Running with your horse, like a dog?

[Nugget La Poneh]

I need to get the haffalump fit for the Newmarket ride in September, and I am also training to do a 10k. I only have a finite amount of time to do both, so was wondering about combining the two, so taking Nugz for a jog alongside me like you can do with a dog.

He leads okay, but thinking I might dig out the longer in-hand lead as has the loop handle so there is more room for him to move behind me when the path gets a bit narrow.

So, does anyone do this already? Does it work?

 

[igglepop]

I knew a lady who took her horse jogging, i would not do it unless you were sure of reaction of things that could be spooky as you could easily get run over. Try it out in he field first to see if its exciting.

 

[Charem]

I'd be concerned that when you get tired your reactions will not be great should your horse decide to have a spook/run off.

Both go in a horse walker on full speed?

 

[Nugget La Poneh]

I knew a lady who took her horse jogging, i would not do it unless you were sure of reaction of things that could be spooky as you could easily get run over. Try it out in he field first to see if its exciting.

My OH runs round round with him in the field and he does get a bit het up and treats the OH like another young horse. But he was pretty extensively long-lined out and about the farm (where I plan to run) when I got him and he's normally okay on hacks.

Part of me is hoping he will get knackered after a bit and just trudge along

 

[Nugget La Poneh]

I'd be concerned that when you get tired your reactions will not be great should your horse decide to have a spook/run off.

Both go in a horse walker on full speed?

Didn't think of that... Shame riding hats so bulky, otherwise could then jump up and ride him back bareback

 

[cheeryplatypus]

I would lunge him but shorten the line so you are running on a smaller circle inside of him. He should stay out and you can keep a safe distance but still jog. If you got a tracker app for your phone you could work out how far you had jogged round the field/school, or alternatively measure it and count laps.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

My back person does endurance and says she has to get off and run with the horse, then suggested it to me as a get fit method. I suppose it's like an extension of inhand work that you would do at a show

 

[Shantara]

I sometimes have a jog with Ned when I take him for walks up the lane. He's great to jog with, his head stays at my shoulder and slows/speeds up when I do.
If you trust your horse, I'd say do it! I wish I could do it more with Ned, as I'd like to get fitter (not lose weight, just tone a bit!)

 

[AprilBlossom]

My friend does it with her horse. I couldn't be fagged!

 

[starryeyed]

I have to take our little "retired" pony jogging with me because he likes to get out and about and has far too much energy! My little brother and sister can only really potter about on him for 5 minutes (being held on - he's a monster!) and he gets so bored with just that so I take him on my runs & lunge him to keep him busy, he loves it.
I do get some funny looks but I end up running a hell of a lot faster with him dragging me along than I do alone!
I always use a bridle just incase, but have never had any problems with him as he has no fear so no nasty spooks and is fab in traffic etc. The only "incident" we did have was passing a field of thoroughbreds who decided to race him - he was one determined pony - so saying this, if you trust your horse enough to not mess about / drag you down the road / put you both in danger then go for it !

 

[Marydoll]

I had a friend who used to do this with her horse while loose schooling, the horse during play kicked her square in the face, she's been scarred for life, lost teeth broken facial bones, both skin and bone grafts later, she's still coming to terms with it

 

[Cinnamontoast]

I had a friend who used to do this with her horse while loose schooling, the horse during play kicked her square in the face, she's been scarred for life, lost teeth broken facial bones, both skin and bone grafts later, she's still coming to terms with it

One presumes that for Endurance, the rider runs alongside, so the horse doesn't have the opportunity to kick.

 

[PoniesRock]

Well my pony has been saddle-less for a couple of weeks and I've been taking her for walks and she has been fine. And its actually really surprising that now that I have a saddle she's hardy lost any fitness which I was really impressed with So I would say go for it!!

 

[PoppyAnderson]

I've done it lots (although its really more of a fast walk with a few bursts of jogging) and she's been fine. I don't do it where there's cars though and not on grass, as I suspect there'd be some faffin n fartin if I did! I enjoy it and she has to put up with it!

 

[rhino]

I do, I'm building up the work in hand with my horse who severely damaged his sdft last year. Our daily route is just over 3 miles, mostly in walk with some short (like 2 mins at a time) jogs/trots I just loop the leadrope over his neck, he stays at my shoulder and he's not remotely 'spooky'

I do run properly as well though

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Ive done it with my shetlands- both running beside them and in long lines.

 

[Dave282B]

I don't see why not as long as the horse is a sensible type.
We had a lead rein Pony that would go without a lead rope, and always kept to my shoulder. If i was at a walk and started to jog she automatically kept with me and if i started to run too close she would bear away or, conversly if i started to turn away she would close the gap. So with practice and having a sensible type - yes i believe it can be done with lots of training

 

[mini-eventer]

I used to do a loy of long reining and a lot of long trotting/ jogging stretches. The benefit of long reins is you can work properly into a contact.

Plus the gain loads of confidence from going in front. Practice alot first before you go out though x

 

[paulineh]

Years ago I ran with my pony.

I did the Golden Horse Shoe with him and often ran down the hills and along some of the tracks. I will get off now and run across a field if there is a gate we have to go through.

I will teach the youngsters to trot next to me (ready for competition) by taking the out in the woods and running.

Running does keep both you and the horse fit without carrying any extra weight.

It can be fun too

 

[Nugget La Poneh]

He is as sensible as any normal horse. He walks and trots in the school when 'at liberty' (not a parelli type, just couldn't think of a phrase that isn't loose schooling ) when I do the same, and he's been taught to 'heel' for the show ring.

Did used to run when I long lined him, but often found myself heading to the floor in a face palnt/splits type manouvre - hats off to people that manage it outside of a surfaces school!!

I will give it a go tomorrow. Will take him out with bridle and a long lead rope looped through so that if god forbid he does bog off, it will come loose. He has once (only once, in the early days) bolted off, but he only went 300m, felt lonely and decided eating grass was more interesting than exerting energy getting back home

Thanks guys so far - will let you know how I get on!

 

[VixieTrix]

I hardly ever ride Blue! (too big really) but i've always got him out inhand, we walk and jog all over the local area, even got people waving to us on our rounds get he is 21 now so i am desperate to keep him uptogether i go on "hacks" with the rest of the yard too and when we come to a (enclosed) bit of grass i give him to my sister and she leads him off her pony for a canter He loves it!

 

[Catcus]

I take my retired one out occasionally whenever I start a health kick! He's a bit of a pain though, once we get across the fields he starts squealing, bucking and trying to take off. He really should know better. I just make sure the gates are closed so if he does get away from me he won't get too far.

 

[Littlelegs]

I spent years running alongside daughter before she was properly off lr. I don't mean an hours walk with a few trots, I mean sprinting across fields while she cantered & jogging round bridleways while she trotted. I'd do it with a bigger one too provided it was well behaved.

 

[Holly Hocks]

Funny this post should come up today. I took my 3 year old out in hand today on a slightly longer route than we have been doing and we met a few cars on the lanes which are really narrow, so I had to jog with her to the gateways to let the cars past. (Didn't realise how unfit I was!). I wouldn't want to do too much jogging with her because she is still only a baby and don't want the roads to put too much jarring on her joints, but I quite enjoyed just doing a few small sessions of it! Fortunately she's very sensible for her age.

 

[Dry Rot]

Any ex-cavalry bods on here? I had a visit from one the other day and we were talking about training horses. Apparently, recruits to his unit were required to do a cross country with their horses -- on foot and including the jumps! He said it was quite hair raising at times as the rider (on the ground) had to clamber over banks and jumps while the horse jumped! But he thought it created a great bond between horse and rider. Sounds exhausting to me! Good luck!

 

[BlizzardBudd]

i jog with my horse to-and-fro his field, however I have found out that B isn't as fit as I though! we get 1/2 way back to the yard/up to the field and he has stopped and is just trudging along at the end of the line
but yes it does work, maybe you could try using a rope headcollar so you migh have a little more control? and if you really wanted to you could ride back

 

[Feebee-Friesian]

i used to do this with the TB i look after. On the way home from a hack i would get off a mile from home and jog. He has a beautiful extended trot, which you can really appreciate from the ground! Its great for working on voice commands, he would stop and start from voice signals.

 

[jeeve]

I need to get the haffalump fit for the Newmarket ride in September, and I am also training to do a 10k. I only have a finite amount of time to do both, so was wondering about combining the two, so taking Nugz for a jog alongside me like you can do with a dog.

He leads okay, but thinking I might dig out the longer in-hand lead as has the loop handle so there is more room for him to move behind me when the path gets a bit narrow.

So, does anyone do this already? Does it work?

When my horse was lame and I could not ride him, I used to take him for walks, as we both got fitter, we used to run part of it ( walk when I got tired and then run again). My horse loved these walks/runs so much he would be waiting for me, or if he saw my car turn up he would race up to the gate and be waiting, after the walks he used to not want me to go, he used to wait at the gate saying goodbye. We built such a good bond in the 12-18 months that we did this. In fact on quiet roads I would throw the lead over his neck and he would just stay with me, if I stopped he stopped, if I ran he ran etc - it was really cool.

He was great with traffic, big trucks etc did not bother (except once he did a capriole when a rattly old truck passed). It was garbage bins and sneaky letter boxes that used to bother him.


So a big yes from me - you and horse will have a lot of fun. I used to carry a stick, which helped stock him from walking across the top of me, and when we were walking along the road -(where no grass verge) I would have my stick stuck about to encourage cars to go wide around us and I could signal motorists to slow down , and use it to scare dogs of etc) - Sound like a crazy horse lady I know- but most cars drove past at 80-100kms, so I was not at all timid about being assertive in encouraging them to give us room.

 

[mandwhy]

I do this on hacks, normally if I have had to get off for some reason and can't get back on again but it's quite nice and might do it anyway for exercise! I always wish I had a water carrying device as I wonder along complaining to him about being thirsty haha! I also like to incorporate the motorway bridge into the in hand part of our journey and we certainly jog across that eeek!

 

[Gusbear]

If is was a superhuman and could run the minute mile then I'd think about it, until then though, for me not such a good idea.
Not long after I got my boy, I had the wild idea that I would take him for a little walkies around the property to let him pick the grass. He decided that there must be something rather interesting down the end of the driveway and hence he made a beeline at a trot (with poor little me and my little legs attached to him via way of a halter and lead rope) and off he went at a decent working trot. After nearly being dragged off my feet and having visions of my new horsey heading down the drive and out the front gate in a bid for freedom I realized that unless I decided to invest in a sturdy pair or rollerblades or grew longer/faster legs then the idea of running beside him was always going to be out of the question.
Picture a small woman, approaching middle age, standing a mere 5'4", attached via a lead rope to a very green, very determined 18.2 hh and still growing and maturing baby. Needless to say my calls for help were thankfully answered and four adult women later, we somehow managed to stop the 'beast' in flight and return him to the calm and safety of his stable.