topline and bum muscles!

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black_n_white

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My horse has been off work for 3 months with a check ligament injury. I've had the go-ahead from the vet to work him again and 've just started walking him in hand for 15 mins a day. His tummy and neck are huge from stuffing his chops 24/7 in the field but his bum looks tiny. In the past I've been told that he could do with more topline.

I have a vague idea of what this is but how exactly would you describe topline? Does it just mean muscles or does it refer more to condition/ build of a horse?

I would like to try and build his muscle correctly as he comes back into work and fittens up. What exercises etc can I do to help build my horse's topline?

Will the fact that he's a bit "lardy" at the moment help with building muscle as he's got something there to turn into muscle or is it easier to build weight and muscle at the same time?

I'm planning to build his work up really slowly with lots of hecking in walk and then gradually introduce some hill work. What else can I do to try and build his bum up?

Any help and suggestions would be appreciated!
 
I've just been reading about the Pessoa training system - thinking of using it on my young horse. Sounds like it might help:

"The Pessoa is a versatile training aid that helps improve muscle tone and balance by encouraging the horse to take weight off his forehand and bring his hindquarters underneath him. It’s ideal for young horses as it encourages them to develop the correct muscles; fit horses as it maintains their muscle condition and poorly developed horses, if used sympathetically, by retraining their muscles."
 
My horse has a back problem and I've been told to lunge him in a pessoa for 6 weeks to build the correct muscles. We've done 2 weeks now and I really can see a difference in his neck, back and bum.
If your horse is just coming back into work, I wouldn't be looking at using a pessoa yet though. I think you should discuss a suitable exercise programme with your vet and not rush into schooling and lunging at this early stage. It is worth bearing in mind for the future though.
 
I'v just started bringing my lad back into ridden work after a 5 month layoff following a sesamoid fracture/ suspensory ligament injury and have had lots of help from vets, knowledgeable yard owners and physio. So, my experience (a bit of an essay I'm afraid!)...

After over 3 months of box rest with 10 min walks in hand for the latter 6 weeks, one he was absolutely loopy and two, he was also bumless and flabby. At that point vet told me to turn him out for 6 weeks to gently walk about a small paddock - yeah right!! Anyway, a wonderful local yard, experienced in dealing with mental rehabilitating TBs, took him for me and suggested he work on a horse walker for a few days before he started turn out. The vet was happy as the walker was absolutely huge and wouldn't put a strain on the ligament. It really took the edge off him so he did behave when he finally made it to the field. They built him up to 30 mins a day on the walker plus he was getting the turnout and by the end of 6 weeks his bum looked amazingly well muscled and as a bonus his neck looked good too. A horse walker is definitely recommended for building good muscle tone.

A month or so ago, the leg was deemed sound enough to begin ridden work but his back was pretty sore from favouring it from so long. A physio came in to ease the muscle spasms and now he was back home I became a manual horsewalker, lungeing him on a huge circle in walk for 30 mins a day. Three treatments later and his back seems up to the job of having me plump myself on. However, the physio has recommended a set of exercises which will encourage the abdomen to lift and therefore help the back to round. These are to be done daily in tandem with slowly increasing the ridden work and can be done in hand or under saddle. I guess they may not be suitable for your horses' problem so check with your own vet/ physio but I think they are supposed to be generally good for building correct back muscle/ encouraging topline stretch:

1. Put out 4 poles in a row (like trotting poles) about 1m apart and walk beside the horse, leading him over them. This can be progressed by raising the end of alternate poles, raising both ends and then raising poles on one side only.

2. Lay 3 poles end to end. Lead the horse in walk in a serpentine over the poles. Start by crossing the poles at 90 degrees and build up to a very shallow serpentine so that you're almost parallel to the poles as you cross them. You can also increase the difficulty by raising one end of the poles.

3. Imagine a 10m circle. 'Draw' a line across the centre with two poles end on to each other - they'll be maybe 2m apart in the centre depending on their length. You stand in the centre of the circle and lunge the horse in walk over the poles. This can be progressed by decreasing the size of the circle as low as 3m and by raising the poles on the inside and then outside edges.

4. Once you're allowed to trot, lunge the horse ove 5 poles in a fan.

If you're interested I have sheets giving more details on all these plus some more advanced exercises which I could scan and send through once I'm back at work on Monday.

Best of luck.
 
Can you take him swimming near you? Will has just come back into proper work after suspensory trouble and took him as we have acces to a pool 10 miles away.

I swear it has made all the difference and got him fitter without the strain. His grass belly has tightened up and mentally it's done him the world of good as he's the type to tear round like a mad thing.

Instead he steams up and down the pool like Duncan Goodhew on acid, loves it!
 
Thanks everyone there's some really helpful suggestions.

The pessoa sounds like a good idea once I'm a bit further along. Hullabaloo - do you lunge yours with it everyday?

2muddy there are some really useful exercises in your post. I definately think I'm going to use the manual horse walker idea once the rain stops and our fields dry up a bit! I have printed the pole exercises out and will definitely be using them.

Thanks for the suggestion of a swimming pool custardsmum. I hadn't thought of that but will have a look to see if there is one near me.
 
At the moment I am lunging with it for 20 - 30 mins every day and once his back is strong enough for him to be ridden again I will use it about twice a week to keep the muscles toned.
We go back to the vet in 4 weeks to see how we're doing and he's hopefull I'll be able to start riding again then.
 
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