Yard lockdown is over! Fitness regime...

j1ffy

j1ffy

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Today I was allowed back to the yard for the first time in 7 weeks, yay! It was lovely to see my PRE, Pocholo, who is loaned out to a friend of mine and was very happy to see me (or the treat bucket) and Danny, the SF who I have on loan (who looked a bit less impressed at my arrival!).

Danny is out from 4.30pm to 8.30am at the moment and was Prelim / Novice dressage fit prior to lockdown. He's a 16.3hh, big boned 7yo and I'm wondering how best to tackle his fitness. He definitely needs to be kept occupied mentally if I'm not to be given an impromptu flying lesson, though he's generally a good boy to hack. The resident sticky-bum event rider is going to get on him for me a couple of times this week and then I'll carry on.

I'm thinking:
  • Weeks 1-2 - 30 minutes walk hack / 20 minutes arena work in walk, including lateral work / 20 mins groundwork, mostly in walk with the odd short trot
  • Weeks 3-4 - build up to 45 mins hack, similar timings as above for arena and groundwork but build in some more trot and walk poles
  • Weeks 5-6 - build up to 60 mins hack, 30 mins in arena and introduce canter. Introduce trot poles
  • Week 7 onwards - progress to normal
What are other people planning to do? Any thoughts on the above?

ETA - we're only allowed at the yard three times a week for 90 minutes, I'll probably ask for him to be hacked once a week in addition.
 
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That’s great. We’ve been allowed back for 2 weeks but the guidance issued this week should mean every yard opens up to some extent now. My boy has been kept ticking over during that time but he did get a bit fat! BHS has some guidance in their statement which I haven’t looked at yet, for returning to fitness, but I’ve started off like you and will move to 2nd phase soon. Pretty similar to your plan.
 
your plan sounds about right to me, but I would drop the school work. If you can only work them 3 days a week then get out and hacking. Once you;ve built up to a decent amount of trot work then you can include some school work.
 
Thanks all! Sticky-bum eventer got on him today and said he was good as gold around the farm tracks. He needs his back shoes back on, which will happen early next week, so will do some ground work and sticky-bum will have one more ride then I'll get on :)
 
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