Lunging or riding for fitness?

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HaffiesRock

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Sorry if this sounds a bit daft!

Pony has been fit over summer with plenty of fast hacking, showing and jumping. We are due to go to the beach in a couple of weeks and then a jumpcross event the week after, before he has a break over winter. He has just had 2 weeks off while I've been away and he's been back in work a week. I did a good canter/gallop session on Sunday and although still very keen, has lost some fitness.

As the nights are drawing in and I am busy at work this next couple of weeks, i'm only getting about 30 minutes to exercise my pony in the evening so my question is, how can I best use this time to work on fitness?

I dont need him hunting or evening fit, just able to enjoy the beach experience and get round a fun jumpcross course without problems.

Thanks
 
chestnut cob said:
A combination of both ideally. I wouldn't lunge as the sole exercise. You can do interval work in the arena to keep fit for something different to do and some 30 min schooling sessions. Lunge over poles too.
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I would do a mix, but of riding and long reining, lunging in circles isn't brilliant for the horse or their joints, long reining much better. But TBH I would ride, so much less dull for you both, a nice hack :-)
 
I'm no expert but I asked my instructor (who is an expert!) a similar question- if I've only got 20/30 mins to exercise horse what is best - hack, lunge or schooling? Her reply was schooling best bet, then lungeing and last resort hacking.
 
Lunging is not great as going round in circles constantly causes stiffness and soreness, so long reining would be better than lunging. Dont know if I'd agree with a hack as a 'last resort' - hacking is brilliant for fitness especially if you have some hills nearby!

I'd mix it up with some hacking at weekends if you have time and schooling in the week, remember you dont have to work him every night (Carl Hester famously said on his latest Horse and Country TV show that his horses are worked 4 days per week!). Schooling should involve lots of different things, work on the basics like suppleness and transitions, do some lateral work, get some poles out and do pole work - canter poles are always challenging! Raised poles (Cavaletti) are good for building muscle and strength, and then good old jumping as well, grids will keep things interesting!
 
Don't think I would agree with hacking as a last resort, I have got horses hunting/eventing fit with hacking! (I don't have a school)

I would mix it up with schooling, hacking and long-reining, maybe a little bit of lunging, but as stated...not great to do too much of it.

If you only have 30 minutes and went out for a hack, make that hack count! Don't amble along on a loose rein, but school your horse, get them work properly when walking or trotting up a hill etc
 
I disagree with the instructor re the hacking, ive got horses well fit through hacking and fitting in schooling exercises en route, have run hunter trials with the horse so fit, they couldve went round again, no problem, all done by hacking as the main route to fitness
 
Umbongo said:
Don't think I would agree with hacking as a last resort, I have got horses hunting/eventing fit with hacking! (I don't have a school)

I would mix it up with schooling, hacking and long-reining, maybe a little bit of lunging, but as stated...not great to do too much of it.

If you only have 30 minutes and went out for a hack, make that hack count! Don't amble along on a loose rein, but school your horse, get them work properly when walking or trotting up a hill etc
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If id seen this i neednt have put mine up lol, i agree with your post
 
I'd agree that if you have a short period of time to exercise make it count and really get their heart rates going with a bit of interval training.. whether it be out on a hack, schooling or lunging, try and mix it up a bit as much as possible and just make sure you're pushing for them to walk out etc. I too am having the same battle with the nights drawing in.. when the clocks change i will grabbing the hour of light before work instead of after until that diappears too.. :(
 
I too disagree with your instructor. I have got horses 100 mile fit by hacking out ,using the hack to school. A mixture of work while hacking out is what is needed. Some hills ,some interval training , some steady canter work, increase and decrease trot speeds.

Some time it is quality in the time out rather than quantity.

Kc100 - I disagree that lunging can make them stiff and sore. Done correctly it can be of benefit.
 
Sorry - worded my reply badly - I didn't mean 'last resort' for hacking. I mean schooling or lungeing instead of a 20 minute wander round the block as a hack, not a full on interval training, hill work etc hack. Obviously hacking is brilliant and great for fitness, schooling etc. The question I asked my instructor is what would she do if she only had 20 mins - lunge, school or hack round the block. She said she always choose to ride rather than lunge but wandering round the block probably wouldn't improve fitness as much as working in a school.
 
paulineh said:
I too disagree with your instructor. I have got horses 100 mile fit by hacking out ,using the hack to school. A mixture of work while hacking out is what is needed. Some hills ,some interval training , some steady canter work, increase and decrease trot speeds.

Some time it is quality in the time out rather than quantity.

Kc100 - I disagree that lunging can make them stiff and sore. Done correctly it can be of benefit.
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Agree to disagree then ;)

Just my experience with all of the horses I have ridden recently, too many circles have caused various pain issues that have had to have the physio out to deal with - it also applies to schooling circles too, if you do too many then you'll end up with the same problem as lunging! And that's not me riding them round in circles all the time either just to clarify, most recent horse came to me after having being lunged & schooled frequently in a round pen and her neck and shoulders were incredibly sore according to the physio with some swelling in the poll. Going large for us for a while :) I know there's a number of us from the C&T forum (we dont normally venture this far into the scary world of the tack room!) that agree on the lunging issue, a few of us avoid it due to the repetitive nature of the circles and some of these people are far better riders than I am with very advanced horses.

Mix it up is probably the best advice - doing the same thing repeatedly is bound to cause more issues than doing a bit of everything (done correctly of course!).
 
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