Spring is here and it’s time to start getting your horse back into shape after taking the winter off! It’s important that you take the time to recondition your horse before the summer activities, whatever that may be for your horse.

You may be wondering if it’s even necessary to recondition your horse. It is very important. Imagine if you were asked to run a marathon after not exercising for weeks or even months! Not only are you prone to injury, but the mental and emotional stress would be very taxing and you would not feel very successful at all. Your horse is similar. They too have a risk of injury if not properly conditioned for the work you will ask them to do as well and you don’t want to over-stress them.

With this is mind, you’re probably wondering how you should recondition your horse.

First step is remembering to take it slow. If you’ve ever taken a long break from working out at the gym or any form of exercise you will know that your body is not in the same shape it was when you stopped and that you have lost strength, stamina, flexibility, etc… It is the same for your horse. Do not expect him to get back into shape in a matter of days or even weeks. Plan on at least 6-8 weeks of reconditioning. Each individual horse is different depending on age, diet, health, and athleticism so the time it will actually take will be different for each horse. But 6-8 weeks is a good place to start.

You should begin with walking and trotting for 15-20 minutes, keeping things really easy with free-flowing movement. Do not ask for anything super demanding of the horse. This is the time to let your horse get back into his body.

You can do this under saddle, by hand-walking, or by lunging. Be sure you pick the one that will work best for your horse. Does your horse get really excited under saddle after having not being ridden? Probably better to hand-work him or lunge him. Or if he doesn’t respond well to lunging, but is fine under saddle, ride him. You want to keep your horse mentally calm. Do not mistake an excited, eager, or hyper horse to mean he is in shape and ready to jump into work again. His mind may be ready, but his body is not.

You can begin to increase the amount of time you ride or lunge and work in some easy lateral movement, cantering, bending, etc… Keep steadily and slowly increasing the amount of time you ride and what you do with the horse, depending on your discipline.

Be sure to keep an eye on diet to help your horse reach his best shape possible as well as getting all the nutrients he needs.

As long as you take it slow and are mindful, you should have no problem getting your horse back into his normal routine of exercise and help his body get back into shape in a safe and healthy way.

(photo taken from Pinterest)

“A horse gallops with his lungs, perseveres with his heart, and wins with his character.” – Federico Tesio

~ Saddle Up