How is everyone keeping hunting-fit in this weather?

[kit279]

I'm supposed to be draghunting one of mine next weekend (assuming that it doesn't get called off due to frost) and really really struggling to get him up to fitness with the frozen ground. He's a full TB with a good base level of fitness but has had 2-3 weeks off over Christmas and I feel like I ought to do at least a bit of fast work with him. I could probably hack him out at a trot but I think canter is out for now until it thaws. Have one puny hill (Cambridgeshire, joys) but that's it, folks... Any thoughts?

 

[Dogstar]

I suppose it depends on the horse, but I have found that once they are hunting fit a couple of weeks off doesn't make any noticeable difference. Mine had nearly 2 weeks off with bad mud fever recently and she felt fit and great when I took her out again. If you are worried you can always bring them home a bit early! It's better than risking them on icy ground.

 

[Gucci_b]

I'm in the same boat as you, and hacking out at the moment is not a wise thing to do as so many country roads that never get grited. I'm ment to be hunting on sunday if the weather is good to us.

 

[star]

hoping mine will maintain his fitness with all the extra schooling he's getting! luckily our school is the one thing that isn't frozen around here. also meant to be drag-hunting on sunday but the long term forecast isn't looking good with -5 predicted for sat night. bang goes another day's hunting

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

I'm stuck doing road work at the moment due to frost and have to leave for work at 8.30 so trot through the village at high speeds and up a mile long hill and walk down again and trot back through village. Very dull for him but wakes me up in time for work!!

 

[L&M]

.....not! Common is too slippy, road too icy and school frozen solid. Have decided to give ours time off until ground thaws and then spend a week resuming work before returning to hunting - hopefully won't have lost too much fitness and at least they get turned out every day.

 

[Baked Bean]

Check out the all weather gallop at Newmarket - see if you can hire it at the weekend, or find someone local to you who has either an all weather canter track or an all weather surface, then you can do some canter work and/or some jumping to get your horse working hard, e.g. build a treble, that will should be quite a tough CV workout. Canter circuits of the school in a forward seat working canter. Free jumping is excellent for a workout, see if your local sj centre is holding a show and box over ....

Best time of day to ride is about 2pm, hopefully the sun has thawed the slippery ice and it's before the temp drops again.

 

[JenHunt]

we're fortunate that we have easy access to
A) all weather gallops - one on the flat, and one up a hill!
B) the beach at Redcar
C) forestry tracks up and down hills that don't suffer with the frost etc as they are sheltered and good surfaces for trotting and cantering on (but generally too hard for galloping at all times)

the last couple of weeks our have been somewhere almost everyday, and as mine is hunting fit already a few easy days haven't hurt his fitness at all, and in fact might even help him from not looking like a hat rack by april!

 

[Orangehorse]

I read an article somewhere on research done on racehorses in Australia
and it says that once fit, horses do not loose fitness quickly. If you think about it, it was often common to loose a couple of weeks hunting with frost and snow in January. In the USA the endurance horses do hardly any work between races. I have an endurance friend who says that the hard part is getting her horses fit to do 20 miles and after that they don't need much extra work and she gets them fitter just be doing longer rides.

I admit that I would be anxious too if I hadn't been able to ride much, but if you can sqeeze in abit of exercise you should be OK.

I think with humans it is only 3 weeks and your fitness drops off.