Hunting Fit

[josephinebutter2]

Do you think it will be possible to get a horse fit for hunting riding only 3 days a week, or is that too little? He lives out 24/7 in a large hilly field which he gallops round daily, so will not just be standing round the other days, or is that too much to ask?

Also any suggestions on a fitenning programme?

 

[BigBird146]

I posted about this last week but didn't get much of a response?!
I think to a certain extent it probably depends how much underlying fitness your horse has to a point. Are they underweight/ overweight, forward/ ploddy to start with, . Mine's a bit prone to fatness so I'm going for 4 or 5 days a week, 1 -1.5 hours hacking with plenty of trotting & hill work and a decent canter, + doing hound exercise on Sunday. If your local hunt's started doing this I'd get along as soon as poss cos it's quite early in the season still and they'll be taking it comparatively easy until full hunting starts. I'm sure the adrenilin will keep them going on the day but if they're not up to fitness they may suffer a bit more afterwards.

 

[runaway]

Everyone has their own opinion of hunting fit but I would say you would be ok if you spent a month getting him fitter ( doing more trot and canter than you possibly already do) before you went. At the end of the day I personally think most horses that are in ridden work (2+ times a week) would be ok to go hunting - it's what you do out hunting that's the issue. A horse that's in light work would manage a half day going steady at the back, but if you want to be up front all day and cantering about then your horse wont be fit enough on 3 days a week work.

Hope that's helped a bit?

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

My horse will be hunted 3 times a fortnight in the season and will stay out all day. At the moment he is doing 2 full mornings cubbing a week. He is ridden every day bar Sunday and is pretty fit already.

Mon - 1.5 hr ride with good gallop & jump
Tues - cubbing
Weds - gentle exercise with canter
Thurs - 1.5 hour ride with good gallop & jump
Fri - gentle exercise with canter
Sat - cubbing
Sun - day off

From past experience I know that this is enough exercise to keep a horse at good hunting fitness levels. He will also be out from 8.30 a.m till 7.30 p.m so mooching up and down hills in his field will also help.

 

[winterhorse]

i have to agree that it all depends on what you want to do when you are out hunting.

i always have horses on walk and trot work for 8 weeks in the begining before any cantering work begins . rd work is always best to harden their legs..

but i used to look after the hunt horses so thats how i have always done it..