How to bring your horse back into work after a long interval ?

This calls for a training programme to help you get your horse get back into shape. Naturally this training plan depends on the horse and your level of dedication, so it is important that you begin slowly and gradually. 

Keep in mind that your horse has lost muscle tone and condition after such a long break. It is therefore especially important to adhere to the lessons and work on certain parameters. 

We recommend that you begin with a close examination of your horse's condition.

Check your horse's physical and mental condition

Before resuming training, you must make sure that your horse is in good health. 

Take time to analyse the horse's physical development after any period of inactivity. First check the condition of his feet (shoes, anything that needs trimming, frogs), then his general condition. Check to see if your horse has visibly lost muscle tone and also check to see if he has gained or perhaps lost weight). This will be an important factor in your training plan. Don't forget to check the limbs for swelling, injuries or muscle tension. 

You should take these findings to a specialist, be it a veterinarian, osteopath, farrier or feed consultant. 

If your horse's body has changed during this inactive period, you may have to make some adjustments. After longer intervals, contact our sales partner to determine whether your saddle still fits your horse. After shorter intervals you might only need to use a saddle pad for compensation. 

Also, don't neglect your horse's morale. It's important to spend time with him and give him attention, on the ground and in the saddle, with walks, hacks or simply trotting.His morale is an important element of his well-being and vital for a successful new start. 

Creating a training programme to slowly bring your horse back into work

As you surely have guessed by now, the magic word here is "slowly". Your horse will revert to his old form if you create a well-thought-out and appropriate training program. You must respond to his physical and mental state by listening to what he tells you, because you horse is the one who will ultimately tell you what he can and cannot do. 

We recommend a lot of groundwork for the first weeks at least, and to let your horse move about freely so that you can see whether he is physically in good working order. The recovery phase will run more smoothly without the weight of a rider on his back. You can then start to lunge your horse. You can also simply lunge him before mounting as a way to warm him up, work on the basics and establish gentle contact.

As soon as your horse can be ridden, divide the training sessions so that you switch between exertion and recovery phases. This is the ideal way to optimise your horse's cardiovascular health. The exertion phases can be increased over the following weeks. It's important that your horse is relaxed. If you sense that he is tensing up, change the exercise. 

You can monitor your horse's heart rate directly with the iPULSE to adapt the lesson or to ensure that he's in the recovery phase. After training you can review all your sessions in the app and monitor your horse's progress through indicators like "Training Intensity" or "Regeneration". This device helps you to improve your horse's physical fitness safely. It is very important that you keep your training sessions from being too intense in order to minimise the risk of tendinitis or equine exertional rhabdomyolysis. 

Do not forget about stretching.

Finally, there is one last important point that shouldn't be overlooked. Like any other athletes, horses must stretch, and this is even more important after a period of inactivity. 

You can do stretching exercises with your horse before or after a training session. After the exercises it is also important to give him some special attention.

So...