When Lunging isn't an option.

[All4Grace]

Alrighty then!
I have a few questions for ya'll. I am looking for excercises to build up Vicor's muscles and stamina without lunging.
Why no lunging you ask? Well...
He injured his knee while lunging 6 months ago and while he was cleared to go back into track training, and his previous owner decided no more racing, I still want to keep the lunging down to the bare minimium.
The injury was just a sprain, at least thats what we were told, and he is sound in both directions w/t/c, but because he is still only three and quite lanky I want to mini...minumi....UGH Keep the lunge work very light.
I already take him to walks with me, we usually walk about 1/2mile...until I build up my own stamina. ;)
Free lunging is tough because he won't use the whole ring, he is afraid of the pool still and will only going near it if I lead him to it. lol (pool is on the outside of the ring)
So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Our riding sessions range from 10-15mins of w/t until he is better muscled.

[alittleoffkey]

Do you have hills? Can you run up hills with him (have him trot, of course) and walk down them? The walks are a great idea, but hill work always builds up muscle more quickly. :)

[All4Grace]

No hills that I have access to. :( It times like this when I miss my old barn in New England, we had two great small hills we used ot run up and down. :D

[iluvmyhorses]

Do you jog? Does he lead well? I used to take my horse jogging with me. I would put his easy boots and splint boots on and off we go. We had nice shoulders on our road though.

[alittleoffkey]

Do you jog? Does he lead well? I used to take my horse jogging with me. I would put his easy boots and splint boots on and off we go. We had nice shoulders on our road though.

I bet people driving by though "Aren't you supposed to ride those things?" :D

I like the jogging idea - it'd get you both in shape! :) Maybe I'll start jogging with one of my horses.

[mlle_beau]

Lol, there was a man where I used to live that would jog with his llama! If he can jog with a llama you should totally be able to jog with a horse. :p

[WashingtonBay]

If he can ride, I'd just start lengthening your rides, easy trails, walking, bring in trotting as you can. Nothing beats that. Using lunging to build stamina would be hard on any horse.

If he's sound enough for you to get on, he can walk further than you can already.

[cheval]

Do some stretches with him. Do bendig exercises, even if you can't ride, could you sit on his back? That way you can do the bending and it's good for his neck.

One fun one I recently learned of is tummy tucks. If you scratch/tickle their bellies, they will raise up their back. Do a couple sets of ten once a day. It's funny to see Solon do it.

Lots of walking from the ground alongside or if you can ride, lots of straightaway walking.

[Palogal]

How about ponying him? If he's OT, he'd been ponied. Find yourself an old lesson horse and go for a nice long ride.

[All4Grace]

I actually was thinking about ponying him off of Hazel (been there done that, plus she is IN LOVE with him)
I do ride him, slowly but surely lengthing our ride times.
I don't jog, I walk, my grandmother, told me because of my bad knees walking is better then jogging.
I didn't get to bring him to the bridle path today but i plan on taking him there tomorrow to see how he handles it.

[outriding01]

What about ground driving? You can still work on a circle, but much larger than when lunging, or just work on straight aways. It's so much more flexible than lunging.

That being said, I don't lunge or ground drive, lol. I just ride em!

[Arrow]

I would just ride him. Riding him at a walk, increasing the time, shouldn't be a problem. You can surely ride him for as long as you would lunge him. Walking for muscles, faster for wind. Get his muscles built up first, then ride faster.

[Dakota Sunrise]

I bet people driving by though "Aren't you supposed to ride those things?" :D


Haha, I got asked that the other day by our neighbor when I was leading Beauty by their house, fully tacked up.:p
Beauty always spazzes when I take her trail riding by herself (she's really good with another horse--most of the time--though) and there's one section of my road that really scares her for some reason- she always stops there, balks, and tries to spin and run for home. So when I don't feel like fighting her but need to get to Donna's (the lady I ride with)
house, I'll just saddle her up and then lead her the whole way (it's only a mile or so, piece of cake). I like walking with her and we trot up the hills.:D

[Mercury]

Ditto the ponying thing or riding!

[TLC97]

Well as someone who just got done dealing with light workouts only. You can talk him walking with you or pony him. Cane (my gelding) and I did "trail walking" where we walked on the trails that I usually ride him on behind our house. I did do some ponying, but that was more entertainment for anyone watching than it was successful with my to clowns.

If you can ride him I would do that with just walk & jog.