Ways to fitten up awkward cob and no facilities! Help please!

SuperCoblet

SuperCoblet

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It's coming the time of year when coblet needs to lose weight and fitten up for the summer.
Sounds oh so easy!?
-we have no facilities, were off our winter grazing next week and weve just re seeded our paddock, he will be going on a small field where it's hilly and I can't ride or lunge on.
- he doesn't hack out alone. With my mum at work until 6 and noone local it's pretty much impossible unless my dad walks out with me on foot (chance would be a fine thing!) which isnt going to happen.

At the moment he can only be ridden on weekends which just isn't enough.

Any ideas? :)
 
Put him on a track around the outside of the field so he has to walk further for his food, and going up and down the hill will help :)
 
Can you not find someone to hack out with you? If nothing else, it may be the perfect opportunity for you to get him to hack on his own!

ETA- we had a fat little welsh D for ages, and no facilities (no hills either, living in East Anglia!) and it was just hacking that got him fit. He didn't hack on his own at first (he'd nap, rear then bolt back to the stables) but lots of determined taking him back out rather than putting him away meant that he got used to it in the end.

Could your dad stay in the middle of a field while you did interval training- he'd be able to supervise you, but you'd be able to actually get him moving beyond a walk!
 
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We have battled 3 years to hack out alone, he just rears and bolts back home or the way he wants to go. He is so strong nothing will stop him :/
I think I may just have to lead him out as he's ok with me next to him
 
iamSanta said:
We have battled 3 years to hack out alone, he just rears and bolts back home or the way he wants to go. He is so strong nothing will stop him :/
I think I may just have to lead him out as he's ok with me next to him
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That won't get him fit though, or shift the pounds unless you're going miles and miles each day. Are you on a livery yard?

Has anyone else tried helping with his hacking? Unless he's very good at something else he does need to be able to go out like any other pony IMO, regardless of his past. The person helping doesn't need to be super strong or a pony beater, just someone who's done this all before.
 
I'd ride on the hilly field, is there somewhere nearby you could lead him to & either lunge or ride? Could you do ride & lead safely with whatever he's turned out with if he hacks fine in company?
Not much use now but maybe next year might be an idea to lose the weight over winter.
 
How have you been managing to ride him through the winter. Could you try long reining him and getting his confidence up to hack alone. My cob didn't like hacking on her own but this was because we always went out with someone else. Since my OH's horse has been lame we have had to hack out alone otherwise she would get fat, the more we do the better she is getting.
 
Could you ask a local instructor to walk out on a hack with you and give you some help? I did this the first few times I took my horse out alone and found it very useful. It obviously costs money but if you find someone nearby with low travel costs they could walk with you for 30mins or so and advise you how to progess with him?
 
Does your yard have a track or drive up to it.

One year our cob was entered for a very big and fair early show. I wouldn't let my daughter ride over the moors on her own, I was at work until late and the school was out of action.

We managed to get weight off said cob and get it fit enough to show on a 1/4 mile farm road.

They walked down it and trotted back on the strip of grass at the side. She did this for about an hour every night. Pony and daughter nearly died of boredom but it worked. At least they got a good long hack at weekends.

They even did this in the dark, with loads of reflective gear and stirrup light. The track only went to two places and both knew she was doing it.

It is possible to do it without facilities, I once heard of someone who trained her endurance horse in a similar way for a few months.
 
Or you could sell him and get something that hacks safely alone. Life is too short to keep plugging on with a horse you can't enjoy.
 
Get him to hack alone and then you solve all the problems. Find an instructor to teach you to deal with it or get them to deal with it for you if you dont want to.
 
You'd be amazed what a good, confident trainer can achieve when it comes to getting a horse to hack alone. With horses, sometimes you need to man up and step up to the challenge - even if you can't do the initial work or would rather get a professional to.
 
Send him down to me, he looks and sounds like my old mare- Do a week of leading him aorund a circlular walk, he will cotten on by day 3 that he is going home halfway through walk. Always tack him up in full tack including saddle even when walking him (so he doesnt smarten up to the fact saddle=work) week 2 lead him for first half and jump on when he knows your heading hime, decrease amount of walking and increase the riding. Week 3 ride him around the route every day, even if it is raining, consistent work is THE ONLY thing that will work here. Once he is happy doing this start meeting other people along the route and going further afield once you have meet up with them and then when on way home leave them and ride home alone try it and see
 
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