some questions about leading one horse from another

[eeek]

Took Vinny and Olive (his Sec D girlfriend) out the other night for some leading training. I am looking for a few 'labour-saving devices' to help keep the horses fit. I know nothing beats hard work though, and you can't really cut corners!

Anyway my main question is: does being led from another horse actually do anything much for fitness? Going at slow speeds without a rider surely is not going to tax them an awful lot... Is it any better than lunging or horse walker?

Fortunately we have some EXTREMELY steep hills, and merely walking up those would surely be doing something for the horse.

Has anybody got any training tips, or safety tips?

How fast are you meant to go? I managed a short canter.

Does it create any bad habits for the horses?

We are lucky in that the common we ride is exceptionally safe, and if anything goes wrong we could let one horse loose and it wouldn't come to any harm, and would just stand by the gate until somebody came to catch it.

The horses were pretty good. I rode Olive as she is quite a madam and true to form she tested me every step of the way and was quite rude to Vinny, but I think we have reached an agreement now as she behaved relatively well . Vinny was an angel as usual, and within 10 minutes understood it was easiest for everybody if his head was by my knee.

At the end I swapped horses and Olive refused to move faster than a slow amble . So that needs more work.

I even managed to open and close the gate without getting off Olive, in both directions!

The interesting bit will be leading a youngster off either of them. At least both Vinny and Olive know the ropes really well, and have long given up messing me around at the gate.

Tips or thoughts anybody?

[CityLights]

its definatley better than a horse walker, i dont get horsewalkers other than if you horse is in all the time,

alot of hunt and race yards do it so it must work well

[eeek]

Good to hear S&W. I really don't rate horsewalkers at all! The horse naturally ambles around at slow speeds in the wild, so a walk or slow jog surely is not taxing.

[nic]

I would think that ride and lead is better for the horse joints than being lunged/horse walker on a circle.

Personally I would put boots all round and over reach boots on both ( as sometimes feet just get muddled up Better to be safe than sorry!)
The led horse should have a bridle on with a lead rope passed through the bit rings and clipped to the left hand side ( so the are away from the traffic so on your left)

I would also be inclined for the led horse( and ridden too really) to wear something reflective like a tail guard ( do you wear a Tabbard?)

Oh and wear gloves, if led horse does pull away you dont want rope burn

Re Youngsters ride and lead.....to be fair I wouldnt ride and lead anything younger than 2 years...Ideally you want to be able to put a bit in their mouth really, much more control than just a head collar. Oh and practice in a field first whilst leading youngster and see how they cope.

For saftey id stick to trot as the fastest gait....cantering close together may spark a bit of competition and you dont really wnat that!!

[eeek]

Thanks Nic. Fortunately I don't need to do ANY roadwork so don't need to bother with reflective stuff too much.

The youngster isn't THAT young, he will be 5 next year, and he's already been bitted. The only problem is he is big and strong...

[My Crazy Clan]

I wouldn't do it....I have tried it but one always seems to fall behind, plus I have mainly roads here, not sure if that would be covered on your insurance? I couldn't canter and lead either, its a bit dangerous?

[XenaWarriorPrincess]

Haha! I used to ride and lead mine, except xanth was too lazy and used to go soo slow! We didnt ever get out of walk!! She nearly pulled me off backwards once when she planted and refused to move!!

When i went to the polo we got there early and watched them exercising some of the horses...they were riding and leading round the 'gallop' one i saw was riding one and leading 6 :shock: i didnt see them go any faster than trot but with 6 thats hardly surprising!!

I think its better for them than lunging or going on a walker and is probably useful in the initial fitness building work.

xx

[sazzy925]

I think it does do them a lot of good for them to be lead rather than on the walker, a horse walker with a lot of use builds muscle badly - not to mention how fed up horses get in it, it's not fun. They way prefer hacking, and it definitely does help fitness.
The only safety things really are not to lead with the rope around your hand at all, and make sure the horses get on well - because I've been on a few ride and leads where it's made my life hell because the horses hate each other lol.
I've seen people do a gallop ride and lead, I've lead at canter with a fairly capable girl on top and that was all good - the pony was very sensible though and followed well.
I've never really noticed it create any bad habits, in fact it seems good at correcting them if you've got a horse that tends to try to eat a lot if they have a young rider, because you have control.