Conditioning the pleasure trail horse

Okay, another draft rider poking her nose in here. Like Matry, I’m 40, a re-rider and have two: a Clyde-X and a full Perch.

After coming out of the traditional hunter-seat equitation/“George Morris” crowd back in the 70s/80s, homey don’t want to see no riding ring! I love the drafties for their good work ethic, their sensible brains and amazing memory.

Because of my work schedule and other responsibilities, it is rare for me to be able to ride during the week. Guess that makes me a “weekend warrior.” (WW)

HOWEVER…, I would never take either of my mares out on the trail and ride for 3-5 hours after having most of the winter off. That makes no sense whatsoever and would leave me with achey/crabby mares. No one wants 2,000 pounds of Grump on their hands. :o

I have the benefit of boarding at a farm that borders The Silver Comet Trail and my mares are out 24/7. The designers of my county’s portion of the SCT thought about horses and people when finishing it. As a rider, I have two options:

1. Easy – riding just off to the side of the concrete bike/walk path; on the grass just before the treeline. Since my Perch is 17.3, I do run into ALLLLL the branches. However, all the terrain is flat and even…a few rocks, a bench or two to go around and a sign here and there to skirt. That’s it. So a two hour, mostly walking, some trotting ride on the side of the path is no problem for either of my mares. However, the first two months consisted of only 30-40 minute rides, mostly walking, to give them time to gain condition.

2. Challenging – a separate trail, running parallel to the concrete path, was cut into the woods. It is NOT level. You go up and down hills, following the natural terrain. Some of those hills are pretty steep and rocky. Often there is a small stream at the bottom to cross. While it can be daunting to ride, again the designers/builders of the trail were smart. There are several places along the challenging side where you can cut back onto the Easy side. It makes gaining condition easier on me and the mares. I can vary my rides so that I’ll do some hill work after the first 20 minutes and then do just flat walking to relax on the 20 minutes home. Plus it allows me to avoid the streams completely when I’m on my Clyde-X because she’s totally convinced the boogie man lives in the water and will eat her. (She’s 10 but, until I bought her, she had never seen outside of the ring…so she’s still learning.)

“Trail” for me means being off the farm, out of the ring and in the woods enjoying God’s creation from the back of one of His finest creations. I have no desire to compete anymore…got that out of my system doing jumpers in my late teens/early 20s. I can relax, de-stress and clear my mind. For me, it’s a great time to pray, sing (at least to Tank, the Perch. She loves it.) and daydream.

During the week, my mares get to just be horses. Lie down in the sun, take a nap or thunder their way across the pasture. So the weekend rides are just an extension of their relaxed lifestyle.

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After all that, I will add this: I know of the “type” the OP speaks of, though. Weeks will go by without them even coming to see the horse at the barn and then expect the horse to tote them around the park for hours at a stretch in a collected canter. Horse returns to the barn soaked, lathered and exhausted. Owner washes him down and puts him back in his stall. Made for one miserable horse.

That to me, while not “abuse” per se, was unkind, uncaring and very much detrimental to the physical and mental health of the horse.

It is good to hear how a draft rider is doing with her drafts.

Thanks Prieta!

I also wanted to add:

– I am no idiot. I have been involved in horses since I was 7. There is no way I would take either of my drafties on a trail ride in, say, Colorado for hours on end, over rough terrain. Nor would I ever expect them to do a CTR.

Like RTM stated, they are not the breed of horse capable of handling that type of a trail ride.

The kind of trail riding I have in mind is this:

Many eons ago, I used to take my mares out for rides around country blocks - total distance of about 10 miles or thereabouts. I also used to take them out to rivers from our farm - total distance of about 15 miles. Now, I want to take Fairy, the Clyde out on those rides. Plus, we have many trails around here in Wisconsin. Most of the trails are “easy” ; therefore, I intend to take Fairy to those trails.

Abby, the Arabian will love more challenges - she has so much energy to burn off; thus, she will “help” me burn off many calories by going on many more challenging trail rides. BUT, she spooks easily at just about anything. I need to ride her often around here at the farm to help her realize that her ghosts are nothing to fear. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I need to speed up the conditioning program because my mares are becoming so FAT with so much grass growing. To make it worse, we do not have a dry lot! :no: I have not yet convert the dairy barn because I have to wait to fix the roof.

Water

I would take a day and plan on spending it by some water sources. Get as close as you can and make them stand still. Keep moving forward, and have shoes you can stand in the water with. It might take hours…but will be worth it in the long run.

You need to get them to stand in it. And you might have to do this lesson 4 or 5 times until they understand that you are willing to go the long run. Once they figure out you will not allow them to act stupid, and you will be out of there quicker…they will get over it.

Take a sponge and wash them…on a hot day they will learn to love a stream. Many accomplished trail horses like to see water…get a drink…and understand their riders will get off and sponge them. Any excuse to stop.

Unfortunately, we are far from water sources. Once Abby understands that she is to mind me all the time, I’d take her over to a river nearby.

My trick is to get my Arab to pay attention to me at all times at all gaits. In order for me to get her attention, I’d have to go at a faster gait. However, I want her to pay attention at walk. that is when she gets spooked at horseviores!

Just thought of this as it deals with drafters on trails. My neighbor runs cattle on a forest range allotment. He also has a pair of 2100 lb pulling belgains that he feeds cattle with and pulls at fairs and the like. They are in shape working several hours most days tho be ready for the work they are asked to do. Last summer he had a cow die on the trail in the forest. The old girl needed moved off the main trail to where the scavangers could take care or the carcus and not stink up the trail area. He tried dragging her out of the way with a couple of riding horses to the saddle horn. They couldn’t move her so he rode is arab morgan and lead one of his belgains. By the time they and gone a mile they had to let the belgain blow. After 5 miles he was a tired boy. The saddle horses were packing riders and the belgain packing himself and harness. When they got to the cow they hooked him up and he drug the cow some 250 yards over a little hill to the place the Forest Circus People had said to put her. He had quit sweating by the time they finished the pull. He wasn’t breathing hard and it was like he had been cooled out. They unhooked and ponied him to the trailer and he was all lathered up again.

It wasn’t about being in or out of shape it was the type of work that was being asked for. The big muscle bound boy had all he could do to carry himself at a hard walk. At a plodding mosey, he could drag 1600 lb cow over a hill and not even be working.

Here is a link to my little trail horses. http://www.drafthorsevillage.com/phpBB2/album_personal.php?user_id=23
LF

Cool pics LostFarmer!

I think you’ve got a good point about types of work. My OTTB cools out beautifully after a nice gallop, but lathers up at a walk. With him, though, it is training and emotional issues. He wants to race–he was bred to race. He’s good on the trail, just a little quick.

Butch does cross streams, he just doesn’t like WIDE streams (more than a horse-length) that may be hiding alligators or the boogey-man, or maybe even, gasp, a COW! I don’t even want to tell you how long it took me to get him to put his feet into a stream the first time. I thought we’d be in the clear once he put his feet in, but he actually got worse. The last time we crossed a stream about 1 1/2 horse lengths, he pawed and played a bit, so I’m hoping he’s better about it now. I can’t tell yet, since I’ve been on the injured list for a month now since I last rode him. I can’t wait to get back in the saddle, but I need to get over having a sore tailbone first. I HATE getting old!

lost farmer

Yup, you guys look like a bunch of big men picking on little ponies to me.

You bad bad boy!