# Chest



## Michele Day (May 30, 2011)

whats the best way to get a horse chest to fill out. or build musle?


----------



## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

A lot depends on their conformation - a narrow chested horse will never have a big chest.
Only way to build any muscle is to make them work correctly.


----------



## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

^^Exactly. All you can do is make sure that they are working correctly (and _enough_, 10 minutes of walking in a flat arena once a week doesn't qualify as being "worked"). Also, make sure that they are getting good quality feed for the amount of work they are doing. A horse that's being worked hard 4-5 days a week and being fed nothing but grass hay will not be taking in enough nutrients/fat/protein to build muscle. On the other hand, a horse that is being ridden once a week for 15-20 minutes won't benefit from a bunch of high fat, high protein food. That will just cause them to get fat, along with creating the risk of other health issues.

Beyond that, it is all up to what genes mother nature gave them.


----------



## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

How old is the horse? As well as conformational conditions in a mature horse, many young horses will not broaden through the chest until they are even up to 7 years of age. I know a rising 8 year old warmblood who's chest has only just widened and no longer looks like his front legs come out the same hole!


----------



## Michele Day (May 30, 2011)

*please help?*



Michele Day said:


> whats the best way to get a horse chest to fill out. or build musle?


Ok she is small 1/2 arabian mare 33yr old. just want to build the musle she doe's have. she is thin so she is on senior fed and beetbulp 1/2 veg oil to keep her weight up. her ribs do not show. work her evernight for 30min at trot. day off ever few days, she having no touble with that. have own this horse for 32 yrs.


----------



## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

With her being that age, it will be nearly impossible to get her back into what would be considered good shape for a horse half her age. It's about like older people; once they lose muscle mass at an elderly age, they are almost never able to build it back up, regardless of how much they want to.

Truthfully, if her weight is good and she is still able to be ridden that much at her age, I would be extremely happy that she was sound and healthy and not worry if she doesn't "look" young.

She's an old lady, she's supposed to be a bit soft and flabby :wink:.


----------



## Michele Day (May 30, 2011)

smrobs said:


> With her being that age, it will be nearly impossible to get her back into what would be considered good shape for a horse half her age. It's about like older people; once they lose muscle mass at an elderly age, they are almost never able to build it back up, regardless of how much they want to.
> 
> Truthfully, if her weight is good and she is still able to be ridden that much at her age, I would be extremely happy that she was sound and healthy and not worry if she doesn't "look" young.
> 
> She's an old lady, she's supposed to be a bit soft and flabby :wink:.


She was really sick last spring and lost all her musle . just want to help her maintain what she has.


----------



## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

The most you can really do for her is to make sure that's she's getting a nice balanced diet with enough protein to help her keep her muscle mass (but not so much protein as to make it hard for her to process it all. Older horses are notorious for having difficulty processing too much protein). Other than that, just make sure that she's getting a good workout, which it sounds like she is since you are trotting her for 30 minutes daily. The only thing I could suggest is perhaps changing up her workout routine and doing some walking/trotting up and down hills...if you have any where you live.


----------



## Michele Day (May 30, 2011)

smrobs said:


> The most you can really do for her is to make sure that's she's getting a nice balanced diet with enough protein to help her keep her muscle mass (but not so much protein as to make it hard for her to process it all. Older horses are notorious for having difficulty processing too much protein). Other than that, just make sure that she's getting a good workout, which it sounds like she is since you are trotting her for 30 minutes daily. The only thing I could suggest is perhaps changing up her workout routine and doing some walking/trotting up and down hills...if you have any where you live.


Thank you, her senior fed has stuff in it that help her process her fed all under her watchfull my vet Ponti. no hills close to me. I allways willing learning.


----------

