Horses fitness and hacking

OwnedbyChanter

OwnedbyChanter

With out my boys life would be bland
Apr 16, 2009
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Raininghamshire
Ginger was off work for 7 weeks with a virus so when I started to bring him back in to work have done it slowly and in the last 4 weeks we have hacked, hacked and hacked some more with 2 flat work session both only 1/2 an hour.

We are in a very hilly area and we have increased the distance and intensity over the weeks. Yesterday he felt amazing, trotted most of the way out but walked the steep rutty bits, a nice side ways canter up the grass field, trot the hills towards home gallop up the last steep hill track, then on to the roads for some road work. 2 miles of down hill follows by a mile up a good solid hill climb. He was still pulling at the top. Amazing boy feeling great.

Today we went for our first jumping lesson in over 2 months. 3 in the group, one of the horses does not get hacked out and is ridden about 6 times a week jumping and flat (big jumps). the other is hacked out but has had the Christmas off is ridden a couple of times a week flat then hacked jumped at the weekend.

Normally Ginger is ridden 6-7 days a week. flat, jump week days and hacked at the weekends.

The difference in the 3 horses fitness was amazing. Ginger was super keen as they all were but he just kept going. popping fence after fence a few bucks of excitement in the middle. Last time we went here we finished the session on the gallops but my two friends horses were tired so we didn't go. I don't mind this as this is were injuries come from tired horses pushing themselves to far.

So my question is:

Do we over estimate our horses fitness levels?

How many people do minimum over winter but the first sunny/dry weekend hack out for an hour or so giving them a nice canter. (how does that equate to humans ie someone that goes to the gym a couple of times a week does a 30 min run but then one day told they have to do a 10k with no further training)

or

schools all year round then takes them on sponsored rides for a couple of hours.

I am not saying this is wrong just coming from a self confessed gym bunny and knowing what I put my body through daily and then the increase pain/injury/effort when I change my training or try something new like cross fit
 
I think some people do over estimate, or possibly don't even consider, their horse's fitness levels. There are a couple of folks on our yard that have 'offered' to come with me in my box when I go on a long ride or hunting and I think to myself no way, because they ride their horse once or twice a week for a short hack and I know it sounds mean, but I don't want to be held up when their horse has had enough after a few miles, nor do I think it's fair on the horse.

Although I can't really preach because I did intend to keep Raf fit this winter and so far am failing miserably!

I don't always think fitness hacking translates into fitness in the school though - even when fit for a 20 mile endurance ride Raf would still get tired after an hour's jumping lesson. One of the problems I have is lack of hills - every now and then I take him to an old colliery site that's been made into a community woodland and take him up and down the 'hill' (a reclaimed slag heap). He sets off enthusiastically but about half way up he really begins to flag and he doesn't know whether to tackle it at trot or canter or just walk - I can't believe how difficult he finds it to cope with hills. I think it must make a huge difference to muscle strength and fitness to work on hills, wish we could do more.
 
I had the same problem in Lincoln. Ni hills at all so the boys struggled in a jumping lesson.

I am lucky here and i have noticed the difference.

I struggled to find someone to hack with that had a horse fit enough to do the longer harder hacks but finally have someone now.
 
Can someone come and have a word with my pony please. He's unfit at the moment and ridden gently a couple of times a week and freeschooled a couple more. Few times now I have caught him galloping hell for leather up the field and back again, then cantering around for 5 mins straight!! He isn't scared of anything just playing around!
 
I think some people really overlook fitness and just assume horses can perform whenever suits the riders! I also think people overestimate fitness. I hacked out with someone whose horse barely made it up the first hill! I have a friend who facilitates horse trail holidays: you hack from A to B over 2-3 days and she transports your stuff and sorts out stabling and provides meals etc. She says its amazing how many groups turn up when both horses and riders are totally under prepared for long hacks on rough ground. She ends up having to fetch people in her box when they bale and quite often they blame her! She makes the level of challenge quite clear when people book but they are like all those London Marathon runners who think it looks like a laugh and don't realise you need some training first!
 
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Ale said:
Can someone come and have a word with my pony please. He's unfit at the moment and ridden gently a couple of times a week and freeschooled a couple more. Few times now I have caught him galloping hell for leather up the field and back again, then cantering around for 5 mins straight!! He isn't scared of anything just playing around!
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I think your pony has decided to keep himself fit! Must be feeling good about himself :)
 
Ale said:
Can someone come and have a word with my pony please. He's unfit at the moment and ridden gently a couple of times a week and freeschooled a couple more. Few times now I have caught him galloping hell for leather up the field and back again, then cantering around for 5 mins straight!! He isn't scared of anything just playing around!
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ha
Ha I think that's the Haffy genes at work Ale, Belle is so full of beans just now you wouldn't believe she's the same horse as the summer Belle, I rekon they just love the cold weather as where they originate from its fairly chilly.
 
I must admit it horrifies me sometimes, there was a lady on my old yard who doesn't do anything for weeks with her horse and then will jump on and have an hour jumping, or take it our for a long fast hack, poor horse is so knackered and foamy with sweat afterwards, another bug bear of mine is folk who don't warm up or cool down properly either.
 
I under-estimate our horses' fitness! Jack has been ridden just TWICE in the last couple of months, thanks to that dragged-out abscess, shoots at the yard, weather and the festive season. We are hoping that the hard frost will burn off this morning and we can get out later today but it will be a mainly walk only. We may chuck in a couple of short trots, but I'm talking less than 100 yards. However, I don't doubt that if we rode on soft ground (we won't because it rained heavily yesterday and then froze so it would either be a quagmire or an ice-rink!) Jack would be quite happy to have a canter. Whether he does it through conditioned expectation on soft ground, who knows, but at this time of year we never push the boys to go further than they want at any speed higher than walk.

We watched Eddie Izzard on Dave late last night (twas hilarious) and he was talking about wild animals maintaining a level of fitness - so that they are ready to hunt, or run from being hunted. I think that despite the fact that they can be allowed to gain huge levels of weight, horses always maintain a basic level of fitness.... their instinct to run from danger will make this instinctive.... but of course, fully tacked up and carrying a rider (who may well be carrying a little extra festive weight!!) can make this much harder work for them.
 
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Horses in the wild travel up to 20 miles a day looking for food water etc. A horse in a flat field or stabled will be far less fit. I always kept mine on a hill which helped maintain base fitness even when not worked.
 
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Krissie I said:
Horses in the wild travel up to 20 miles a day looking for food water etc. A horse in a flat field or stabled will be far less fit. I always kept mine on a hill which helped maintain base fitness even when not worked.
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Yes ours are out on hills most of the time and I do think it helps.
 
I think too many people under estimate it in some ways, but I do think most horses that spend some time out maintain a basic fitness more than others realise, if that makes sense.
4 people I know took their horses xcountry schooling a while back, they normally do short schooling sessions maybe 3-5 times a week, they hacked 5 miles there, did 2 laps of the cross country course and hacked back, and although the horses were still game to go even on the way home 3 of the 4 horses were lame the next day :eek:
When planning our big ride (130 miles over 5 days) I basically used long slow distance to get jess legged up and intervals to improve cardio, I did it over 6 months but think next time I will be including more schooling as it does work on different things which are beneficial too. I will also be taking jess away to do hill work as we don't have many decent hills round here.
 
Ziggy lives out on a hill and even though he is hardly ridden he doesn't seem to feel a 1 hour hack or a 45 minute lesson in trot. When he lived on a steeper hill he was even fitter.

I would work him up gently to canter work, though!
 
Depends on breeding aswell. Flipo is never fit. I always underestimate his ability and never push him. I need to get tougher this year and get him fit. The arab on the other hand, is able to regain a level of fitness very quickly.
 
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