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 Expert
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| For those of you whos barrel horse had some or most of the winter off...how many days are you riding to get them back in running shape? What other excersises are you doing?
Mine goes on the walker (slow pace) for 1 and 1/2 hours some days, other days we long trot/lope 30-45 min. I try to get him out at least 3-4 days a week. I would love it if I could work him 5-6 days a week. Sometimes my schedule does not allow for that.
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| They go on a diet, less hay and slightly less grain. Then they get rode. Long trotting a lot. Depends on how much time I have, how much they get rode. I've never been one to ride 6-7 days a week, usually it's 3-4, 5 if they are lucky. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 595
Location: North Dakota | A lot is dependent in my mind on how much roaming around they are doing on their own all winter. Horses that are in a tiny pen just eating is different than ones out on a pasture that keep moving on their own.
Long trotting is the best way to get the gut off and get them toned. That is what I've always been told. |
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 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | My 1 mare has been off since aug from injury...so i started her back up jan 4...i have been on her every day..except for a couple cold days...and her first run back is planned for april. .lots of long trotting and seeing as how we still have lots of snow its a good work out...and i increase it til we are at the distance i feel appropriate. ...then i add hills and sprinting......and my feed gets upped way up when i start conditioning. ....m
Edited by mruggles 2017-03-03 11:02 AM
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 Warrior Mom
Posts: 4400
| Same thing I'm doing to get rid of mine! Less food, more exercising/conditioning! |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Ditto to the diets.
Ours have a large lot and move around a fair amount.
We didn't stop running last year until early Dec but regular riding slowed down a couple weeks before that.
I started long trotting them back in mid/late Jan in our hay field working up to 3-4 miles of mostly trotting.
They been occasionally hauled to the sale barn to push cattle and we've been roping calves on one now once a week.
We went and ran 2 weeks ago and we're going again this weekend.
I'm ready for daylight savings time so I can ride after work more!!! My 2 barrel horses have been the focus, my heel horse and 3rd barrel prospect/nieces horse/head horse have been more back burnered. |
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 Serious Snap Trapper
Posts: 4275
Location: In The Snow, AZ | My horses didn't really get time off. I still rode all winter. Just not as often, so they're a little soft. But not bad. We're doing a lot of long trotting. Hopefully going to start up on the trails here pretty soon to get hill work in. Mine are only getting worked about 4 days a week right now but hoping to pick it up more once our winter winds end.
As far as those saying they're cutting back on feed, how much are you feeding? I understand the thought process behind a diet, but if they're working harder, don't they need extra calories? |
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 Expert
Posts: 2097
Location: Deep South | ~BINGO~ - 2017-03-03 10:32 AM My horses didn't really get time off. I still rode all winter. Just not as often, so they're a little soft. But not bad. We're doing a lot of long trotting. Hopefully going to start up on the trails here pretty soon to get hill work in. Mine are only getting worked about 4 days a week right now but hoping to pick it up more once our winter winds end. As far as those saying they're cutting back on feed, how much are you feeding? I understand the thought process behind a diet, but if they're working harder, don't they need extra calories?
Yep...
I don't understand this mentality. Why wouldn't you be feeding them less while they were dormant? Why would you cut them back as soon as you started riding them harder? Just doesn't make sense to me. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 672
| BamaCanChaser - 2017-03-03 10:46 AM
~BINGO~ - 2017-03-03 10:32 AM My horses didn't really get time off. I still rode all winter. Just not as often, so they're a little soft. But not bad. We're doing a lot of long trotting. Hopefully going to start up on the trails here pretty soon to get hill work in. Mine are only getting worked about 4 days a week right now but hoping to pick it up more once our winter winds end. As far as those saying they're cutting back on feed, how much are you feeding? I understand the thought process behind a diet, but if they're working harder, don't they need extra calories?
Yep... I don't understand this mentality. Why wouldn't you be feeding them less while they were dormant? Why would you cut them back as soon as you started riding them harder? Just doesn't make sense to me.
Exactly! I feed for their workload, so if they're just standing around not getting worked, their feed reflects that. I increase the chow as their workload increases :) makes for happy horses and nobody is getting silly with extra feed and no place to burn it off :)
As far as working them I start slow and increase time/distance every week or based on what they're telling me. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 595
Location: North Dakota | BamaCanChaser - 2017-03-03 10:46 AM
~BINGO~ - 2017-03-03 10:32 AM My horses didn't really get time off. I still rode all winter. Just not as often, so they're a little soft. But not bad. We're doing a lot of long trotting. Hopefully going to start up on the trails here pretty soon to get hill work in. Mine are only getting worked about 4 days a week right now but hoping to pick it up more once our winter winds end. As far as those saying they're cutting back on feed, how much are you feeding? I understand the thought process behind a diet, but if they're working harder, don't they need extra calories?
Yep... I don't understand this mentality. Why wouldn't you be feeding them less while they were dormant? Why would you cut them back as soon as you started riding them harder? Just doesn't make sense to me.
I agree here as well. They can lose too much weight quickly being put back into work and cutting back food, then you will be playing catch up. I up feed when riding increases to build body condition. |
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Serious Snap Trapper
Posts: 4275
Location: In The Snow, AZ | I just know how I feel when I don't eat breakfast and go ride or working outside. I would imagine horses would fatigue as well if they aren't getting enough while working harder. |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | I'm not feeding nearly as much, but that's because the spring grass has come in. If I kept feeding the same as the middle of winter, they would be obese. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Some of y'all are doing this a bit backwards on the diet, during time off I have always fed less feed and when I was riding harder and going I fed more to help keep them in shape muscle wise and their energy up. When it gets really cold I will up their hay to help keep them warm.. |
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Serious Snap Trapper
Posts: 4275
Location: In The Snow, AZ | Southtxponygirl - 2017-03-03 9:08 AM
Some of y'all are doing this a bit backwards on the diet, during time off I have always fed less feed and when I was riding harder and going I fed more to help keep them in shape muscle wise and their energy up. When it gets really cold I will up their hay to help keep them warm..
This is what I do too. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 534
Location: Ohio girl moved to PA | i dont really understand the diet either, mine stay on the same amount of grain year round, but then again they only get 3lbs AM and PM, i obviously up the hay in the winter to help with warmth, so thats about the only thing that gets cut back some but not much since hay is so important. I was also taught trotting builds muscle, anything faster is shedding the pounds. So i always try to keep that in mind. Mine get trotted 3 miles a day and get breezed twice a week. Horses also dont get "out of shape" as quickly as humans do. So, just beacause youre out of shape from being off that long, doesnt mean your horse is just as bad. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2674
Location: Silver Lake, MN | Mine are on the same diet but I don't feed much grain to begin with. They have free choice hay and they just get more fit after riding them. They are not overly heavy and I think some tend to get that way because people restrict diets. There have been studies that if fed free choice they will level off and actually eat less, plus it is healthier for their guts. They do produce acid 24/7 so it keeps that buffered. |
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  Angel in a Sorrel Coat
Posts: 16030
Location: In a happy place | Cutting calories and people wonder why their horses colic. I myself would slowly start legging them up. Build up time and distance a little in the beginning till they are in better shape. I know so many on here are big on long trotting which there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. I just loped mine more than long trotted. I had 400 acres to ride on so I had lots of choices. But please don't cut their feed back. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 516
| sorrel horse ranch - 2017-03-07 6:08 PM
Cutting calories and people wonder why their horses colic. I myself would slowly start legging them up. Build up time and distance a little in the beginning till they are in better shape. I know so many on here are big on long trotting which there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. I just loped mine more than long trotted. I had 400 acres to ride on so I had lots of choices. But please don't cut their feed back.
I don't understand cutting the feed/hay back either. If anything, I increase their forage.
I agree with sorrel horse ranch, take it slow at first, watch them breathing and judge when they've had enough for one workout.
We live right off of a wash and I started out just trotting a mile or two up and then walking back, meandering up and down hills. It's been a month and they're now worked up to 4 miles. Some days we trot the whole way, some days we lope, some days we walk up and down the huge hills. I think doing all of these things makes for a much more in shape horse than just strictly long trotting. (Plus that gets boring at some point!) |
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