Falling Off The Wagon to get Your Horse Fit?
5 Solutions if you struggle to get your fat horse fit. Common mistakes horsewomen make when they want to get their horse fit and back in shape. And I fell for all of them!
I will also share how to avoid them, so you don’t have to stay stuck.
TL;DR
Common pitfall: too big a goal / focus on result
Solutions: break it down
Set yourself up for success
Make it easy, fun and achievable
Focus on process and progress
Make it foolproof
Improve
Repeat
Enjoy!
Discover how I do this, and how we can do it together.
Mistake #1
Aiming straight for the goal, the outcome: a fit & forward horse
You want your overweight horse to be healthy and thin. Maybe a bit more forward and responsive, too.
Your vet tells you: “Start lunging, stop the treats!”
So, that’s what you do.
If lunging and traditional training are not the way you usually communicate with your horse, you might face challenges. This approach could end in disaster.
If your horse can’t trot for 10 minutes (yet!), this goal will be hard!
Below: Kyra telling me what she thought about roundpenning as exercise.
Solutions
Let’s take a look at the easiest way to solve Mistake #1
Focus on the process to get to the outcome, not the goal itself
How can you get your horse fit and forward (without whips)?
What does the process look like?
1. Shaping Plan: planning the process
When you’re familiar with positive reinforcement training, you’ve heard of Shaping Plans.
These are written step-by-step training plans for your goal, tailored to your horse.
Your goal is broken down into easy-to-accomplish small steps.
Small, consistent steps lead to big outcomes!
When you forget to break down your goal, here’s what happens:
Your horse gets frustrated because he doesn’t understand what you want him to do. Some horses will start focusing on the treat only, because the “way to the treat” is too difficult to grasp. Or the goal (a 10-minute trot is simply way too much)
When your horse gets frustrated, you won’t see progress. You get frustrated… Sounds familiar?
You quit before getting a result. It feels like ‘failure’. It’s hard to start again (and you don’t know why… Because it wasn’t fun)
2. Repetition
Another important step in getting a fit and responsive, forward horse
Now you know how to start: Break down your process into small, achievable steps.
Repeat until you master that step.
Then go to the next step.
In this example, handwalking will be a solid foundation for your goal.
Don’t be afraid to start small!
Small, consistent steps lead to big outcomes!
Another Pitfall of Aiming Straight for the Goal
Most exercise and weight-loss goals for your horse are ‘work-in—progress’.
Therefore, they’ll never ‘end’.
Success becomes unachievable…
Becoming Successful and feeling good about it
Start with one small and clear step, that’s easily achievable:
10 Minutes of handwalking your horse
10 Consecutive days
Never skip 2 days in a row
3. Make success achievable
Remove the ‘ever-moving goal post of success’: my horse still needs to become more responsive. It also needs to be more fit and more forward. I have to build more duration, etc.
That’s another pitfall:
A moving goal post
Success becomes unachievable!
Failure guaranteed!
This is why the 10/10 Handwalking Challenge has a clear End Date. After 10 days.
With a clear plan (10 days in a row, 10 minutes a day), that won’t happen!
4. Make your goal FOOL PROOF
We all make plans…
Then, life happens.
On your way to the barn, you get a flat tire (it happened to me)
Roadside assistance took 1,5 hour
When I arrived at the barn, I had barely enough time to do my chores
