Quality vs. Quantity - Exercising/Training

[Kelly Lee]

Hello everyone.

I have a question for those of you who ride and train regularily. I have a forward moving TB mare. We have a great relationship. We ride 4-5 times per week about 45-50 min a day (we train hunter). I am concerned about ride quality. Our constant challenge is remaining balanced. She is a mare that falls on herforehand quite a bit (and I am sure that I contribute to this!). The first 20 minutes of our ride is usually great. She is collected and I am tall and balanced. Once we go over the half hour mark, (after canter work) she becomes rushed and unbalanced at the trot. I do as well. The last 15 min of our ride is usually a struggle, me using half halts to try and slow her, and her falling on her forehand, and myself becoming unbalanced as well.

My question, do I focus on the quality ride? Perhaps shorten our rides right now, and get the quality and gradually lengthen rides over a couple of weeks so that we can work on keeping the balanced rides happening - or do I stick to the longer rides daily, and work on repairing our errors once they have escalated after the 25-30 mintues?

Thanks in Advance

Kelly Lee and Mizlou

[eml]

Perhaps it would help if you spend the same time but use the first 15 and last 15mins for a gentle warm up and warm down so that you could have 20 minutes of really quality work in the middle while you are both fresh and end that on a good note.

[maverick927]

As far as I'm concerned as long as i end on a good note I am happy.

Try to do this with the horse and i know that you will feel much more satisfied with yourself.

[DITZ]

I was taught to leave out canter work altogether until you can get good balance and off the forehand. Especially if your horse tends to rush, she sounds like she likes to go fast which is why after canter work she is getting over excited and rushing. I know it will feel like you are going backwards but work on getting her calmer and leave out any faster work for the time being.

[Mehitabel]

i rarely school for more than 20 minutes at a time - neither petal nor i have the attention span or the inclination to do any longer! i'm also used to having several to ride in one day, as well as teaching and yard work, so i had to work on a shorter schooling session timeframe.
i would shorten your sessions - then you can end on a good note rather than letting things go downhill.
how about schoolign for 20 minutes and then hacking out? then you can maintain the current fitness level without sacrificing the quality of the schooling.

[ros]

When you say you "train hunter" what exactly does it entail? Is it all school work or do you hack out?

If your mare is good for the first 20 minutes, then starts to get a little heavy on her forehand, that would suggest she's getting tired. I should have thought if she's being ridden 4-5 times a week an hour shouldn't be too much for her, but that's on the assumption that she gets plenty of stretch breaks inbetween the concentrated work. How do you plan your sessions?

As far as quality v. quantity is concerned, quality wins hands down every time. What you finish on is what your horse takes away with him/her from the lesson and remembers for next time. I don't school much because facilities are limited, but when I do I don't treat it as exercise - by which I mean that I go into the schooling area with a particular aim in mind, and if I get it after 15 minutes, then like Maverick I'm quite happy to hop off and stroll back home. And if I feel we're not going to get it right on the day I forget it and do something I know Merlin can do well and that I can praise him for. I think that's why he often tries to cart me across the road to the field we use for schooling :rolleyes:

I guess the ideal is to alternate training sessions with fun hacks; make sure you have plenty of stretch breaks while schooling; try your very best never to reach the point where your horse becomes tired or bored (although that doesn't you can't persevere a little if you have the occasional misunderstanding or difference of opinion ;) ) and always, always finish on a good note. There's NEVER any excuse for ending a schooling session in a bad mood. And of course, it goes without saying, eliminate the possibility of any physical problems that might be getting in the way. If a horse isn't performing to reasonable expectations there's usually a very good reason for it.

[Kelly Lee]

Hello!

Thanks for your suggestions thus far.

Ros - training hunter means we work on equitation on the flat, and over trot poles, small fences (hoping to move to bigger ones)in an arena (for now - til the weather allows for outdoor work)

We normally walk on lose rein for 3-4 min, collect walk for 3-4 min, trot whole school and 20 meter circles both directions for about 15-18 minutes with about 4-6 halts in there as well as about 5-6 stretch, walk breaks. We then canter for about 3-4 minutes (with 2-3 breaks in between to collect and rebalance ourselves) and then we take another walk break for about 1 minute. At this point, I ask for the trot and we are rushy and unbalanced. I usually try for about 2-3 minutes to slow her at the trot and it doesn't work so well. We just end up doing a lot of halts. She anticipates the canter even though we are back at trot only. I then give up and go back to walk and ask for a square halt as she knows how to do this - so we end on a good note.

We are now hacking 2 times a week as well as weather just turned nice about 2 weeks ago for regular hacking. (in Canada!)

Kelly Lee

[Lucy J]

50 minutes of schooling in a school 4-5 times a week is quite a lot. I would work on perhaps just a few schooling sessions of that length interspersed with perhaps some loose schooling and lunging, perhaps spend some sessions only doing flat work and some on gridwork - basically keep it as varied as possible, lots of circles and serpentines, anything you can think of to make each session different...

[ros]

I don't think 50 mins 4-5 times a week is at all out of order when it comes to workload, but it does depend on what work you do in those 50 minutes and what you achieve. A fairly typical riding school pony is probably doing 2-3 hours a day, 6 days a week, and those will be the lucky ones! But if a horse is actually working correctly as opposed to slopping around a school on his forehand most of the time he'll be a lot better for his 50 minutes a day than the riding school pony will for his 2 hours. It's all relative - that's the trouble :rolleyes:

[AmandaW]

Maybe you are trying to fit everything into every session and in doing so not getting much variety. If you follow the same routine each time she is bound to anticipate.

With my mare I used to go in the school twice in the week once for around 30 mins or so but always ending on a good note,and once for an hours lesson and then always a cool off with a walk around the roads on a longish rein. Sometimes I would do some canter work or jumping in the schooling, more often just in trot and walk. Twice a week I would do canter work in the large field. But to prevent her galloping off as soon as her feet touched the grass I would walk and trot to warm up first and then do intervals to suit and then again cool off on the roads. I would sometimes go into this field and walk around it on my way out on a hack just to keep her listening to me! Then I would fit in two hacks, one medium, one long, both roads and bridle paths, all paces. I would always do some schooling at intervals during the hack too. Sometimes I would replace one of the schooling sessions with inhand work with poles, labyrinth and have a bit of a play too.

[kedwards]

I know I'm late to this conversation, but I just wanted to mention one other potential factor to consider.

Is it a possibility that she isn't so much "tired" as "tuned up" after the canter work? You did say that she felt as though she was anticipating the canter. Is it that this behavior starts after a certain amount of time in the ring, or is this typical every time you try to trot after a little canter work? If it's the latter case, it is a training issue that you will eventually want to work through. You might try lots of trot-halt-trot and trot-walk-trot transitions when she get fast in the trot.

[Kelly Lee]

Hello Everyone,

Thanx for your responses.

kedwards - yes - this is probably it. We have been trying to mix up our routine a bit and work on transitions. I will keep doing this as I think that she just needs to realize that because she wants to canter, it doesn't mean that she has to fall forward and quicken the trot. Half halts have been helping a little bit.

K

[Cochise]

Hey,
Seriously, just leave the schooling to once or 2x a week. The best thing for you to do is just get out and do some rides. Get her fitness up this way. An hours hack 2-3 tomes a week will do wonders for you both. You will be working on her muscles and yours without even realising it!
You can still work on schooling her while out on a ride. Transitions, leg yielding etc.
It will help her balance and whole mental attitude and yours.