How to return to work under saddle with a horse after a break?
Sometimes it may happen that we are forced to give our horse a break from work under saddle for some time. There can be many reasons — an injury of the horse or our own, pregnancy in a mare, a longer rest after a hard season or other life situations. Regardless of the reason, if the break lasted a few weeks or longer, we should remember to introduce our mount back to work under saddle gradually. In this article you will learn what to remember before you get down to work for good and how to prepare the horse for increasing workloads so that it does not negatively affect its health.
Before you start work under saddle.
If your horse had a break of several months in work under saddle, you can be sure that its condition has changed very significantly. This also applies to horses that spend most of their time in the paddock. Of course, constant movement in such a form is very beneficial and will certainly facilitate a faster return to work, but the effort that riding under saddle and under the rider’s weight is for the horse is much greater than many hours of walking around the paddock (unless it is a large, grassy pasture, many horses can stand for most of the time spent outside).
It is important not to confuse the horse’s energy in the first days after the break with its actual condition. The fact that your horse seems willing to work, tries to speed up or even bucks only shows that it wants to get rid of the excess accumulated energy. This has nothing to do with the readiness of its body for increased effort.
Before you start training again (or in its initial phase), however, it is worth paying attention to certain things, thanks to which the whole process will proceed in a smooth and safe way.
A vet visit. Especially if your horse is returning to work under saddle after an injury or other trauma. It is the vet who, after checking the horse’s state of health, should give the final “green light” to return under saddle, and it is with them that you should consult the work plan for the coming months (type and length of training). If, however, our horse had a break for another reason, but it was long, then a check-up vet visit is also recommended. It is also a good idea to check the state of the teeth and possibly rasping or another procedure, especially if we are dealing with a young horse.
A farrier visit. Regardless of whether our horse was shod, or we decided to take off the shoes for the duration of the break, before work under saddle starts in full swing we should make sure that our horse’s hooves are in good condition.
Tack fit. Even if we are going to use exactly the same saddle as before the break, we should make sure that it still fits our horse and possibly make corrections. Many horses gain weight after a longer rest, and their muscle mass also changes. It is possible that a change of the gullet width or another correction will be necessary. Remember that even a slight saddle fit issue can be a cause of discomfort for the horse and negatively affect its movement and willingness to work.
Feeding. In the initial phase, when the rides are relatively short, a change of feeding is not necessary. However, as the effort increases, you have to think about increasing the amount of concentrate feed given, which is usually strongly limited if the horse does not do any work. In this situation, however, you have to take into account many things, such as our horse’s condition (did it gain weight or perhaps lose weight during the break?), how it uses the feed and how much effort the rides require of it.
How to return to work under saddle gradually
It is always worth making a plan for the first few months when we resume training. This does not mean, however, that we then have to stick to it rigidly. We must not forget about common sense and about carefully observing our horse and the way it reacts to increasing workloads. If we see excessive sweating, stumbling, heavy breathing or a lack of willingness to move forward, these are clear indications to slow down the pace. The respiratory system generally needs about two months to return to its previous capacity, and the musculoskeletal system even longer.
The basis is understanding that there is no shortcut here and that rebuilding our horse’s condition will be a long process requiring patience and regularity in action.
Lungeing. It is worth starting work with lungeing. Not only will this allow our horse to get rid of excess energy in a safe way and make it calmer and more focused during riding, but it will also help it get used to greater effort, still without the rider’s weight. Lungeing should not last longer than 10-15 minutes, with at least one change of direction in between. If our horse is returning under saddle after a joint or tendon injury, then there may be contraindications to lungeing (too much strain on the legs when working on a small circle) and we should consult this option with the vet.
The first rides under saddle.
If we are dealing with an older, experienced horse that before the break was in regular training for years, then taking the saddle and rider again should not be any problem. If, however, we are working with a young horse, it will be safer to get it used to this situation gradually. To this end we can put the saddle on it for the first few days for lungeing, or while it walks in the horse walker, if we have access to one. Then we can ask someone for help and to hold the horse while we lean over the back, ideally in the box or on the lunge ring. If the horse does not react nervously to the leaning, we can then safely mount.
The first weeks. At this stage we should work only in the lower gaits and increase the workloads very gradually. An example plan could look like this:
- The first two weeks – 20-30 minutes of walk for 5-6 days a week, ideally on long straight lines
- The next three-four weeks — gradually add trot, starting from five minutes with breaks (e.g. 2 × 2.5 min). After this time the horse should be able to trot for about 20 min already.
- After about a month we can start adding a calm canter, starting from 2 – 3 min.
Remember to ride for the first weeks on an appropriate, shallow surface, i.e. grass or sand in the arena. Movement in deep sand or mud is straining for the tendons and can lead to overload or even injury.
Take care not only of the physical but also the mental condition of your horse and that the training is not (as far as possible) very monotonous. Frequently do transitions or changes of direction, also go for walks in the open if you have such an opportunity and if you are sure that you have full control over your horse outside the arena.
Also pay more attention than usual to your horse’s behaviour and to any signs that could indicate pain or discomfort. It is very difficult to notice muscle pain or soreness at first glance, but it can manifest in stiffness of the gaits, an inability to relax the back, or a reluctance to move forward, often mistakenly taken for laziness.
