Bringing a horse back into work...

Rubic

Equine Karaoke Queen
Apr 15, 2012
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Glasgow
Rubic is finally out of isolation this weekend! I'm so happy :bounce:

BUT

She will have been out of work for 3 weeks by then and before that she was only in light, inconsistent work because of the weather etc.

I want to get her fit for local, low-level competitions - jumping, dressage and XC and I'm trying to work out what to do with her to help us both get back into the swing of it and back to full fitness!

With Rubic I need to work on the following things:
-Suppleness & bending (she had been getting a bit resistant to bend round corners but I think that may have been partly to do with some bruising in her mouth - dentist has been and that has been given plenty of rest and the cause of the bruising has been sold so that is no longer a problem - saddle and back have also been checked recently too)
-balance (mainly in canter - walk and trot were going nicely before and during winter, canter was "getting there")
-being a bit more responsive (upward transitions are generally good but downwards require some work as I find that the faster we are going the more effort it takes to stop her and I want to be able to use the lightest of aids)

I'm thinking of starting off in walk and trot since that was established before hand. She has been out in a big field so won't be completely unfit. I have access to a school and plenty of hacking so I'm probably going to take her in the school for some short sessions and work on our suppleness in there with lots of circles and serpentines etc starting off quite big at first in walk with little bits of trot. Work on our transitions as well. After schooling I was going to take her out a walking hack. The lane to our yard is 1/2mile so I was thinking of walking her down that and back up to finish. Hopefully that will help get her used to the new place as well as helping our fitness. The lane is a sort of dirt/gravel path so a bit hard but it is a hill nearly all the way to the yard so that will be good to help get her fit, eventually we'll be trotting up it!

I'll try to resist canter for just now, maybe give it a week or two before I introduce that.

What do we think... do you think that is a good place to start? Too much or too little too soon? I don't want to overdo it but then I'm eager to get going!!! Also any ideas for exercises that will help with the things I've mentioned above would be really helpful!

There is a local riding club clear rounds on the day she is out of isolation, my friend was saying I should come! I'd consider doing the crosspoles but it takes about 30-40min to hack there and 30-40min to hack back plus whatever I do inbetween! So I know that is too much to ask (probably from me too, I'm hardly as fit as I usually am) but I think they'll have another at the end of March which I'd like to aim for - is that possible?!
 
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