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#1 2010-06-04 16:04:48
- Foxtail
- New Arrival! Welcome Me!
- Registered: 2010-05-23
- Posts: 5
Conditioning an Older Horse
A friend of mine has been looking after an elderly mare who belongs to her elderly neighbors. This horse is grossly out of shape, but my friend wants to use her as a pleasure horse. She doesn't know much about horses so she asked me if I could help condition her. She told me that the horse is in good health for being about 25 years old, although she had a "stomach problem" (her words, not mine) a little while ago.
The mare is currently being hand walked every day. She hasn't had much under saddle training because, I was told, she had a bucking problem. I don't know if she has any other congenital problems, but I could probably find out easily enough.
I've never brought a horse into shape, much less one so old. I'm a little lost at where to start, so if anyone can point me in the right direction, my friend and I would be very happy!
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#2 2010-06-05 11:54:37
- silvera
- Foal
- From: Waterloo
- Registered: 2008-02-10
- Posts: 75
Re: Conditioning an Older Horse
The best place to start would be lunging. Take it really slow, w/t/c. You only want to do enough to put her a little out of breath. Because she is old if you push her like a younger horse it may have impacts on her health. You will notice a difference in her conditioning as she is able to handle more of a workout on the lunge.
Even if the first few time only get to the trot before she is a little winded that's fine. After a little bit of this she will be able to handle more and possibly moving up to the canter. Also make sure to hand walk her for a good amount of time after every workout session. Make sure there is NO possibility of her going back hot, sweety, or out of breath. Because she has had a "stomach problem" she could be more suseptible to colic (may not be but better safe then sorry)
If your friend wants to try undersaddle she should be able to once she has done some of the ground work. She should really focus on getting the horses respect before getting on. Also do some lunge work with the saddle on before trying to ride. If the horse excepts her as a rider then you can take out the lunge work and do the same thing undersaddle.
When she is undersaddle then you do basically what you normally would do. Make sure you don't over work her though. Keep the sessions short until she is more in shape. Work on bending, circles, trotting poles at different spacings, patterns around cones. Basically anything that will help the horse use all of their muscles. Also once she is behaving well undersaddle you can try taking her for trail rides, see how she does with them. The good thing about the trails is that the horse feels they have a reason to work. There is also a lot of things they have to go around and over.
Hope that helps, sorry it's a little long.
Thanks
Amber
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