Conditioning

[FoxFireEMT]

What are some good excersise I can do in a small pasture (not much riding room) to help condition my horse for longer rides. My horse is a older OTTB who apparently hasn't had LONG trail rides under her belt. I rider her at least 2-3 times a week any where from 15 min to 1h 1/2, depending on time. We do the basic W-T-C, patterns different things to get her butt moving & working. We don't have cavalettis as of yet but I do trot her over some older fence railings (no nails, of course) I work with what I got. :( Any way, when I took her on a long trail ride a few weeks ago, she did great for about 2 1/2 hrs then almost like a switch the poor girl pooped out. I can't blame her, I knew she wasn't 100% condition for a long long ride but I guess I expected a little longer then 2 hrs. She did great & she lasted bout (just a guess here) 3 1/2 hrs (by the time we go near the trailer to head back). She exhibited no problems during the ride but I could tell that it was obvious she need some serious conditioning. It's not often that we go on long long trail rides but I would like the poor girl not to be dead by the time I finish a ride.

Any times for conditioning & training her to become stronger (physically)? Remember I don't have much room & not a lot of resources at the barn I board at. (On that same note, I'll probably be moving her rather directly, but thats a whole different story)

[ImaBronsonBear]

Trotting, trotting, trotting, lots of trotting! Doing it for 5, 10, 20 minutes straight (depending on how well conditioned she is now) should help a lot. Do you have any hills you can walk up and down? That's also good for conditioning.

[WashingtonBay]

Best thing would be more long trail rides :~)

[FoxFireEMT]

NO hills in this po donk town ~ state. Makes me really miss Pa, my ARAB was so conditioned it wasn't funny! We do do a lot of trotting, but I will continue to make the trotting longer!

More longer trail rides (wish I could), me & hunnie trying to find a cheap trailer so I don't have to depend on people to trailer out to ride!!

Thanks 4 the suggestions & I will try & work on both suggestions!

[AUEquine]

To condition their Fox hunting horses my friends take them out to this track area in the pasture. It's got a sloped side and a flat side, but all flat will work just fine. And just do tons of trot sets. I normaly am totaly opposed to the MP3 players, but for this exercise you'll probably want one. Just get up in a 2 point posistion (this is easier in an english saddle cause you can just stand up, and don't have to bounce around), and make the horse trot out. They do mostly 10-15 minutes of troting and then 2-5 minutes of walking, and then repeat.

[FoxFireEMT]

Great thank you AU! We do a lot of trotting sets now, but not nearly as long. I will def. work that in. Thank you.

[mandisue]

Also since you said you didn't have much room to actually work in ( me neither, I have a field...but I do have trails at least. ) I was always told it's harder on a horse ( makes them work more ) if you transition gaits a lot. Like start trotting, come down to a walk , go back to a trot, back down again, etc. Also works with a lope. I know buttercup gets wore out if I go back and forth than if I just let her trot or lope, she's a bit fresh at times so I do that to get her out of her "lets run!".

[FoxFireEMT]

Ha ha.... I got ya Mandi. I've been dying to canter but it's been sooooo wet here! I fear her slipping, she can be so graceful sometimes. :rolleyes: LOL. But don't mind doing the trotting right now, might have to wait until it warms up to do the cantering! GRRRR stupid rain! Thank you so much for the suggestions. WE do have some trails & that is another issue we are working on as well. (We don't like to leave the herd). However I am happy to say that everday she is improving on that aspect! Just takes time! Silly horses!

[Fork]

Carrot stretches! :) Really easy and fun to do. You don't really need a vet or chiropractor to show you how.

http://www.todayshorse.com/Articles/HorseCarrotPractics.htm

ETA: These really help with flexing and making him supple before and after riding . They won't physically condition your horse, but they've worked wonders on many horses at my barn.