How quickly will horses lose topline/fitness?

[GrassChop]

I have spent all summer training my horse to work correctly and it has gone really well but I am concerned that coming into winter with no daylight after work, the amount of work is going to reduce quite a lot.

I'll be going from 4-5 days to 2 or 3 and it is heavily dependant on the weather as there is no indoor arena or outdoor sand school or lighting and no local school hire so it will depend how much rain we have with how unusable it will be.

If a horse was being lunged once, schooled twice and hacked twice during the week to then being lunged/schooled once and hacked once a week. Will it have a big impact? I am really worried we will lose all of our progress!

Thanks!

 

[bouncing_ball]

It’s a bit horse from dependent how well they keep firness, IME.

Arabs / large % TB blood etc seem to hold fitness, in field.

cobs / heavier Warmbloods / natives seem to lose fitness faster.

it also depends how long were fit for snd how long have been in full work for.

 

[MissTyc]

it also depends how long were fit for snd how long have been in full work for.
> This is my experience also. A fit horse can stay fit for a surprisingly long time, esp if they're turned out an active.
As long as they're moving in between and generally well in themselves, then having a once or twice a week winter routine won't affect them much, although obviously you need to take of work into account in feeding and also be reasonable with weekend exercise (maybe not 5 hours out with the hounds if they're not used to it).

 

[sportsmansB]

I actively try to let mine down and can't.. but he's 16 and age definitely has an input
If you are still riding / lunging a few days a week I wouldn't expect hard work to be undone, maybe just not more progress made- a bit like us if we had been going mad exercising losing weight, and then calmed it down to a more sustainable routine - the weight wouldn't go back on, but no more would come off either.
Unless you need them super fit for hunting or similar I wouldn't be worried, but I would step it up if there was something coming up.
If you can squeeze in the 3rd day, I would try- and if you don't have a school then make sure at least one of the hacks is actual work not just a lope about on a loose rein.

 

[GrassChop]

It’s a bit horse from dependent how well they keep firness, IME.

Arabs / large % TB blood etc seem to hold fitness, in field.

cobs / heavier Warmbloods / natives seem to lose fitness faster.

it also depends how long were fit for snd how long have been in full work for.

She is pure Arab and will be out mostly 24/7 depending on how wet it gets over winter. I'd say she has been pretty fit for a while now but hadn't been working correctly but now is so I am worried it'll revert back!

 

[MuddyMonster]

If it's more correct way of going you're worried about, there's a lot you can do in-hand or even in the stable/field to help keep them ticking over & using correct muscle's etc, which would probably help too along with keeping a base fitness level.

 

[Annagain]

I have two retired old men in my life. Archie has been retired for 18 months and looks like you could chuck a saddle on him and go for a ride tomorrow. I've had him 16 years. We built him up nicely when I first had him and since then he's never changed shape no matter what he's done or not done. Monty has been retired since March and by May pretty much all his topline had gone. He would also drop a bit in winter despite being in more work than Archie but it would come back as soon as he did more hacking in Spring. Despite looking quite similar in build, Monty is 5/8 TB (Archie, we suspect, is ID but his breeding's not recorded) and I'm pretty sure this is the difference.

 

[GrassChop]

it also depends how long were fit for snd how long have been in full work for.
> This is my experience also. A fit horse can stay fit for a surprisingly long time, esp if they're turned out an active.
As long as they're moving in between and generally well in themselves, then having a once or twice a week winter routine won't affect them much, although obviously you need to take of work into account in feeding and also be reasonable with weekend exercise (maybe not 5 hours out with the hounds if they're not used to it).

Thank you, I hope that is the case.
It will most likely be a hack of 1 to 1.5 hours one day and half hour schooling the other. I just don't want her to revert back to being hollow and like a llama.

 

[GrassChop]

If it's more correct way of going you're worried about, there's a lot you can do in-hand or even in the stable/field to help keep them ticking over & using correct muscle's etc, which would probably help too along with keeping a base fitness level.

Yes, this is true also. I can definitely do in hand walks over poles etc. I just hope it will be enough.

 

[milliepops]

I have two retired old men in my life. Archie has been retired for 18 months and looks like you could chuck a saddle on him and go for a ride tomorrow. I've had him 16 years. We built him up nicely when I first had him and since then he's never changed shape no matter what he's done or not done. Monty has been retired since March and by May pretty much all his topline had gone. He would also drop a bit in winter despite being in more work than Archie but it would come back as soon as he did more hacking in Spring. Despite looking quite similar in build, Monty is 5/8 TB (Archie, we suspect, is ID but his breeding's not recorded) and I'm pretty sure this is the difference.

the individual horse definitely makes a difference.
I have 3 retirees living together.
One looks ready to ride, all year round. She was always very easy to build up when she was in work and has maintained a decent baseline after several years of retirement.
The other one a similar age looks more wiry
The mare that foaled last year is alright over her back but her neck looks rubbish.

I think the more established they were at the point of being let down the quicker they come back - my welsh had a spell off last year and went a bit weak for a while but came back easily as soon as she started work again. part of that is making sure every step counts so right from the off you're working the right areas.

 

[palo1]

I think there is quite a lot of evidence to suggest that horses don't lose much fitness in cardiovascular terms for up to about 5 weeks. Clearly it is very individual as well but built muscle doesn't just disappear and fitness and muscle condition 'happens' in recovery. When horses are pushed in pulmonary terms they need time off for the red blood cells to multiply and bringing more oxygen carrying capacity to the system. The same is true of muscular training though it is slightly different in that appropriate training causes very, very microsopic stress to the muscles which can only be repaired and strengthened by that oxygen carrying extra in the cells at rest (when the body's repair function is in action). Ideally, any 'training' brings something new and slightly challenging with it; an increased cardio-vascular demand, further muscle demands (for example in show-jumpers or dressage/barrel racing etc) or mental demand. If you are bringing none of those to the horse in a training session then though you might be enjoying riding (which is sort of the point) or the horse having a leg stretch etc it won't add any fitness at all and may just be putting miles on the clock without a specific benefit.

There are lots of different schools of thought on this obviously but scientific evidence suggests that the best practice is to increase demands on a system and follow that with rest. My vet suggests for rehab work that a 5% increase in demand each 'training' period (might be a week for endurance training or individual days/sessions for other disciplines) is safe and reasonable and time off in between those increases helps with recovery and fitness building. I have always used this to plan fitness in our horses until they are fit enough for what is needed and then I will maintain at the same level as the hardest session if that makes sense!

In practice, once my horse is about 25 mile fit/able to do a day of trail or drag hunting of 4-6 hours/a competitive even, then 1 session a week will be at that level with 2 others being slightly less; 1 schooling session to maintain muscle/top-line and discipline and one hack which might include some interval training or if it has been a harder week might just be a relaxing wtc hack. That has always seemed to keep ours fit enough. The individuality in my experience comes with the 'getting fit' phase where my cob takes much longer to achieve fitness whilst my Arab x takes no time at all and ALWAYS seems more than fit enough! Of course too, illness and injury require a different approach. I would never usually ride any of our horses more than 4 times a week with each bit of ridden work fulfilling a specific purpose.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

She is pure Arab and will be out mostly 24/7 depending on how wet it gets over winter. I'd say she has been pretty fit for a while now but hadn't been working correctly but now is so I am worried it'll revert back!

I've got arabs they are 16 and 17 now and they tend to keep fitness quite well one looses more topline than the other but that is more down to how his built, I find Carrott stretches and other exercises can help them maintain suppleness and muscle when not doing as much work, a good physio should be able to help you with a good regime to help.