Hey Y'all!

My name is Loagan Furry and I own and operate Loagan Ranch Horsemanship, Northern Nevada's home for Equine Performance located in Minden, Nevada. Our horsemanship goal is to set you and your horse up for success and to develop a working relationship with your equine partner. We come from a natural horsemanship basis - the foundation of our equine performance program.

This months training tip is on Spring Fitness, the how and why of following a conditioning program for your equine athlete. Now that spring has approached us here in the Carson Valley it's time to start getting your horse in working condition, whether you rodeo, ride ranch horses, or just enjoy hitting the trail on the weekend every horse will benefit from a conditioning program, adjust your fitness program to you and your horse's individual needs and goals and always consult your vet before starting a fitness program and keep a close eye on your horse's progress and health.

Spring is here and the days are getting warmer, and as the excitement of  planning your competition schedule or trail rides with friends settles in there's also the dread of bringing your horse into shape in time for your spring and summer activitys without overdoing it, so come along with me as I walk you through a basic fitness program that will have you and your horse well on your way by the end of 30 days. The first thing to do if you haven't already is to have your horse vaccinated with his spring shots, have a vet check teeth for dental work and if your horse has had his shoes pulled for winter get him back on your Farrier's schedule. Hopefully you have kept your horse up on hoof care, vaccines and dental work and your horse will only need maintenance instead of major correctional work done.

The next step will be to start working him on the ground, for the first week of work go ahead and lunge him or round pen him for 10-15 minutes a day at the walk and trot, always boot your horses up with the proper leg gear to prevent any injury or to keep an old one at bay. Work on groundwork exercises and basic ground manners to gain your horse's respect. If you have access to a hot walker you can use that as well, but nothing beats hands-on work. I like to work my horses 5 days a week with two days off to let them rest and rebuild their muscles, it doesn't matter which days you work them or give them off as long as you work at least three of those days in a row to be consistent from a training standpoint as your horse will retain it better.

For week two you can start bumping up his work load, saddle him up and round pen or lunge him at the walk and trot for the 10-15 min. as you did in week one, then ride him at the walk and trot for 10 min. By week three you should be able to introduce the lope as he should be legged up and adjusting well, I don't lope for more than 5 min. per ride during week three when conditioning and I break it down throughout the ride instead of loping him the full 5 min. at once. Continuing on with the 5 days a week schedule.

By now you should be working your horse 25-30 min. per ride so for week four take him out on the trail and introduce some hill work (if you have access to trails) to start building his hindquarters up and challenge his muscles a little bit, always start hill work at the walk for the first few trail rides and then slowly introduce hills at the trot.

Now you've worked him consistently for a month and he should be going well to where you can start conditioning him for your desired discipline and bringing him back into the game.

 Throughout your horse's conditioning program be sure to keep a close eye on his health and back off the work if needed, if you find your horse is moving along well or you've kept him fairly fit throughout winter adjust the program as necessary to keep your horse's fitness moving forward, if you sense a problem with your horse's health have your vet out to check up on him and help prevent problems. As your horse's work load increases talk with your vet about a proper diet for your horse as you may need to bump up his feed and/or add supplements to keep him at his ideal weight.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this months training tip brought to you by Loagan Ranch Horsemanship! God bless you and the dreams you chase after...