What are some fitness activities for my horse?

Question

what are some fitness activities i can do with my horse while I'm riding , to build both his and my muscles?

Answer 1

any kind of exersize ur horse gets builds muscle. but if you BOth want to gain muscle, ride bareback. wow. it works :]]

Answer 2

Well.. YOu can

-trot with out stirrups

-make circles

-get your horse on the bit bulids good top line!

- jump

um... lol sorry that wasnt as much help as u proably lliked. but a little is better than nothing!

Answer 3

Ground poles or raised cavalettis set up in different configurations are one excellent method to improve conditioning and rhythm. One pattern I particularly like is the clover leaf. I'll look it up and come back with a link. The clover leaf one is #11 near the bottom of the page. It's called double triangle and I do it in the saddle at a walk and a trot. My horse thinks it's fun: http://www.ttouch.co.za/files/horses/hor...

Working bending to the inside and then to the outside as you ride on the rail at an active, forward walk. Keep his haunches on track with his front. This works his flexibility and bend on both sides and by keeping him forward and tracking on a straight line, if done correctly, will strengthen his hind quarters and his back.

Move him laterally off your leg (make sure his shoulder and haunches are in a straight line with each other so neither his front nor back is collapsing), halt, turn on haunches 180 degrees then move him laterally in the other direction, halt, turn on haunches 180 degrees and repeat. This is great for bend, flexibility, and strengthening the hind quarters.

Back a nice square then whoa (wait about 6-10 seconds) and back a nice circle; finish with a complete turn on the haunches to make a smaller circle.

Side pass a square - this is really hard work when done correctly. Do no more than twice during a 45 minute workout. Keep him in line as he moves parallel and make the square with nice sharp corners - requires a good 1/4 turn at each corner of the square.

Divide the long side of the area into 1/4's. Active walk to 1st 1/4 mark, transition to trot until 2nd 1/4 mark then transition back to walk until last 1/4 and transition back to trot. Make sure he comes up into his transition from trot to walk and doesn't collapse down into it. Excellent for getting hind quarters engaged and promoting roundness, which strengthens back. On short side ask for extended/medium trot, if possible. Go back to walk on long side and repeat the 1/4 mark transitions. You can also vary this by doing walk, halt, walk, halt using the same 1/4 marks.

All of these exercises will help you build your leg muscles as they are all about leg aids and seat, as well as to build his muscles and improve a bunch of other things like flexibility, bend, suppleness...

Don't overdo any of these as they are all hard work for the horse when done correctly - mix them up and keep your horse guessing.

If you have questions or I didn't quite make sense, just ask.

Answer 4

try jumping then go higher each time but not to high then try to make your horse trot then have a pole in the center of where you trot then try to catch it with a rope do it over and over again!  

Answer 5

to build your own muscles try riding bareback, canter, trot, walk, and if your an experienced rider you can jump bareback

to build your horses muscles, try jumping gymnastic lines here's a simple line:

   l              l           1      2            l

   l              l           1      2            l

   l              l           1      2            l



that means jump, bounce(that not even a stride), jump, 2 strides, and jump.

l = jump

1= first stride

2=second stride

Answer 6

Hmm well trotting builds up tons of muscle on both sides. Also if you have hills, i suggest you trot and canter up and down the hills. That builds lots of muscle. The first answer has good ideas too!