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loking for a good fitness program?

2K views 12 replies 5 participants last post by  dommycob 
#1 ·
Well my cob is quite overweight... and very unfit.....
I've seen some fitness programs online which say I should be riding her 6 times a week but at the moment I can only ride 3 times. They also say that for a month I should just be walking her.... hmmm.

So what I'm asking is if anybody can help me make a personalized fitness program?
 
#2 ·
Do you have pictures of your horse you could post? If shes that over weight yeah youll have, to start with walking her and build up to more exercise.

Have to also modify her diet. What does she get for hay? and does she currently get grain. Does she have acess to pasture? Is she on pasture 24/7 if so you will have to drylot her and feed hay or muzzle her for part of pasture time.
 
#3 ·
I will post some pictures soon

She gets 2 haynets a night and is in the field from about 8-6 and then she has her tea. I share her with a women and she does her feed so I don't know what she gets but I'll find out
 
#5 ·
She isn't that horribly fat, but yes still unmistakibly overweight. I'd say skip the 'only do walking for a month' thing. She seems like she is capable of much more than that. Also, it would be wrong to exercise her like crazy three days and then just let her be for the rest of the week. It just..IMO strikes me as wrong. You need persistance in training. If you really want her to lose some weight, maybe get hold of some friend or another rider who can cover for you for a few days, so she gets moved at least 5 times a week. At least that's the way I'd do it :) she's really lovely though, good luck!
 
#7 ·
We have to know what your horse is used to doing right now- if you're already doing walking and trotting three times a week, there is no reason to step back to only walking. What are you doing now, and how much can you/are you able to go out and work with her? An exercise program is no use to set up if it doesn't match a schedule you can reasonably maintain.
 
#8 ·
There is no way I can ride her or get anyone else to ride her more than 3 times a week.

Atm I do about an hour a week in the arena walk and trotting mostly over poles and sometimes I do 15-20minutes walk+trot lunging. The other 2 times a week I ride out with my friend and we do walk, trot and canter with quite a few canters. Sometimes I ride out alone in which case we canter slower but still the same amount.
I go down tuesday thursday and sunday
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#9 ·
If you're already doing w/t/c there is no reason to cut down on that- I'd say certainly keep enjoying your rides out, maybe go further if you are up to it! If you can only keep up three days a week, I'd up the arena work a bit- less walking, more trotting, add in a little canter work. Without working her 5+ days a week, the only way to get her more trim is going to include cutting back on her feed. If you're not in control of it, I'm afraid that while you may be able to help her be more fit, you won't make much of a dent in her extra fat stores. Just like us, exercise is only half the battle.
 
#10 ·
I would cut down the feed - let her graze and have her 1-2 haynets at night, lower calorie hay could be better though, so she can eat as much as she wants, but does not get fat.
Definitely find out what the other person is giving. And probably stop it. You might need to give something to feed her supplements and ration balancers, but there are plenty of low calorie feeds to do that.

So you are the only person working her 3 times a week? Keep doing what you do, when you feel like it, up the work a little. Start by trotting more, cantering a bit more (work over 1 h), then increase the canter work, more poles etc.
Do what you feel comfortable with when it feels like it. You can usually tell when the horse is ready for more work, sweats less after the session or just still feels energetic.
 
#13 ·
Thanks:)
Yesterday I rode with my friend and she was very energetic but breathing hard and sweating after a very short trot. Infact, energetic is a bit of an understatement, she took off at a gallop at the second trot and I had to turn a circle to stop her... So she shows signs of being worked really hard even though we haven't and still feels energetic, any ideas?
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