How fit???

[tinker88]

How fit do u get your horses.??

I worked somewhere that provided hunter hirelings and they wernt very fit at all!! they were boxes 24/7 and rode prob 3 times a week (that inc if they were hunting), they were lucky if they got out of the box. But suprisingly know one ever complained, and the horses came back sound.

Now, ive been trying my hardest to fitten my 15yr old, but work commitments have been against me. basically he can happily do 1 hrs schooling,, 2-3 hr hack. i havnt really done any galloping work - but can up it this weekend. (he cant do much jumping anymore due to navicular - bu he has had tildren thats worked a treat)

so what im getting at is - shall i try n squeeze in some "autumn hunting" in b4 the opening meet??

I just wanna make myself feel ok about it lol

 

[maddyb]

just make sure that he can do a good couple of minutes galloping is sane when hunting and also make sure that your hunt has alternative routes incase there is lots of jumping make sure there is always a way around incase you dont want to jump it.
try and choose a not so mad hunt then you can see if he will cope with it, dont rush him straight into the big hunts

one way to make sure your horse is good at cantering in groups is doing sponserd rides i also took my one cubbing first then on a sponsered ride and finally last wednesday i took him proper hunting, i was suprised with how hard he found it and he is rather fit, but i did go with a very fast hunt.

 

[CNM]

Iwould defo get your horse out cubbing if you can as it will give you a pretty good indication how your horse will cope and a general idea how fit he is. As the cubbing is getting on now it shouldn't be too slow.