loubylou
17th September 2009, 02:07 PM
Uva is a 15.1 ex polo pony, that at the moment is really quite fit. She is ridden for approx an hour a day, 4-5 days a week, and lunged or freeschooled 1-2 days (she generally only has a day off a week).
Coming into the winter her workload is probably going to change as I dont have constant access to a school, however the plan is that I will have transport come the bad weather, and will box her to a school 2-3 times a week to be ridden for an hour and hack her 1-2 times a week. She will have a 45 min lesson every other week, and I hope to be out competing most weeks.
This is the first winter together, and I am not sure how she coped with work last winter (I am going to ask her current owners advice- she is on full loan atm) but have a feeling her workload wasnt that high last winter.
She will be out 12 hours a day, and bedded down in a loose box the remaining 12 hours. I have a million and one rugs of various weights so I can keep her tucked up warm, but obviously I dont want to clip uneccesarily
In some ways I would quite like to see how she goes, and clip if necessary, but I want to start showing come the spring, so will need to clip sooner rather than later so as not to risk problems with summer coat. She is already getting very hot when ridden, although not actually breaking a sweat, but she hasnt really got much of her winter coat through yet.
from experience I feel I should clip her, and am considering a trace like this image (found on another website)
http://www.newrider.com/Library/Horse_Care/images/clip/Trace-clip.jpg
'This clip allows horses and ponies to be exercised without getting too hot. It also permits them to continue being turned-out in the winter with a New Zealand rug. This clip is a useful compromise for a horse kept at grass, which cannot have a hunter clip'
Is this going to be too much?
Coming into the winter her workload is probably going to change as I dont have constant access to a school, however the plan is that I will have transport come the bad weather, and will box her to a school 2-3 times a week to be ridden for an hour and hack her 1-2 times a week. She will have a 45 min lesson every other week, and I hope to be out competing most weeks.
This is the first winter together, and I am not sure how she coped with work last winter (I am going to ask her current owners advice- she is on full loan atm) but have a feeling her workload wasnt that high last winter.
She will be out 12 hours a day, and bedded down in a loose box the remaining 12 hours. I have a million and one rugs of various weights so I can keep her tucked up warm, but obviously I dont want to clip uneccesarily
In some ways I would quite like to see how she goes, and clip if necessary, but I want to start showing come the spring, so will need to clip sooner rather than later so as not to risk problems with summer coat. She is already getting very hot when ridden, although not actually breaking a sweat, but she hasnt really got much of her winter coat through yet.
from experience I feel I should clip her, and am considering a trace like this image (found on another website)
http://www.newrider.com/Library/Horse_Care/images/clip/Trace-clip.jpg
'This clip allows horses and ponies to be exercised without getting too hot. It also permits them to continue being turned-out in the winter with a New Zealand rug. This clip is a useful compromise for a horse kept at grass, which cannot have a hunter clip'
Is this going to be too much?