Too much?

[MyMiniGal]

The other day, when I was driving to see Halo, I was thinking, I would try and take her in the round pen, and do a bit of lunging...it would be my first time, by myself doing that, but I was just thinking of making her walk/trot, at the most. When I got to the ranch, as I was talking to the ranch hand, he had told me he had let Halo out, in the round pen around that morning, before I had gotten there. He didn't lunge her, but she does run around, and pretty fast too, when they have done that before with her. So to be safe, I didn't take her in there. I go about 2-3 days a week, and I am trying to make them set days, but that isn't happening all the time. But if I had taken her in there, would that of been too much, in one day, for her? She won't be two until the middle of June, and I don't want to do anything to mess up her joints. If it would be too much for her, I guess I could just try and give them some days, as not to do that with her, as I plan on doing it then. But if it would of been ok, then I won't worry about it.

 

[disneyhorse]

If she is just turned out and running and playing on her own, then it's not too much.

Horses were designed to get as much exercise as possible, but it has to be consistent and not "all of a sudden."

The problems come when people work a horse one day, and then the horse is stalled for several days. Ideally, she should be turned out daily?

You would be fine to just walk trot her anytime you are there, even if she ran around a lot earlier.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I agree with disneyhorse. Her free play should not interfere at all with focused work and she should set some time to let off steam on her own like that every day regardless of what you do with her. It will help her pay attention if she has already had a chance to play when you start asking her to listen.

 

[CabbagePatch]

Yes, I know that most all animals pay attention much better when learning when given a chance for good excercise first, children are the same like recess before reading.

 

[AnnaC]

I think your problem is that she was let out into the round pen for her 'freedom' exercise, so she was already running in circles. I don't like doing too much circling with youngsters (depends upon the size of the round pen?) so I would not have done more with her today. You could have taken her for a walk instead and worked on walk, trot and halts in hand and in straight lines, plus a short graze perhaps as a reward.

 

[Minimor]

For me, yes, it would be something of a concern if I knew that she had been running and playing hard in the round pen earlier in the day. Regardless of whether it is play or work she is still moving in that relatively small circular area. For sure mentally the one would not conflict with the other, one is play one is work-- so no problem in that regard. And yes, a horse will definitely listen better and be more receptive to cooperating with you if the excess energy gets run off prior to the training session. If I knew that the horse had been ripping around in the round pen earlier I would probably be inclined to do something differentpractice walk/trot in hand, practice setting up for halter showing, go for a walk to see new places and new things.I just am not big on round penning, especially not with horses 2 and younger. I prefer a bigger area for turn out & exercise, and even prefer a bigger corral a lot of times when I want to free longe oneI teach extensions down the long sides and different things like that.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I was just thinking of making her walk/trot, at the most.

This is the key phrase IMO. If you were planning to really work her, pushing her to extend at the trot and canter, do hard reverses etc. then I might be concerned too but a 2 year old should not be unduly stressed physically from practising her walk/whoa/trot lightly in a round pen or not even after vigorous running in the round pen. JMO of course and there will be others who disagree.

 

[MyMiniGal]

Ok, thank you everyone. She is turned out daily, and usually in a huge, rectangle paddock, with another horse...she is a pretty mellow horse, really. She literally runs, in the pen, if she is put in there, for turn out, but in the bigger paddock area, she usually just eats and socializes with the other horse. When this Spring grass settles down, she will be turned out in a pasture area. It is just way too wet to do that, right now. Things may end up a bit different right now, as the ranch owner had surgery, and her helper/hand is taking care of things, and I didn't notice things weren't like they usually are. Nothing bad, just "different". I just didn't want to do more with her, if it meant hurting her joints, since she is young yet.

 

[Miniv]

I would combine Disney's and AnnaC's advice...... Let her loose in the round pen for about 10 minutes just to move around freely, even if she's been put there earlier that day. Then, take her for a walk and teach her about walking, trotting, standing with you on a lead....for another 10+ minutes. End the visit with either a nibble of green grass or a treat. She'll LOVE the time out AND the learning.

 

[MyMiniGal]

I give her a small treat, everytime I am leaving and saying my good-bye's. I've done that from the first day I got her. Yeah, I guess I should of at least walked her around.

 

[Marty]

I wouldn't have horses that age running around on any tight radius.

 

[MyMiniGal]

The pen is a big one...for big horses. I honestly don't know what size, but it seems to be the normal size around here, that I have seen. I wasn't going to lunge her with a rope, I was going to free lunge her for just a few minutes. But wasn't sure how much running, in a circle she had already done on her own. There are times when she is let loose in the pen and she really runs, then other times, she just walks around, seeing if she can get any grass outside of the pen. I guess the other day, they let her loose in the pen, and then one of them took another horse and went riding and Halo had a fit, and was running in circles for quite sometime. Wish I could see all of this, but they do it, when I am at work.