Strengthening belly muscles

[roxy's_mom]

Hello everyone! I need some ideas/pointers/tips for strengthening the under - belly muscles on my mare. She's been over weight for a couple years now so her belly hangs down, looks more like mare ready to foal even though she's never had a foal! I guess I love her a little to much.

This mare's been broke to drive and has been driving for the last 4 years now and her belly muscles never seem to tighten up on the underside. When I driver her it's several times a week for at least an hour, she has a big driving motor and doesn't know how to slow down. I also lunge her as well a couple nights a week when show season gets under way and the weather cooperates. I put her on a hay, water, and 2 hours max of pasture time aprox. 2 weeks ago. She's 7 years old, stands around 35.5" and over 350 lbs, she's a stocky built mare so I believe that's part of the problem also.

Here's a pic of her from 2010 - this was when she was getting about 1 lb of purnina mini feed, along with hay and limited turnout on grass.

Here you can sort of see how her belly hangs down when in harness - taken in 2010

So, what would you suggest to help me tighten those tummy muscles?

Thanks!

Becky M.

 

[Farina]

Cantering tightens the belly muscles and also the topline. My driving horses were lunged most of the time transitions trot-canter because when driven they just trot the whole time (there are some breaks at walk too).

Like with dressage horses transtions trot-canter-trot also work like sit-ups.

 

[Jetiki]

you can canter in harness too, just not in the show ring. I actually teach cantering in harness to my youngsters once I have everything else down so it doesn't scare them if they are out somewhere and do it by accident.

lunging with Cantering, adding poles to trot and canter over or a low jump all tightens those belly muscles.

 

[disneyhorse]

I've known lots of brood mares that never regain a svelte figure, so please don't get your hopes up

I'm also not a firm believer in "target areas"... Overall fitness helps immensely, but only minimal change can be made with targeting...

I just say keep driving, that's better than anything!!!

 

[roxy's_mom]

Thanks everyone for the help! I'm willing to try anything to help her keep fit and maybe get into better shape. I'm going to continue to drive her - way to much fun to stop that! - and do more work on the lunge line adding in the poles, gait transitions, and maybe some small jumps.

Disneyhorse - my hopes won't be dashed if she doesn't lose her belly! It's been there for a couple years so I don't expect an overnight change. I will continue to drive her though!

If anyone else has some more tips please feel free to add them - maybe this will also help someone else that's having the same problem! Thanks again!

Becky M.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Last spring/summer I was seeking the same answers you are so I am going to tell you what finally helped (at least as far as I can tell still in her winter wool) my driving horse loose all of her 'baby belly'. First I had to admit that my horse was, in spite of what I believed to be a careful feeding plan, still actually very fat and so the belly was mostly a result of just that - fat! Once I accepted that it was much easier to get her belly down. Over the winter I have watched the belly shrink so it was noticablely smaller even under all her wool. I did this by putting all her meals in a slow feeder hay net to spred out how long it took for her to finish (thus protecting her gut health) and most of important of all, weighing every portion. I never feed her more than 2.5lbs at a feeding, fed 2x a day. I estimated her desirable weight to be 250 lbs and planned to feed her 2% of her body weight daily. I added to that a low carb pellet (often called a ration balancer) to be sure she was getting her required vitamins and minerals. That alone has taken off the excess belly that all the driving I did last summer and the summer before didn't touch. I had tried working her hard enough to make her sweat as often as my schedule allowed (3 or 4 times a week minimum) either in harness or in the round pen with out making any real difference to her belly but feeding her less sure has done wonders. If i wasn't living in a mud , snow and ice pit I'd take pictures to show the change. Good luck with your mare.

 

[Becky Horat]

I have a 13yr old mare that has had several foals in her life. After working & conditioning her and watching her diet very strictly, she still had a belly and that "brood mare" look over her topline. I was feeding her mainly grass hay and very little to no grain. I decided to try what I do for our big horses....by adding a little alfalfa hay (very small amnt.) and I started feeding more complete pellets and less hay. I increased her Purina Mini Feed by a very small amount. It made a huge difference. I think it was mainly a little bit of alfalfa (protein) and the increase in complete pellets (hay substitue)....feeding smaller amount of hay....she almost lost all of her "hay belly" and has more muscle definition over her topline and rump. I am a firm believer in horses need hay to munch on and don't think I could completely cut it out.

 

[Relic]

l have a stallion who always gets a big fat belly over the winter and becomes a chore to get rid of come spring...so this winter instead of feeding him his hay loose in his paddock which took him about 40 minutes to an hour to clean up l got him a Eco Net with the one inch holes and he's really looking nice and tucked right now so am going to stay with it. The same amount of hay in the bag as usual but takes him about 4/5 hours to eat..thats the only thing l've done different so for me l'm going to say this helped for getting rid of his gut and not loosing weight elswhere..and l love those things l either hang it on the fence or just throw the thing in with him he can eat roll it around stomp on it and toss it in the air..saw it at the local farm fair and is made for minis..

 

[roxy's_mom]

Thanks for giving me some more ideas to try on my mare! I had considered buying the Nibble Net for all my horses because it only takes them about an hour to clean up what hay I give in the morning. I had even asked my vet what he thought about using the Nibble net and he straight out told me "NO!" no reason given just that I needed to cut out the grain and give only have with max. 2 hours of pasture.

I'm going to continue working her this summer through fall to keep her ready for shows. If her belly or weight doesn't go down by the end of Aug/Sept I'm calling my vet and having her tested for Thyroid or IR.

If anyone else has any more ideas or has been in a similar situation and had positive outcomes with what they've tried please feel free to add to this list. I'm willing to try anything!

Becky M.

 

[earthchild]

There is also an exercise described by Linda Tellington Jones as a TTouch. It is called the back lift and it helps tighten tummies, strengthen the back and relax the neck.