Is it possible to fitten a horse without hacking?

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LizScott

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I've got two horses who have both had a long period off work - the mare has had over a year off and the gelding 6 months. They are living out 24/7 in a 4acre field but I want to get them fit for spring/summer so I can compete them again.

However, neither of them are very good hacks and although I could hack my mare out, she is quite nappy and I'm pretty sure the gelding would be out of his field to follow us.

Sooooo... is it reasonable to try and fitten them both in the field? It is very well drained and easy to ride on but I'm wondering whether they need roadwork to strengthen tendons etc?
 
Yes it would be possible, boring though, but quite do-able. I don't believe that they do NEED roadwork for tendon strength.

When I was a work rider our horses did hack, a lot, but that was in Devon 4 miles from Haytor, horses got fit on those hills without knowing it. In Northants on the other hand, our horses hacked a quarter of a mile to the gallops, did their allotted work and walked back. In Hampshire we had the ranges so it would have been criminal not to have used them.

I am not totally sure, as I have no experience with racing here, but I believe a lot of North American racehorses don't do roadwork, they just work on the track (maybe swim and treadmill as well).

I do know for a fact that some trotters here just work on the tracks, there are certainly no hills in this area but hundreds of standard breds in training, every other farm has a track. My ex neighbour was a Champion Harness Driver in the UK before he came to Canada where he has had a lot of winners, so he must know his stuff. He said he never took his horses on the roads. I used to watch him doing circuits of his half mile track every day, round and round, I'd have been bored witless.
 
Yes it is possible, a friend of mine had a baby & kept her horse team chase fit by lunging him with the baby beside her in his push chair.
Another friend got her horse fit enough to do endurance rides by trotting the horse up & down the lane outside her house while her baby sat in a push chair at the front door.
I used to team chase & had 2 horses to get fit whilst working full time so I used to lunge them together every morning, although they would be hacked out some weekends, other weekends I would just give them a spin around the field.
You might find it a bit boring but it's doable.
 
Do I know you Turkana?
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I, too, had an endurance friend who used to do the trotting up and down the lane whilst the baby watched on!
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