Schedule and plan for bringing horses back to work?

[Cat_Tap]

What kind of routine do you have for starting horses back to work. Horses have not been laid up due to soundness, but lack of interest of rider. I have lunged them with a halter twice at walk, trot and a very short canter, duration of 15 minutes with lots of walk breaks. I plan to work them 4 to 5 times a week. Next lunging session will be with tack.

How long do you wait before getting back on to ride? They are both older 13 and 18 and well broke. Neither have ever been girthy or a problem but I want to avoid any discomfort to give them reason to act up.

[Jealoushe]

I would start right now with lots and lots of walking! Do you have hacking? A nice 20-40 minute trail ride at the walk a few times a week is the perfect way to get them going.

If no access to hacking, then I usually do 20-30 minute sessions of walk trot for a week or two before introducing any harder work. Lots of stretching and breaks. Take into account if the horses have been turned out a lot, they maintain some fitness that way.

[retiredhorse]

I don’t wait. Just hop and w/t, maybe a little canter depending on the horse and if they’ve been out and getting some exercise on their own vs stalled. In the beginning, I’d do short (15-20 min), easy sessions, twice a day if possible, or longer walk/trot session (maybe 30 min) if they can only get ridden once. More trot than canter as things get going. I prefer not to lunge, unless I think horse is going to get me off.

[Cat_Tap]

I was just wondering whether they need adjustment time to girth and saddle.

[retiredhorse]

I don’t think so, unless they’re not actually well-broke or there are some training holes. If you’re worried how they will react or if they’ve forgotten how to be ridden? I’d lunge with a saddle on for like 5 minutes, to see if they’re going to react to it – they probably won’t, if they are well broke – and then hop on that same day. If you’re worried about their back muscles, stick to working at the walk for a bit.

[Training_Cupid]

For an older, trained horse I’d start riding, first walk only, gradually adding time then some trotting. Lunging is hard on them, I wouldn’t do too much lunging with an out of shape older horse. Make sure the saddle fits properly (as the horse is now) and it shouldn’t be a problem.

[cutter99]

If they are broke, I would just get on and start riding. I have a 20 year old, who is coming back after being off for the last 18 months. I was pretty sure we were going to be putting him down last year due to canker, but we found a cure and he is back at work. I have not lunged, just tacked him up and went into long walks hacking, then some bending and stretching.

[CHT]

What condition are they in? The older one might benefit from some work to strengthen his back if that might be an issue (some start to get swayed at that age), or if fat, might benefit from losing weight before adding the weight of the rider.

When I start horses back after a lay up, I try to let them tell me how they are doing by not getting them particularly out of breath, so I do lots of walk breaks between trotting. I also don’t do any smaller circles/tight turns until they are a little more riding fit.

I am not a huge fan of lunging, so avoid it unless needed.

[Cat_Tap]

The older one is an OTTB, in good weight coming off winter, not too fat. He keeps himself fit in the field. Always canters out left lead then circles right with a clean flying change. Even after only being in his stall for four hours (it was quite warm and buggy today) he pranced through the stall and galloped off when I turned him out this evening. I always turn him out first. He has always had a good work ethic, a bit of a loaded cannon when we showed, but always remained in control. I think he is quite fit.

The other horse, a Dutch Warmblood with quite a bit of TB in his pedigree is fat, but he always is even when wearing a muzzle. He is basically very laid back, thinks he can go through life by just being cute. It will take some time to get him fit but back when we worked with a coach his breathing was always good and he never seemed to work up a sweat. He does have a good buck in him, broke my collar bone. Wasn’t really his fault, turned out he had a sore neck which I didn’t acknowledge.

I will do what most of you suggested. I will lunge with tack just a few minutes and then get on, probably just walking, leg yield, turn on the forehand etc. Their response to turn on the forehand always tells me what kind of horse I have that day.

[retiredhorse]

Keep in mind that if they have not been ridden or are out of shape, they may not turn on forehand or leg yield that well. So you may end up with a “false” response?

For mine that have been off for a while, I usually stick to going forward and doing trot & walk: like walk 2 min, trot 2min, change direction at walk, trot another 2 min. A few times per ride. Gradually increase trot. Add in canter at some point, after a few weeks, though I like more trot work than canter to build fitness. When horse seeks connection, then I start doing more than just straight lines. Even for the ones that are not rehabbing off an injury – although if they’re fresh, some large circles & serpentines can help their focus.

[Red_Barn]

I think a lot of this depends on the breed, age and constitution of the horse.

A sturdy QH, for example, might hold a lot of muscle over a lay off, but lose aerobic fitness fast. A racy TB might keep aerobic fitness perfectly well, but lose muscle mass in a matter of weeks. An older horse might be stiff, a young or poorly trained horse might have behavioral issues, and so on.

I’d recommend a week of diagnostics, on the longe and/or under saddle, before committing to a plan.