Tipping the scales: how jumps horses get fit after their summer holidays

When trainer Tom George posted a couple of videos on Twitter of Basil – who tends to appear on racecards as God’s Own – following his return from his summer holidays last week, it was obvious to even the most untrained eye that the 11-year-old had let himself go.

George informed his followers that his popular stable flagbearer had put on 70kg – 11st in old money – in ten weeks.

But while that sounds a lot on the surface, is it? And what sort of exercise regime does it take to get a horse fighting fit after a holiday?