Before throwing tack and rider on an out of shape horse, try ponying him alongside a calm companion. | Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt/The Horse

How to transition a sedentary horse into an exercise program safely

Let’s say you spend a lot of time at your desk, like many in the U.S. workforce. Would you take off from your busy office schedule without any conditioning and attempt to summit a 14,000-foot mountain?

Can it be done? Yes … but without preparation, the risks are many and chances of success low. The same situation applies with horses. Can you take an idle horse from pasture and enter him in a 50-mile endurance race the next week? Can you take your dressage horse out of retirement and expect him to earn high scores?

Consider an inactive horse that hangs out in the pasture all day or has been on stall rest laying up from an injury