Lacking a bit of 'oomph'?

VioletStripe

VioletStripe

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Apologies, may be long, not sure if this is a ramble or if anyone can offer any advice but hey ho! -

Went out hacking yesterday with a friend, where we have both decided to use Saturdays as a chance to begin building up a sort of 'cardio'/fittening hack where we steadily increase the work and use it to get the horses fitter, so hill work and building up canter work etc. Horses were perfectly well behaved, but my boy was just lacking a bit of sparkle? Put it down to not being ridden for a day or two, so was still in 'field' mode.

Fast forward to today, after being fed I groomed while letting his food digest and clambered aboard for some light schooling, nothing too taxing after our longish hack yesterday. He was perfectly off the leg, listening to my aids... but just again, lacked sparkle? There was nothing making him really go forwards, towards my hands. It was just a sort of... meh. Did loads of transitions and changes of rein, and even use some poles to encourage him to have more of a 'ping', but... nothing. By the end of the session I was sweating more than him!

This isn't a hugely sudden occurrence, nothing dramatic and I've noticed him being less 'enthusiastic' over the last couple of rides. He doesn't appear in pain, seems very well, good weight, wormed, very cheerful and inquisitive, cheeky and happy as ever. Tack all fits. He's on good grazing during the day, in at night with a good double netted haynet, has a morning and evening bowl of Hifi and has a vitamin and mineral lick to top up on. Good do-er, 5yo Connemara who's in good condition, good feet, not overweight, not underweight... He has a fun, varied life with plenty of hacking both on the road and round woods, schooling is varied with polework and lungeing.

Just looking for a few ideas I guess :( Not particularly worried, just looking to see if anyone's had similar. I was wondering if it was to do with the odd weather we've been having, he's not clipped yet so maybe he's just feeling warm? Doesn't sweat up much despite this though, and he's not mega-woolly yet anyway.

Apologies for the ramble - don't want to miss anything (I undoubtedly will have though :D). Anyone able to offer any advice or the likes? Thank you very much for reading through my ramblings, have a cyber cup of tea!
 
With you saying you plan to use Saturdays as fittening work, my first guess is he just isn't fit enough. You can't use one day a week for fitness work, it needs to be consistent. So I'd guess sat was just a bit too much for him.
 
Could be he needs some extra salt.. Dessertspoonful(sea salt) in his feed once a day will fix him up. If you want to prove it then have a blood sample taken. this happened to my boy despite all the licks and supplements etc. I always give him a little extra now and he perked up very quickly.
 
My first thought would be the coat change and he might just feel it a bit despite not sweating up massively. If you plan to clip anyway, then would give it a try. Good luck and hope you get to the bottom of it soon.
 
Thank you for the replies!

littlelegs - he's not *really* unfit, but we're gradually increasing the work. So we're building up the schooling as well, but the hacking was to be used as the hill work and gradually building up stamina across the different terrain, instead of mooching through the woods which can often happen when hacking in company if you're busy gossiping! :rolleyes: When I hack alone I'll be doing this too, but with a friend we figured it'd be more interesting for the both of us! We weren't out for long on Sat, and he actually had rather a lot of energy at the end, though I do understand that could be adrenalin. He has Mondays off anyway, so will re-assess when I lunge on Tuesday. Sorry if I wasn't clear, and I get that I'll need to work consistently, instead of having a blast once a week and nothing for the rest :)

Suelin - will give that a go! Didn't think of that... he has a Himalayan salt block in his stable which he uses a little bit, though he does seem baffled by the idea, much more interested in the carrots I hide in his hay. Shall talk to my YM about having it done :)

Whoopit - yep, my boy's a relatively laid back character too! ...That is, until he realises the prospect of food, or that having a lovely canter round on the lunge is just so much more fun to get the tickle out of your toes, then back to lovely canter work :p

Cortez - definitely! Watching him in the field having a buck is one thing, but being on it is quite another :o

expat - was wondering this too. He stands stock still for the rubber curry comb when I remove the fluff, so might get the clippers out. Was planning on clipping anyway, but was holding off to see what was actually happening with the weather!

Thank you everyone, given me some food (well, in this case salt...) for thought :)
 
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