My gelding is currently having a lengthy time off (6 months). I intend to slowly bring him back into work this spring. Reading various tips on getting horses fit, I've come across advice that seems to be contradictory, and I wonder what you all make of it.On the one hand, there's the advice to start slow and gradually increase work (e.g. hack for X minutes per day in walk, then gradually increase the duration). I can see how this day-to-day consistency and gradual increase would be helpful.On the other hand, there is the advice that horses should be trained alternating "work days" with "rest days" because muscle is actually built when the horse is resting, and a horse needs more than 24 hours between training sessions to allow for this. So, which way is more effective? The first approach would get twice as many sessions in as the first one, so would you expect the horse to get fit faster? Or are you going to overtrain/sour your horse that way? I suspect the "right" answer probably depends in part on the level of work the horse is doing, as with option 2, "work days" could be schooling days, while "rest days" are quieter hacking days, i.e. a "rest day" does not necessarily mean no work at all, just less work than on a "work day".So, given that I'll be starting from pretty much zero (other than 24/7 turnout), do you think consistency is more important than alternating days, or vice versa? In the ten years I've had my gelding, he's never been out of work for more than two weeks, so this is new territory for me.
01-24-2018, 04:20 AM
Return to work - consistency vs. rest days, what's your strategy
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