Veteran Horses

[JosieSmith]

Hi. I have a twenty year old Arab who is still very much full of beans. We spend most of our riding time hacking out with very little schooling. When I do school her she has a multitude of problems - she has no rhythm, doesn't bend and is very sensitive, you would think she was a youngster! Would it be worth doing some more schooling and lungeing to help her stay supple and teach her some of the basics, or should I stick to happy hacking? Any opinion appreciated!

 

[apritina]

hey, my mare is 27 and was well schooled eg changes, lateral work etc in her youth (and early twenties!), then has a had a couple of years of pure hacking (still pretty fit though). Ive started introducing schooling again as hacking was becoming abit of a battle (brakes) esp when cantering.
I only do simple stuff for about 20mins, mainly walk and trot, lots of transitions between and within her paces, small amount of shoulder in/leg yeild for a couple of strides.
Def has hepled but i really have to listen to what she is telling me and wont push her, if that makes any sense.
Hope this has helped
ps forgot to add, we lunge once a week too and still continue hacking, she looks fab only a tiny bit of stiffness when the weathers damp so I do think keeping them flexible helps. Its like horsey yoga!

 

[JosieSmith]

Sounds like a plan. I only have her three days a week as she is part-loaned and has no interaction with anyone really the days I'm not there so I figured if I lunge once, school once then hack out once it'll be quite varied and she can have a rest when hacking out. We also have problems with our brakes, she is ex-endurance and thinks fields are purely for galloping in! I can't always hack out as she doesn't enjoy going out on her own and few people ride out now that the lighter nights are here (you'd think they'd go out more) so schooling is a must. I just don't enjoy it yet as she's no good at anything really, bless!

 

[somethingorother]

I shared a 22yr old arab x Lipizzanner who had been a happy hacker for years but was bursting with beans! At first she bucked whenever asked for canter in the school as she was so unbalanced. So i Built it up gradually and did a lot of work on her trot before canter. In the end we were doing quite a lot of lateral work and started on learning pirouettes before i stopped sharing her. As long as you warm up and cool down properly, and do things gradually i think it really helps them.

Everyone could see a big improvement in her, she was much more round, supple, and 'correctly' working after a few months. I do think it took longer than normal to get her bending instead of being an ironing board, but we got there is the end

Have fun and just let her tell you how much she can take.

 

[jenh166]

My showjumper started having dressage lessons aged 19 - did him the world of good and he got so much more supple for doing it, and i think he felt really proud of himself! I just used to warm him up long and low and off his back incase of any stiffness, but he was fine.