As you all know I only got my horse recently, and to put it mildy, he had not done a tap of work for years. He has just been lounging in the stable and meandering around the paddock in his former home. So you can probably realise that I have my work cut out to get him trained up for an endurance race in December!
I am not fazed. I started doing some gentle school work in the paddock, but because he has not been worked at all he started brushing his fetlocks at the trot and was in danger of hurting himself. I then did lungeing 3 times a week, and took it very steady with the school work. He has started to build up well and now I am taking him to the next phase. I am concentrating on slow work, which means walk, walk, walk. He gets walked for one hour in hand in the morning, then when I arrive in the afternoon I start more intense walking. I walk him to the beach and we do at least 2 hours walking every afternoon. Walking is the Best exercise to condition a horse. It is a 4 gait beat, and it improves everything, the heart, the muscles, the tendons. I cannot stress enough how beneficial walking is to condition and get a horse fit.
Of course we have our moments. He being an Arabian horse he exhibits the typical idiosynchrasities this breed is well known for. We are walking along the path and suddenly he sees a great chasm open up in front of him and of course he is going to fall down it or else monsters are going to rise up from it. I don't know what must be going through his mind but he is scared. You definitely need glue on your seat to ride an Arabian as they scatter off everywhere, not usually taking you with them!
Anyhow he is a good old boy and has no clue that he is old. He still thinks he is a spring chicken. Love him really!
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26/09/06 @ 23:52