Hi everyone, so I lease a older lesson horse who is seemingly out of shape at the moment. I have been riding for a year and a half consistently and I am working on my canter a lot with her. So my question is how long approximately should I be cantering with her if she is out of shape? I don’t want to work her hard or make her uncomfortable. She is also lazy and will frequently break the canter to a trot(this is improving). Overall she is a great horse to continue to learn on though 
How do you know she is out of shape? What are you seeing?
Typically trot builds endurance and canter aerobic capacity. If your horse is breathing heavily after cantering she is showing you her fitness level just like if you went to a fitness class and got out of breath. Obviously we need to push ourselves and slowly build aerobic capacity not run ourselves into the ground.
However there are other factors that affect a horses ability to canter. One is lameness or stiffness especially in the hocks and stifles. Another is whether the rider can keep the horse balanced or whether the horse falls on the forehand and into a trot. Another is overall energy level which depends on feed, workoad, rest time, and age.
When I do fitness with my horse I do walk/trot sets and then trot/canter sets. The idea is to work at a speed and time period that the horse can recover breath and heart rate (more important metric but harder to see) in one minute. Similar to interval training for people.
You should be guided by what the owner or your coach tell you about this horse. They know her situation better than we can. I feel like with an older horse I would not do canter work for more than ten or maybe 15 minutes out of an hour ride. And that would not be continuous canter round and round either.
A few years ago I had the opportunity to ride an aged dressage horse that my coach wanted fitted up. I fell into a 45 minute routine the mare liked. We warmed up at a walk doing all our lateral movements then at a trot doing everything again. Then we cantered for about 5 to 10 minutes maximum doing circles and half pass and once in a while a pirouette. She was a very high energy horse, but I found if I let her canter as much as she wanted one day, she was too tired to do as much the next. I paid a lot of attention to her balance and kept an eye on her topline.
Obviously you won’t be doing all this lateral work, but you can do a lot of transitions and if she won’t hold the canter, then do more transitions. Typically horses fall out of the canter because of balance issues so transition down to trot before she falls out, rebalance yourself and then ask agsin.
If you aren’t, you should be getting some lessons on this horse to learn her quirks.
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How old is she? You may have been riding for over a year but can you recognize when a horse is actually tired or laboring, as opposed to just being " lazy" ??
You don’t say if she is still being used for lessons? If so how many? If you ride her after she has already been ridden in lessons then you need to go a bit easier on her if she has already been worked ( trot & canter).
I would work on all 3 gaits and break up the tot and canter with plenty of walking. Watch her breathing and just let her build strength and endurance over time.
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Dumb question - how long have you been leasing this horse? It isn’t really clear from your post.
If you’ve been riding this horse for a year and a half, I doubt she’s out of shape.
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Thanks for the response, well I most definitely do not have the most seasoned eye I notice she gets out of breath quickly and takes a bit to recover before going again.
She is 20 I think so definitely on the older side. I am definitely no expert it’s just what I’ve noticed! She gets out of breath quickly and takes a bit to recover. Recently it had only been me riding her.
Just over a month I’ve been leasing her, but I’ve been lessoning on her for a while before that.
Twenty you “think”? If she’s out of breath and needs time to recover, GIVE IT TO HER!
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The above statement makes me guess she is owned by your trainer/lesson barn?
It is best that you talk to the horse owner/trainer about these things since they know you and the horse. They can better guide you on how to best move forward, making it productive for you and the horse you are riding.
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My trainer said 20. I always give her rest when out of breath, please don’t assume I don’t! I’m sorry if it came off the wrong way! I always am on the side of caution with her and give her plenty of time to rest. Her well being is above anything else.
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It sounds like you are paying attention to her needs which is the most important thing! I agree with talking to the trainer. How long/ what kind of riding were you doing in lessons before leasing? That might be a good guide for a reasonable workout. Often the biggest problem comes when somebody doesnt ride for days and then decides to do extra when they finally ride. Consistent work would likely be good for her. Have fun!
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