Tips for Exercising Your Horse
Just as with humans, it is essential for your horse to get plenty of regular exercise. Not only will this help your horse to maintain a healthy body weight, but it will also help your horse to maintain and build muscle while also improving circulation. Even just finding ways to exercise your horse for 20 minutes twice per week will go a long way toward increasing its stamina and holding its muscle tone. Here is a look at a few ways that you can exercise your horse:
- Turnout: Simply turning your horse out to pasture for at least half of the day will help it to get the exercise that it needs, as it can run around and play with other horses if you have more than one.
- Riding: Riding your horse is the most fun way to ensure it gets the exercise that it needs. When you ride, you have the ability to control and maintain the horse’s speed, which will further help to build its stamina and muscle.
- Lunging: Lunging involves working your horse in a circle either on a lunge line or with a rope in a round pen. Lunging is a great alternative if you are not able to ride. It can also be a great way to burn some of its energy before you go on your ride.
Other options include hand-walking, just as you would take a dog out for a walk, and ponying, which is a process where you ride one horse and lead the other. This is a great option for exercising two horses at one time!