how long does it take for a horse to loose fitness?

Angua2

Angua2

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or rather how much would a 6 year old TB at riding club fitness loose after 8 weeks off. 2 weeks of which were box rest, the remaining 6 were mooching around a 2 acre paddock.

it is just that I am a little surprised just how Ru feels now, just 1 week after re-starting work after her surgery and was wondering if this was normal to have a horse that doesn't feel far off from when you stopped
 
I don't know really, though I do think (though I could be quite wrong) that a horse can last one week and keep their exact same fitness and then anything after that it starts to deteriorate!

Possibly your horse is so pleased to be doing something, he is really trying! lol.

xx
 
i must admit my pony has had 4 months of due to a check ligament injury and just today she has become how should i say...... spritley not sure how its spelt lol i think she is trying to say somthing lol
 
I heard that if your horse has reached and maintained a certain level of fitness over a long period of time such as 6 to 12 months, say, perhaps you did conditioning work then hunting over winter and then summer shows, that if he then became injured and required a couple of weeks box rest , fitness levels would drop off fairly slow. That would be cardio-vascular fitness and muscle power and tendon/ligament strength.

For horses that have never attained a reasonable level of fitness, then fitness drops off more rapidly over a matter of a few weeks possibly.
Its like a human, once you get fit, its easy to stay fit on a fairly low maintenance regime, but it was murder getting to that stage.

I ve seen this in my heavy cob, who now barely breaks a sweat, but who two years ago as fat, soft lump could hardly walk without being soaked, even on a cool day.
Now he loses fitness slowly so I don't have to ride him more than 3 times a week to keep him nice.
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or rather how much would a 6 year old TB at riding club fitness loose after 8 weeks off. 2 weeks of which were box rest, the remaining 6 were mooching around a 2 acre paddock.

it is just that I am a little surprised just how Ru feels now, just 1 week after re-starting work after her surgery and was wondering if this was normal to have a horse that doesn't feel far off from when you stopped

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Glad you asked this question as I was wondering this as well, I worry about his lordships fitness if I dont ride 3 times a week
or more.
 
I was told by my horse's back lady that even if they lose fitness, they gain it back quicker than do humans, or in fact any other predatory animal. Being prey animals they are designed to achieve fitness levels faster, particularly if they were fit before their time off.
 
Not sure, but my vet seemed to think that my mare, who had 4 week off for treatment of her sarcoid would not have lost much fitness. Before her treatment we were doing endurnace.

Going to see how she goes in the next week or so before I do anything serious with her.

Would probably go with your own gut feeling, its your horse and you will know how they feel! Good luck
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Now I heard, and I don't know how right this is or not, that they don't lose any for a week and after that they lose half a weeks work worth of fitness for every week off.

God that was complex. So say having 3 weeks off your horse would lose:
1 weeks worth of fitness.
 
i read recently in a horse fitness bok, forget what its called, getting horses fit maybe, but it stated a horse which has had up t 8 weeks off and has been in the field will maintain the majority of its fitness levels. if u need more details pm n ill quote the exact paragraph and find out the name of the book!
 
mazziek, that would be useful thanks.


it is interesting to see that the majority of answers back up my feeling of not loosing all the fitness that she previously had. I will however, carry on bringing her back slowly so that we don't have any tweaks or strains, but I now won't worry that she will hurt herself if we have to have a trot or as last night we piaffe passed a field of ponies
 
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