
Aah yes, and as Faracat says, HILLS! A really good exercise is to find a nice long hill and trot, walk, trot, walk. The transitions will help to build him up and make it a bit harder than just walking or just trotting, but make sure you build up to it slowly :)

J&C
 
thanks for the replies. i will take it all on board. i lunged him for 20 mins lots of trotting today. then next couple of days schooling for 30 mins i n school then out for a cool down hack for 10 mins!! then maybe friday lunge for 20 mins, saturday 1-2 hour hack with friend then sunfay off!!
 
Well I generally ride/excercise mine 6-7 days a week.

In the summer I would say it's made up of 3 days hacking, 2 days schooling, 1 day of competition and a rest (if I don't rest it's a 20 minute lunge session or a hack entirely in walk depending on the reason I'm not resting).

In the winter we're confined to the indoor school due to light and/or poor weather conditions (such as ice) so then it's more 4 days schooling, 1 day of rest, 2 days hacking or 1 day of hacking and 1 of day competition. I try to break the 5 days of schooling into polework (fabulous for my pony's hip injury), lungeing, interval training and bareback session (it's fun for me!)

When we hack we do a lot of hill work, if you trot up a hill slowly this makes the horse use their hind legs more than if you let them rush up! I also do a lot of trot/walk transitions but that's more because my mare is prone to tanking along with me ;D

We're lucky enough to have a trailer so we often go the forestry or the beach for some cantering sessions as the hacks here are mainly roadwork! So if you can get places, go go go!!

If I had more time to ride weekdays, I dare say mine would be a heck of a lot fitter than they are but both of them can easily do a 40km endurance ride as well as a day showing/jumping/xc so they're fit enough for me :D
 
thanks again. if i do get him fittter this summer in the in the winter it will all go to pot as only have an outdoor school with no lighting so wont be able to do much during the week anyway
 
I'd hacke more and do more fast work. Do you have access to a field for riding in. Interval training is excellent for fittening. X
 
I would ditch the lunging for good hacking if you want to get fitter.

Lunging has many benefits but I wouldn't do any longer/more often on the lunge.

What turnout does your horse have?
Currently my mare is being ridden less due to A Level exams but she is turned out 24/7 on a slope so she keeps fit (ish).
 
Like most other replies I'm afraid lots of hacking is the best way. I've got an Irish Draught who is a very good doer. He's schooled twice a week for an hour and then hacked every day apart from one day off. Hacks consist of lots of hill work in walk, jumping in the woods and cantering/galloping. Hacks are generally anything between 1.5 and 3 hours. I know we are lucky as the hacking is fantastic and access from our yard leads directly into the woods but we've moved yards several times just to find decent enough hacking for fatty. I found the biggest difference was when he started jumping. That really seemed to tone his belly up. I'm not a fan of lunging either.
 
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