Legging up -- considerations

Go away snow + mud!

With the worst of winter behind us in the Northeast, it's time to start legging our horses back up. Unless you're lucky enough to have an indoor, keeping a horse fit and going up here has been nearly impossible (even trailering to an indoor has been tough!). In previous years, I remember distinctly seeing groups of riders walking and trotting along the roads near our farm all season long. This winter, the roads were much quieter, either people migrated to Aiken for a few months, or conditions on the roads were just too treacherous (see: ice).  So, with the ice melted and very little snow on the ground, we've finally been able to get our guys going again. *ps. while I could have technically gotten Riley going a little sooner, starting and stopping with him isn't good for anyone!

After a full weekend of what I consider a good start to getting him legged up, I found myself thinking about the process and what I consider when bringing a horse into work after several months off.




First, I'll tell you what we did this weekend:

Saturday
Walk -- roads -- 1.3 miles (20 minutes)
Trot -- stone dust path -- 1.6 miles (10-12 minutes)
(Above w/t was part of hack to and from the indoor)
Indoor with Tapeta footing -- w/t/c connected and stretchy trot work ~15 minutes

Sunday
Walk -- roads -- 2.2 miles (40 minutes)
Trot -- stone dust path -- 2.6 miles (15-18 minutes)

With temps in the high 40's this was as much work as I felt comfortable doing. It's a bit too cold for a bath and I didn't want Riley getting too sweaty and not be able to cool him down properly. That said, both of these rides were 1-2 hours long and plenty to get us both puffing a little. He felt happy, forward and swinging through his back and overall very pleasant to be back in work.

Things to consider... Riley is turned out nearly 24/7 and has been for the last 2 years. He thrives being outdoors and is only brought in for temperature extremes. He's happiest outside with his buddies, roaming around, playing and eating all the grass and hay he wants. He came out of this winter fat and happy. He generally has a good attitude about working, so even though he came out of winter retirement, I didn't need to do any ground work or lunging to get his head in the game. All of that said, I take things very slowly with him. My goal is to get him up to 4 days of regular work and to get there, he and I both need some fitness. So, the last few weekends, we've gone for all hacks (with maybe 5 minutes of trotting), this weekend, we upped the ante a little, asking him not only for a little walk, trot, canter in an arena, but also more structured trot sets (i.e., trot one mile, walk a half a mile, repeat). Ultimately, I don't want to sour him physically or mentally, so these rides are ideal as far as time and energy required. Each week, we'll add either time or distance on to our rides, but keeping it all to walk/trot while he gets his muscles back! Also, I'm trying to walk a fine line of getting him (and I) fit before the spring grass comes up... too fit + spring grass could be a bit of a nightmare... but getting his brain and body back in gear before that would be an incredible start to our spring!

Meanwhile, there's tons we can do on these long, boring walks and trots. Today we worked on connection (he's back in a full cheek mullen and loving it), bending left and right (like a baby shoulder-in) and lateral movement at both the walk and the trot. Amazingly, he was very responsive to my leg and we zig-zagged all along the stone dust roads!

Saturday highlights!

Emily making Riley look very fancy! Love his expression

Good boy! He definitely had a little hump in his back and was thinking about being naughty:)

Though, as sassy as he was, he picked up both leads perfectly.

Love how he's stepping under at the canter

Just skipping along at the trot.

Don't worry, I got on too! We did some lovely stretchy trot work! ps. I'm so glad I pulled and braided his mane!

Sunday highlights!

Ready to go... don't look too closely at his ragamuffin coat!

Miles and miles of stone dust paths like this to trot on!

Chester County epic-ness. 

Could he be any cuter!?! 

Tomorrow, I'll be out early to feed/turnout but it's going to be quite cold again. I'm tempted to put him on the equiciser for 15 minutes to stretch his muscles, but I think it's worth just letting him to his own devices out in the paddock and we'll regroup later in the week!

*btw, I thought it's worth noting, that I've had him for two years (almost) and I've been REALLY patient about his feet (as you guys know). He's spent at least 9 out of 24 months without shoes to allow his feet and soles time to grow and get strong... and guess what? He got shod last week and his feet grew a WHOLE SIZE!!!! He feels better than ever and even his farrier could hardly believe the changes! Hooray!

I'd love to hear feedback for those of you coming out of a brutal winter -- how do you go about legging your horses back up and what sorts of things do you consider when doing so?