Leg muscle

[horselover3107]

My mare is in her early 20s and been out of work for a few years, I’m bringing her back into work as she loves being ridden. We are doing twice a week light work (no cantering at the moment), her legs have no muscle at the moment and was wondering what quick ways there is to build muscle in her legs. I will be working on trotting up banks and raised trot poles, is there anything else I should be doing?

 

[Gloi]

Plenty of walking out on the lanes to start off with several days a week will soon start to make a difference , adding in some hills if you have any.

 

[paddi22]

with her age I'd increase the amount of days you work, but do longer, slower work in walk. she will strengthen more doing inhand walking over raised poles rather that ridden trot poles.

 

[horselover3107]

with her age I'd increase the amount of days you work, but do longer, slower work in walk. she will strengthen more doing inhand walking over raised poles rather that ridden trot poles.

I’ll only be able to ride twice a week but can do a lot of in hand

 

[Casey76]

There’s going to be nothing quick about bringing an aged horse back into work after years off.

Lots of consistent, low impact, work, very slowly building up the length of time and distance. Long reining out and about over undulating terrain is going to be your friend, and it will be much better to do 5-10minutes every day than 20 minutes twice a week.

You’ll also need to make sure that she is developing her topline correctly, and also her abdominal sling muscles will need to be strengthened, to strengthen her back, ready to receive a rider again.

 

[horselover3107]

Plenty of walking out on the lanes to start off with several days a week will soon start to make a difference , adding in some hills if you have any.

She has pretty much daily walks so that should help

 

[Tarragon]

Personally, I would be taking her out in hand for long walks and then the same ridden when she is a bit stronger. I am not sure that sessions in a school will be as beneficial as a few miles on differing terrain and including hills, and possibly more likely to incur injuries.

 

[ycbm]

I’ll only be able to ride twice a week but can do a lot of in hand

I'm puzzled why you can work in hand but not ride?

 

[paddi22]

the in-hand will benefit her more than ridden work when starting out and allow her to strengthen her core and back in a way that's kinder and easier for her than ridden work for a while. there are lots of good resources for different polework exercises. the horses inside out academy has lots of resources and they have some videos you can buy that are brilliant for understanding how to strengthen her back.a 20 year old horse is the equivalent of a 60 year old person. the worry is if you push to fast it's easy to pull a shoulder or strain something.

for a horse that age who has been out of work for years trotting up hills and raised polework with a rider is tough going and you could risk her pulling or tweaking something. I'd do a few weeks of inhand only for a month or so, and then maybe switch to longlinining and just slow hacks in walk for another few weeks and see where she is at and what she is able for. that is great that you can do daily walks, that will really help her.

 

[horselover3107]

I'm puzzled why you can work in hand but not ride?

We only ride her twice a week at the moment, and I don’t have the time to be tacking up and I don’t have the transport for tack as i don’t have a car yet. We can’t keep tack at our yard

 

[pansymouse]

One very quick and easy thing you can do to support her back into work is to get her to walk 10 paces backwards everyday. I do this with my 28 yo (still in full work) and it really helps build and maintain her top line. I do it in hand just after I've fed her before turning her out again; it's become part of our daily routine.

 

[canteron]

Hi I have just bought a 25 yo old back into work. I started with walking her out for 20-25 mins, then started riding the middle 5 mins, we now do the whole thing ridden.
This has taken 3-4 months.
I am now going to increase the distance but will do 30 mins riding then in hand the rest of the way, until she tells me she is strong enough to be ridden the whole way. ?
Trotting introduced gradually.
She is loving it!!!

 

[sbloom]

Personally, I would be taking her out in hand for long walks and then the same ridden when she is a bit stronger. I am not sure that sessions in a school will be as beneficial as a few miles on differing terrain and including hills, and possibly more likely to incur injuries.

Whilst hill work and varied surfaces is a brilliant idea, in hand work is not utilised nearly enough when bringing horses back into work, or even on an ongoing basis for fit horses. Correct posture is MUCH harder with a rider on board, correct in hand work facilitates lifting of the thoracic sling which is critical for riding, if we don't get this "up" and functioning then the wrong muscles will be used for posture and movement and we end up with long term repetitive strain-originated injuries (which according to Gillian Higgins, as mentioned above, constitute "the vast majority" of injuries, no matter how they appear to have happened).

Muscles on the legs shouldn't be pronounced, it's honestly the last place you should be looking to judge how fit and strong your horse is, topline is where to concentrate. A horse with a big second thigh and forearm is moving incorrectly.

I have a list of groundwork links I can email if you message me your email address.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

Whilst hill work and varied surfaces is a brilliant idea, in hand work is not utilised nearly enough when bringing horses back into work, or even on an ongoing basis for fit horses. Correct posture is MUCH harder with a rider on board, correct in hand work facilitates lifting of the thoracic sling which is critical for riding, if we don't get this "up" and functioning then the wrong muscles will be used for posture and movement and we end up with long term repetitive strain-originated injuries (which according to Gillian Higgins, as mentioned above, constitute "the vast majority" of injuries, no matter how they appear to have happened).

Muscles on the legs shouldn't be pronounced, it's honestly the last place you should be looking to judge how fit and strong your horse is, topline is where to concentrate. A horse with a big second thigh and forearm is moving incorrectly.

I have a list of groundwork links I can email if you message me your email address.

This post makes me feel better about my twice a week hand walks and in hand work sessions that some people think are useless? we do hack and ride in the school, but i feel like hand walks, especially up and down hills is good exercise for us both (the gym is still closed, so I take it where I can!).

I also agree with the suggestions upthread about backing up. I throw in a few reverse sets in my rides. Also uphill in hand. Relaxed, slow, head level/low. Start small/build up to a bit more slowly over time.

Do you have any poles or obstacles? Walking raised poles is good. You could also do some in hand lateral work.

 

[sbloom]

Walking VERY slowly down hill is also a really good exercise, but the important thing to remember is that the horse must be in correct form (eg straight if backing up, never hollow etc) and that good exercises are much more tiring than we'd realise. A tired horse will move incorrectly.

 

[spotty_pony]

Horses do not have any muscles below their knees and hocks. I am confused.