Fitness Programme

[Rarah]

I thought Logic had an acceptable level of fitness through the summer, we were hacking most nights for around 60-90 mins. Some hill work, a bit of canter (not many places to canter) and plenty of trot.

Now that we've moved yards to somewhere with plenty of places to hack out / canter / gallop, it seems she's not as fit as I thought.

I've ridden other horses on these tracks where I am now and they can canter the whole track (in fact Logic can manage it if she's following another horse but she's panting like mad when she's done). If we are on our own we manage about a minute of canter before she runs out of steam -if I push her, she can just about manage to trot to the top of the hill.

Am I going to manage to get her fit over the winter now? We are schooling 3 x per week (30 mins) - and hacking 3 x per week (anywhere between 1½ - 2½ hours), the hacking is mainly at walk / trot on very hilly terrain although I would love to be cantering/ galloping when she's up to it!

Thanks

[Pink's lady]

Are you really trotting for as long as you think you are? I know that after even just 5mins trot (solid) by legs are killing me and I feel like I've been trotting for half-hour:o

I would just up the trot length and do more uphill work. Next time you trot set your watch/phone and time yourself to see how long you actually trot for. 5mins trot is a LONG way - a fast, forward going trot could take you nearly a mile.

[bexj]

Good point, but, as I live near Sarah, I know that we'd struggle to trot for 5 mins without coming across a stonking great steep downhill! Mind, it's good for the uphill work!

[Iron Maiden]

Is your horse a cob? They are sods to get 'aerobically' fit. My old horse could canter on the level for miles but point him up a decent hill & the petrol tank would hit empty very quickly. Maybe it's the bodyweight vs lung/heart room ratio that just isn't in their favour. I event my friends cob, he's able to gallop up hills far better than my old boy could but he is very clean winded, also she canters & gallops him a lot when she does fittening work. I got my old boy fit enough to gallop around a decent, undulating xc course but that was only after we went barefoot, so I felt happier about doing a fair bit of fast fittening work on the hard ground we seem to get around here.

[Rarah]

Ironmaiden - she's a clydesdale x cob - she's never going to be racehorse material lol, but I just want to get her to peak fitness to make her life easier

Pinks Lady - at my old farm, we did do some very long trots, but like Bex says, where we are now we've got massive steep hills :eek: although I'm sure they will be good for us in the long run.

Maybe a just want too much too soon.

I've just measured one of the tracks where we can trot, and it's ¾ mile, uphill but not too steep, I think we will try to incorporate this into our training whenever we can.

I'm wondering if we should maybe change her feed too to give her a bit more energy? She's on conditioning mix and alpha a at the moment, my instructor suggested putting her on competition mix, (this is the instructor that also told me to cut off her whiskers :rolleyes: )

[Iron Maiden]

Your uphill brisk trot sounds like excellent cobby fittening.

My lad was on 3 scoops of oats & a scoop of competition mix a day at one point & he was flat as a pancake! His energy levels increased after I changed him to a largely forage based diet & pulled his shoes off. It's worth trying a competition mix, they do work well on lots of horses, but maybe if that doesn't work try something completely different - he may not be able to process grain-based feeds very well.

[cabaret]

I'd suggest wearing a watch when you do his conditioning - that way you can have an accurate measurement of how much work you're really doing. Then you can figure out what is currently a comfortable amount of aerobic exercise and gradually increase it by a minute or two until you work up to your goal.