Advice on horse fitness for endurance rides

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Walker2796

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Hello all,

I have since November started sharing a horse, I am just getting back into horses after a while and am unsure on some things.

We have signed up for an endurance ride, we will not be going mad on the ride just taking it easy as it is a pleasure ride and not timed, how fit would you say that my horse should be, how often should I ride her, I can only ride 3 times per week and the lady that owns her maybe rides twice a week would you say this is enough.
Thanks in advance.
 
That sounds plenty but of course it will depend on a few things. What type of horse is it, what length ride are you planning on doing? Generally if your horse can hack for 2 hrs at a varied pace then it will have no trouble with an entry level endurance ride. My TB is easy to get fit but I know that people with cobbier horses have to work harder on the fitness and may take the ride a bit steadier.
 
Easy peasy. Just as a guide I popped out for a ride on my little cob at lunchtime who I only ride 2/3 times a week. The loop we did was 5 miles, which is just over half the distance of your pleasure ride, and we went round in just under an hour and he would have happily gone round again. Just get in a few hack of over an hour before you go and she will be fine on the day. Take it steady on the ride and if she feels tired then slow down. You may well find you struggle more than she does (or feel it the day after)!
 
You might find it helpful to measure the distance of some of the rides you currently do.....(piece of string on an OS map will do as a guide) and then time yourself. You may be surprised at how far you already ride! When I was training my horse I measured quite a few 'regular' rides I did and kept a diary of time it took me to complete the rides and how my horses felt afterwards. It was very helpful when fittening. My horse always found trot alot easier than canter work so when competing we generally trotted EVERYWHERE and rarely cantered as that tired him more. So my fittening work was lots and lots of trotting....downhill, uphill etc....
16kms is only 10 miles and I would think you should be able to complete that quite happily. Good luck and enjoy yourself! :D
 
13km is a brief walk in the park - honestly unless your current rides are a 2 minute walk round the school, you'll be fine :)
 
So long as you don't go mad with the speed any healthy riding horse should be able to do a 10 mile ride without any special preparation so don't worry.
 
I have hacked that distance without even thinking about it, fairly certain me and JFTD did twice that in one weekend!

As long as the horse is working and not just going for a 10 min walk when ridden you will be fine.
 
JFTD said:
Actually we did more than twice that in one day, in the middle of winter to be precise :D
Click to expand...

Couldnt remember if it was over the weekend we racked up that many miles or the saturday then we went out again on sunday :D

And I managed not to get scraped off on the tree :p

Should add both ponies in normal work no special fittness work (just two bonkers owners ;))
 
dafthoss said:
Couldnt remember if it was over the weekend we racked up that many miles or the saturday then we went out again on sunday :D

And I managed not to get scraped off on the tree :p

Should add both ponies in normal work no special fittness work (just two bonkers owners ;))
Click to expand...

I think we managed similar mileage another weekend over 2 days, but the day we went out to Writtle, then back to yours, then across the main road to the Chignals, then into Chelmsford, then back to yours, to mine, picked up E and J and then went across the airfield and through the frozen stream track was over 20 miles in about 7 and a half hours :p Mostly so slow because there was still snow on the ground - it was FREEZING!

Plus we also stopped to school / warm up in Writtle for a while :eek:

Oh look, here you are avoiding a tree:

426372_532859755407_50562334_n.jpg



sorry for thread hijack OP!
 
:D

I remember being freezing for several hours after I got back oh and I think I popped a few jumps as well :eek: best stop typing or people will be calling the rspca on us :p
 
I can't remember if I got as far as jumping. I might have, I can't remember. I think my memories froze on that hack :D

Stop now, or I'll be posting the 20 stone on a highland video too and certain posters will have a fit :eek:
 
For a 16km PL, you'll be fine, as long as the horse is being sat on reasonably regularly! I didn't really start doing anything beyond schooling/hacking until I started doing 30km CTR.
 
You should get endomondo on your phone if you have a smart phone.

We are doing one next month but it is timed and apparently 8km an hour is the minimum speed. We tend to plod long at 6km/hr so we are in training :o:D
 
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