What kind of level of work is your horse used to and where do you want to be? (This is helpful when determining which food your horse should be eating too)!
Classification of work
None
. Stands in a field and occasionally goes for a walk
Please note this horse does not need feeding other than potentially mineral block or light hay or haylage balancer
Light – Low
. 1-3 hours per week
. Up to 15 mins trot
. Up to 5 mins canter
. Going for a ride in the countryside with hill work
. Occasional schooling
Light – Medium
. 3-7 hours per week
. Up to 25 mins trot
. Up to 10 mins canter
. Occasional jump
. Going for a ride in the countryside with hill work
. Occasional schooling
. Low level dressage
. Low level Riding Club/Pony Club
. Occasional showing
Light – Hard
. 5-7 hours per week
. Up to 30 mins trot
. Up to 12 mins canter
. Up to 3 mins poles/jumping.
. Faster ride in the countryside with hill work
. Regular schooling
. Low to mid-level dressage
. Low level show jumping
. Riding Club/Pony Club
. Regular showing
. Short sessions on the gallops
Medium
. 5-7 hours per week
. Up to 30 mins trot
. Up to 15 mins canter
. Up to 10 mins poles, jumping, fast work
. High level dressage (Advanced plus)
. Riding club/ Pony club
. Medium level show jumping (Newcomers plus)
. Low-medium level eventing (up to intermediate)
Hard
. 5-9 hours per week
. As medium, plus up to 1 hour extra over the week of speed work;
. increase in galloping and jumping duration
. High level eventing or racing
. Endurance rides over 80km (50 miles).
Fitness can be built in phases and the skills required for all fitness built on the building blocks as below
First stage
Proprioception
Second
Third
Controlled movement built on; balance and flexibility
Strength
Fourth
Stamina
Fifth
Now train for specific skills or competition
The Four Phases of Fitness – your fitness program
Please note this is a general snapshot of how process goals for training phases might work and all horses are individuals. If you have any concerns about progressing to the next phase, keep your horse at the current phase until you are satisfied they are coping. If your horse has been off due to an injury, continue to follow or seek advice from your vet and or rehabilitation professional for their rehabilitation back into work.
PREPHASE (exercises that can and should be practiced throughout all the phases)
Proprioception training to increase body awareness and give the foundation for good movement
One example of proprioception training would be walking slowly over gradually more uneven surfaces
Introduce carrot stretching and massage to large muscle groups after training to show the horse how he can recover from the aches and pains of training
PHASE 1 Slow & Steady (Weeks 1-5)
• Hardening off- gradual controlled exercise to strengthen the soft tissue.
• Prepares the muscles, tendons and ligaments with a range of balance and flexibility exercises
• Introduce basic stretching and stroking massage; cold hosing legs after exercise
An example would be marching in hand up hills
PHASE 2 Strength & Stamina (Weeks 5-8) – continue the first phases but add in the following goals
• Improve basic fitness and strength
• Suppling and developing muscle
• Develop balance and self-carriage
• Introduce regular bodywork techniques to stretch and recover muscles after training sessions
You might work on weight carrying or longer distance work. For arena work you might bend more or use different cavaletti formations to proved a challenge to both strength and flexibility
PHASE 3 Schooling & Speed (again you would continue to include many exercises and activities from the previous phases
• Develop the efficiency of the heart and lungs (faster and longer work with interval training)
• Longer training sessions or more cross training with different disciplines offering the challenge areas your ‘normal’ training in your discipline would not necessarily include
• Interval training means high intensity exercise for short bursts
• More bodywork with massage and stretching after exercise
Monitor your progress by looking at the same parameters you used to start the program – condition, heartbeat, breathing and time taken to return to your baseline; gait analysis of how your horse is moving. From this weekly monitoring you can adjust the balance of your program to suit your individual horse’s needs
Please remember to include your horse’s own choices in this. A horse knows much better how he is feeling day to day than his trainer can gauge so ‘go with your horse’ and ease off if it seems the training is a bit tough for the body, offer new exercises and cross training if it seems he’s getting a bit tired or bored in training and ask for help, selecting your coaches from not only those who re good in their field as competitors but those who will listen to your needs and those of your horse. If you are going to use coaches, make sure you are also coachable! Remember you don’t have to have one person to help you with all aspects but you can use a team around your horse to get to the level you and your horse are looking for.
If you would like to work with me as part of your team, on a plan for fitness for your horse or if you would like to join one of the Happy Healthy Horses training courses let me know!
Happy Healthy Horses 