Endurance riding - beginner questions, please help! thanks!

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Morgan123

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Hi,

I have been looking for something that will make my spooky and green (but 9 yo!!) welsh cob grow up a little bit, and just heard that someone I know quite well is going to be doing some endurance this summer and may want some company! I am very excited as have always wanted to try it but basically know very very little. Can anyone help? It will only be low level. My main questions are:

1) My horse has lovely paces, great conformation and is nice and sound but has no natural stamina at all, so obviously I would need to build up his fitness very carefully and over several months (I’ll look at resistance training and stuff). Any particular advice on building stamina in a horse that doesn’t really have this naturally? he gets v tired when doing anything speedy, and can only do so in extremely short bursts!! He gets out of breath quickly so it would mainly need to be cardio work.

2) He totally defines the meaning of ‘good doer’ and gets fat on actual air and nothing else. I usually have to stable him at night during the summer and feed him nothing at all to keep him relatively in shape (even then he is fat!), plus riding most days. I guess however if he was doing heavy work, I would need to start feeding him something more, and maybe electrolytes – what’s the best thing for a fatty in hard work?! Obviously I need to keep as much weight off as possible or am at risk of concussion laminitis etc among others 

3) He is freaked out by many things in life, including paper – how much map reading is actually necessary?! Do you have to do lots of getting on and off?

In a low level fun-ride, how many health check stops would have to be done and what do I need to do for this??

what speed do most people go at? Obviously this varies throughout the ride… I just mean, I’ve been on lots of sponsored rides with people galloping a lot of the way and would prefer to take things a bit steadier than that if possible (esp given his lack of natural aptitude). Is it slower in terms of pace?!

Any advice welcome as clearly I know nothing :-) – thank you!!
 
Endurance is broken down into different classes. Pleasure rides - usually 10-20 miles, no set speed, simple trot up at the beginning and end of the ride if anything at all.
CTR - 20miles plus, within time limits for your class, trot up and metabolic check.
Endurance is the race ride of 25 - 100 miles. First healthy horse over the line wins.

To start off with you would do a few pleasure rides. This will give you a taste with no pressures. Any horse with a reasonable level of fitness will manage it with no change to normal routine. No special equipment needed - just well fitting tack.

If you wanted to you could add salt to his feeds a week prior. Make sure he has plenty of water if he needs it on the day. I use Speedibeet and apple juice as a treat.

DO NOT WEAR A THONG. That was my biggest mistake on my first pleasure ride!

What area of the country are you in?
 
PS My friend has a similar Welshy. Very naughty pony but she took him on holiday to Wales and trekked him and he was a different horse!
 
Hi, i used to do a lot of endurance witha highlandx mare. your horse gets puffed quick because he is cold blooded compared to a tb or arab. you need to compensate for this by doing interval training, but before you do any of this you need to spend 8 weeks just getting him fit. 4 weeks of JUST road work 1st 2 weeks JUST walking, then next 2 weeks walk and trot building upto 21/2 hours. road work cannot be overlooked as it builds hardness in the legs. after 4 weeks start adding canter. only a bit at first slowly building up in intensity and distance. after 8 weeks then start interval training. canter steadily for 3 mins then walk for 3 mins then canter for 3 mins. start off with 2 reps and then add a 3rd when he is coping. invest in a stethoscope and teach yourself to take his pulse. this is the best way to gauge his fitness. take his pulse when rested and not stressed, then take it as sonn as you finish your ride, whatever you have done be it hacking, road work etc. then take it again in 10 mins this will show you how fast he recovers. As far as diet is concerned my mare was only fed grass and hay until she was doing more than 40 miles per day(advised by a vet) can give electolytes if they sweat a lot. I would avoid pure pleasure rides and go for ones organised along with proper endurance rides as some people do tend to go a bit nuts as regards speed. if you are serious about giving endurance a go you need to learn to regulate your speed. Vetting only usually done at beginning and end of pleasure rides and shorter proper rides. If you start doing pulses on your horse he will get used to the procedure so will take it as normal when he does a ride. as for map reading you usually only have 1 map and 1 set of instructions, so buy a map holder and get him used to it. I hope you find this useful and trust me if you get into endurance you will LOVE it i reallly miss not doing it, but i just don't have the time. You can do it with a cob despite most people going for arabs etc. I did a 50 mile ride on exmoor and the lady that rode with me had a chestnut welsh cob, so you can do it if you want to. Good luck.
 
Hi Morgan,

Firstly, there's no need to worry about the speedy bit on an endurance ride (well not at the lower levels anyway) so stop worrying about that! But you have hit the nail on the head when it comes to stamina - that's what is needed. But to build up stamina doesn't mean that you have to spend hours and hours in the saddle and cover miles and miles. If you are in a hilly area, make use of the hills to trot up. When you're out hacking, there's no need to go hell for leather - but make it an active hack - not an amble. Go a mixture of short, fast hacks and longer, slower ones. Carry on with your normal schooling as well. You may need to seek advice on changing the feed to a slow-release energy brand suitable for good doers.

Map reading - depends on the ride. All rides will have a map, but the map will be clearly marked. Many also have a talk through. Most rides are also marked on the course. You don't need fantastic map reading skills (although it always comes in handy) as it's not like orienteering or anything where you need to use a compass. I've never yet been on an endurance ride which has been difficult to navigate. Honestly - don't worry!

Getting on and getting off is entirely up to you. If there are gates on the course then it depends on whether you can open gates from horseback or not. You can get off on course at any time if you like - for example to take some weight off the horse's back for a while (particularly in longer, higher level rides) or perhaps to get down a steep slope. But you MUST be mounted to cross the start and finish lines.

Health check stops (Vet gates/vet checks) - at the pleasure ride level it's basically just a trot up before and after the ride to make sure the horse is sound. For actual competitive rides of up to 50km then it's at the beginning and end as well, but the check is a bit more thorough, including heart rates etc. For rides of 60Km and over, there may be one or more vet gates part-way round the course - but you don't need to worry about that yet!

Speed - for pleasure rides I think it's about 8 - 12kph (it's all done in km nowadays). For novice level competitive rides it's 10 - 15kph (I think). Yes, people will be cantering, but unlike sponsored rides, you don't tend to get the crazy people galloping around. Most riders take it much more steadily - maintaining the pace is far better than speeding up and slowing down.

There's bound to be lots I've missed out - but I'm sure someone else will fill you in - but please feel free to ask if you do have any more questions.

Good luck.
 
Hello Morgan,

Lovely to hear someone so excited to start endurance.

Preparing your horse for training rides/pleasure ride (I will differentiate further down!) comes from your routine hacking. Any horse that can do an hour and a half to two hours active forward going hacking should be able to tackle a pleasure ride. Ride forwards with a contact - depending on the terrain you have available incorporate hill work. As a native your chap should have some stamina!

If starting from scratch do long slow distance work (LSD) introducing more and more trot work on suitable surfaces but most importantly listen to your horse. As long as he is coping just keep a steady slow increase in pace and distance. Introduce canter work when he is doing well at trot. It is worth spending time getting a good foundation of fitness established.

Pleasure rides are time limited and have a speed of 8-12kph or 5-7.5 miles per hour. Training speed is only available to open or advanced endurance horses and extends the speed category to 15kph (9.31mph). You can acheive the PR speed by a forward going trot most of the way. PRs can be up to 40kms or 25miles plus a small margin. Competitive rides are 32kms - 80kms (10 mile to 50miles) with ERs (the race rides) being 80kms plus.

Start with the aim of doing a few rides - all the stuff about electrolytes, crewing etc comes later if you hooked. You will also get familiar with kilometres as opposed to miles!!

If you are thinking of doing 4 or more rides this season it is worth considering associated membership as it will save you money.

The sport is very friendly and loads of people will offer help with questions etc once you get started - the most important thing is enjoy yourself!! I would totally agree with comfortable clothing - all layers!!
 
thansk so much for your help everyone! I am so excited. I have always wanted to try it, jsut never had the opportunity before, and I think my horse will too. he is a bit bored of dressage and not keen on jumping in any sort of competition environment, bless him. We'd better get fit! I'll look into buying a stethoscope and stuff too.

Thasnk for the thong advice, lol, good thinking :-)!

Faro - i LOVE your arab, he/she is absolutely stunning!

Thank you for your help!!
 
Please please do not try interval training without a heart rate monitor otherwise you are in serious danger of breaking your horse any one who tells you otherwise is talking out of there derriere.

There is absolutely no need to ride your horse for 2.5 hours a day, all you are doing is putting undue wear and tear on your horses body, in order to get it fit enough to do a simple 10-20 mile ride. If you are exercising your horse on a regular basis 5-6 time a week for about an hour at a time then rides of this distance are well within your horses capability at a steady pace.

What you will be surprised by is how little you walk in a CR/ competitive ride. I took an eventing friend round a 30k/20 miles ride and they were amazed that we only walked a few short sections and mainly where the ground was a little stoney.

Interval training is only really something you need to worry about if you are going to up the distance to 50miles and above and do ER's.

If you are not sure if this is your long time goal then the only investment I would make outside of normal tack is in a stethoscope, I reckon you should have one as part of your first aid kit anyway.

Take a look at

http://www.endurancegb.co.uk/html/gettingstarted.html

http://www.endurancegb.co.uk/html/firstcompetition.html

I would suggest never walking up a hill as a good fitness plan, if on the road I tend to only walk down. Once your horse is balanced learning to trot and canter down hills is essential to a good endurance horses education.

Most of all get out there and enjoy yourself we are a friendly helpful bunch.

Dot
 
So pleased to hear you're excited about trying endurance!

You've been given some very good advice to which I can add little. I would underline the 'slow and steady' approach to fittening, and give the interval training a miss until you want to up your speed/distance, probably next year if you get hooked. And forget the electrolytes for the same reason - it's easy to make a mistake with them until you really know what you're doing. Feeding - as with other disciplines, feed according to the work done ... if you're increasing his workload, start giving a little hard feed; you can add oil for energy if hard feed goes to his head!

Lots of hill work, if you can, and long slow rides are better for basic fitness than short fast ones. Make sure you both have comfortable kit on! Someone else might have already given you this link but in case not - have a look at www.endurancegb.co.uk (I'm assuming you're in England). There's a lot of basic information there. In Scotland our base Pleasure ride speeds are between 8 and 11 kph - a good steady trot will accomplish that. You'll find you do very little walking.

You can overcome the flapping paper thing by putting your map in a plastic mapcase and tying it round your waist on a length of elastic. That way it stays close to you and doesn't rustle!

Above all, have fun and enjoy it!
 
My mad old welsh cob loved endurance, if very spooky or excitable I dont recommend race rides as it blew my boys mind! He races in ridden shows as he gets confused.

You will need to do more fitness work than an arab owner would as cobs take longer to get to the right type of fitness. Also it is vital to strip of any fat as this prevents heat dispersal and can cause metabolic issues.

Alos its vital to build up to loger distances slowly. it is possible to 'fast track' to higher levels now but I wouldnt with a cob. I took mine up slowy doing pleasure rides and 20s first year, 20's and 30's second year, then 30's and 40's the next year and then race rides and 50 after that. We didnt get further than 50 miles in a day, though some cob types used to do well at 100 milers.

Min eused to do 40 mile rides on a slat of hay at night and 1 handful of hard feed and 2 of chaff. My firend who competed an arab used a sack of feed a week (he was very nervy) and couldnt believe how little mine needed.

Map reading isnt that neccessary as most routes are well marked with either lime arrows or tapes. it is well worth memorising the talk round if one is provided.

Usually on lower mileage rides its a vet check start and finish. You will probably find after a while that yours can virtualy be sent of to trot himself up for the vets!

Good luck I wish mine was 10 years younger and i could do it all again with him!
 
thank you! OK, advice taken i won't think about interval training unless we end up doing advanced rides (doubtful for now i think!!). I'll just build up slowly and have some fun with him, adn won't worry about feeding him anything particularly other than the odd handful of mix unless he loses a lot of weight (extremely unlikely!) or seems to be struggling.

thansk so much for all the help!
 
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