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Liz100
Silver Member
United Kingdom
370 Posts |
 Posted - 01 Dec 2011 : 9:05:13 PM
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.. in time for the start of the season? How do those of you who can't ride out in the week during the winter manage?
We did some EGB and SE pleasure rides this year but I'd say it took us until about September to get properly fit (both me and Raf!)
I did get chatting to a man at one of the most recent events who told me that it gets easier every year - he said that each spring the horses come out a little fitter than they were the spring before. Is that true and is there anything I can do over the winter to make things easier come next year?
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East Yorkshire |
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Crusaders Angel
Gold Member
England
531 Posts |
Posted - 01 Dec 2011 : 10:09:53 PM
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Hi Liz
It all depends on how old your horse is and what level of fitness it was at by the end of the season.
Next season I'm going to be doing my first Open Season and aiming to do a 64km in April. At the moment we've got Equine Flu at our yard so all the horses are quarantined but the idea was to keep Roo ticking over through October/November/beginning of December by hacking out a couple of times a week (weather permitting of course) and then step up to training after Christmas by introducing some interval training and some trips out to the local all-weather gallops for some canter training by March.
I've found a good way of gauging my horse's fitness is to wear a GPS such as a Garmin and pick a route and measure how far it is and time how long it takes to complete it. I think write it down in a diary and every couples I retrace the route but try and get round faster than the previous time.
Also when introducing trot work I pick a spot/landmark on the track (I'm lucky in that I ride in woodland with nice equally spaced trees) and see if I can trot from the start of the track to that spot, if Roo is breathing heavily then I'll walk until his breathing has returned to normal and then trot again to another spot. I always try and return to walk before he gets too out of breath and makes the decision to slow down himself - some days are easier than others as he's a bit of a lazy so and so 
The next step is to try and link in all the bits of trot so you find yourself trotting for longer than you are walking, from there you can introduce canter and see if you can go round your "training route" in mainly trot and canter.
I find with Roo that if I do a long (2hr+) steady ride, a day off, a short, quick ride (1hr) then a day off, a 2hr ride with as much trot/canter as fitness allows and then allow 2 days off and start again he seems to get fitter quicker and having days off inbetween means that at the start of training he has time to recover from the previous sessions before asking anything else of him and when he is fitter he has time to get the fidgets out of his feet in the field by hoolying around with his friends 
I'm sure some of the more experienced endurance people will be able to give you some more expert advice though  |
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Callisto
Platinum Member
6905 Posts |
Posted - 01 Dec 2011 : 11:14:34 PM
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The more mature that a horse is, the better muscle memory it has, there are some very good books on the subject of Endurance try looking for Marcy Pavord and Claire Wilde on the subject, and here is a link to a helpful fitness program:-
http://www.mimi.me.uk/24883.html |
  Zahkira (GR Amaretto x Taffetta)
Linda
East Sussex |
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Liz100
Silver Member
United Kingdom
370 Posts |
Posted - 02 Dec 2011 : 7:36:35 PM
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Thanks very much folks, a very interesting link too.
I didn't realise muscle memory improved with age - Raf is only 5 so I shouldn't be expecting too much then. He certainly coped ok with the pleasure rides last season but I think anything more will be out of the question, certainly at the beginning of the season, as I just can't put that much training in until the clocks change and we have lighter evenings.
I do like the training ideas though and it actually seems that I wasn't doing too bad a job of it this year - I picked out a 'training route' of about 5 miles max and built up our trotting until we were easily trotting all the way round at a good pace. I hadn't included cantering though, something for next year ...
Good luck with your first Open season Crusaders Angel!
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East Yorkshire |
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Zawadi
Junior Member
Wales
32 Posts |
Posted - 04 Dec 2011 : 07:49:03 AM
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Some comments.....
Yes, horses do retain plenty of fitness - one of the reasons why I think it is best to slowly progress through the grades is because they move up to a new plane of fitness every year since they are starting off each year with a proportion of the previous year's fitness. It is much better for all aspects of their structure to build up gradually, with annual opportunities for everything to settle down during a rest period.
Liz, if you are doing more than 40km rides, it really is a good idea to do more regular training than just weekends, or you run a much higher risk of failing the vet with muscle or tendon issues. I am far too exhausted when I get home from work at 6 to 7pm, so I do all my training in the early morning before there is any traffic on the roads (5am with plenty of reflective kit and a head torch, though we very rarely see a car and with moon at over 50% I don't switch the torch on unless I hear a car). A great advantage of riding at this time of day is - no grooming necessary! (not that mine get much at any time, anyway, LOL!) The Development Squad charged us with the following: Ride at least 5 days a week. To start do 3 weeks of road - walk only, with progressively higher resistance (in my case hills!), then at least 2 weeks of trot, before starting canter. Actually all my weekday training is done on the same 5 or 6 "round the block" options which have different levels of hill work, all take about 45 to 75 mins at walk. I start off on those with little hill, and gradually progress over 3 weeks to the one with greatest hill (650 ft steady climb over about 2 miles). Then I go back to the flat ones at trot, and gradually build up again at trot. I have never done any canter training - Lucy, if you are doing Open you want to average 13 to 13.5 kph - you are wasting effort and Roo's competitive longevity if you are going to do an Open season at higher speeds. My last horse - a purebred Morgan I had on loan for 3 years very sadly had to be retired at 12yo with osteoarthritis, but not before she'd won the Open Class championship and progressed to some amazing ER performances - with the training I describe. She did one phase at Euston Park at just over 20kph, and really didn't need canter training! I do however (and i think this will apply to Roo as well) think that Takwenya (just finished a successful Open season) will benefit from some slow steady canter work as we go into 1* and (I hope) 2* next season. Have you read Leonard Leisen's book? I'd like to add this to Linda's ecellent suggestions. He makes a very valid point about being able to train horses to switch off and almost doze at a slow canter - and that is what I will try and work towards this coming spring, but that's for FEI - I don't think you should be aiming for that at Open!
Liz, another comment for you - Takwenya (75% Arab, 25% American Saddlebred - the first horse I bred myself) is coming along very well, and I am sure has benefitted from a gradual development. I backed her (another first for me!) at 3.5yrs, local hacking at walk with some trot and only occasional canter at 4 yrs, a fairly full season of NCRs at 5yo (including some with quite a bit of travelling, and some with overnight stay in corral). Then a full Novice season (10x 40km, 10-11 kph) at 6, another novice season at 7 as I didn't feel she was ready for 65km nor averaging over 13kph - so we did some 50km rides and 40+40 weekends, but still at Novice speed - and it was midway through this year when the penny dropped and she learned to switch off after rides and her grades became almost all Grade 1s. This year at 8yo she has done a very good Open season (her final ride - Sunday Royalties 64CR (after getting G1 on the Sat 64CR) we walked the last mile and vetted after 8 minutes with pulse of 45), including the Red Dragon 82CR - so I am confident she is ready for ERs, though i will try and keep her speeds in the 16kph region and progress to a 2* or two before the end of next season. So you see what I mean about gradual progression?
Hope this is helpful,
Chris. |
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Esther
Gold Member
United Kingdom
866 Posts |
Posted - 05 Dec 2011 : 06:54:36 AM
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Chris has made some really good points in his post and I know the non-plans that I have in my head for Wolf as he grows up are along the same sort of timescales. It's all about them learning their job at that age, and that takes time. Try and pick a real variety of rides, too, as you guild up their experience - hilly ones, flat ones, gates, river crossings, busy ones, quiet ones.
Re the winter: Personally, at the start of the fitness program in the depths of winter, if I can get them out three times a week I'm doing well. I try for both weekend days and one early weekday morning. Things were so much easier when I worked shifts....... But they do come back fitter each year, definitely.
ps Once things get a bit more spring-like, you're more than welcome to come over for another near-death-experience ride out with us again
pps Another good thing to do is to pick a horse or five with a long term career that you admire, and look up its record on the EGB site. It's an interesting exercise and will give you an idea as to different people's approaches to building up their endurance horses. It's all there in the results archive. |
paranoid horsemother
 
Photo on far right thanks to West End Photography
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Edited by - Esther on 05 Dec 2011 07:01:43 AM |
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Liz100
Silver Member
United Kingdom
370 Posts |
Posted - 05 Dec 2011 : 2:11:43 PM
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Wow thanks, very helpful and I do get your point about slow and steady progression. I'm not thinking of doing anything too heavy next season - I love the pleasure rides and I'd like to try some shorter competitive rides but that's about all. I might even find that I don't enjoy competing so end up sticking with the PRs.
Early morning riding sounds a great idea and I'd love to do that, but Raf is on a livery yard which doesn't open until 7 am, by which time I'm on my way to work. Sadly, also the only hill we have is the bridge over the canal! I do envy you people who live in nice places, we're in flat East Yorks. However, thanks for the invite Esther, I'd love to come for one of your eye-opening rides again, we had a great time before and you have plenty of hills! |
East Yorkshire |
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Crusaders Angel
Gold Member
England
531 Posts |
Posted - 05 Dec 2011 : 8:18:07 PM
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Thanks Liz
Hi Chris - good ideas and I take onboard what you're saying about not working Roo too hard and fast but I guess I'm one of a minority of people who canters slower than they trot
Roo has a lovely, steady rockinghorse canter which I'm trying to develop as it will be less concussive to do lots of miles over (hopefully) many years than fast trotting. As he's barefoot and will compete in boots and pads when necessary it is possible to canter on the roads if the canter is contained and off the forehand.
I realise how controversial this sounds but scientifically it should be less harmful. According to a lecture given by David Marlin several years back the worst thing you can do with an Endurance horse is to trot fast with the horse over-extending its stride as the tendons are only fractionally inside the optimal stretch length. He also advised against trotting fast up hills as the risk of injury from slipping was greater than either walking or cantering.
That's what's so great about our sport - there are lots of ways to go about training and different things work for different people and horses - good luck for next year Liz, let us know which rides you're entering and if me & Roo are there we'll give you a wave  |
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Zawadi
Junior Member
Wales
32 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2011 : 10:57:28 PM
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Lucy, you are absolutely right about canter vs. trot - even on the road. I also allow mine to canter for short distances on the road, but I've always had horses that are like rocket-powered missiles - you have to throttle them back all the time or you'll break the sound barrier! So if I let them canter they just gradually accelerate - so next spring's target is to teach Takwenya the Leonard Leisen "doze off at a steady canter" trick. I was trying to discourage you from going a speed at this point in Roo's career that will give you no competitive benefit but would shorten his competitive career - but it sounds like you'll be fine!
Oh, and as usual (but not quite always, LOL !) I agree with and support Esther's comments.
Chris. |
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Esther
Gold Member
United Kingdom
866 Posts |
Posted - 07 Dec 2011 : 07:03:11 AM
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| Chris - H has always excelled at the 'sleeping canter', and he can keep it up for miles and miles without trying. So when I started riding Orrie for Alison I thought it would be a useful thing for him to learn as he's a half welsh hunter trials/hunting pony in his other life...... Well our canters got easier and smoother and sleepier which was lovely, but it also meant he had more time to look for things in the hedges. I discovered that his modus operandi was to put me to sleep with the sleeping canter, and then after lulling me into a false sense of security he'd wake me up again with the most enormous spook! Which to his native pony mind was very very funny. So be careful with them there sleeping canters - some horses need a little more impulsion |
paranoid horsemother
Photo on far right thanks to West End Photography
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How do you get your horses fit ...
