Event Horse Training Regime

seabsicuit2 said:
I hear you, espec re heavier warmblood types-it's just that I feel that different types of work - I.e fast walk hacking up and down the hills is better for them rather than 3x 45 min drilling in the school to sweating point 3 times a week, week in, week out.. On top of fast canter work every week.. there is no need for it if you have a TB/ near TB event horse. race training has shown that walking out for hours each day & long slow trots up hills is superb for maintaining fittness at a very high level, without burdening the legs and muscles with repetitive school or canter work.. And also , with intermediate/advanced horses, there is little need to be drilling them in the school so much.. It's the continuos schooling that breaks them, you see that with dressage horses all the time!!

I'm not saying I'm right or wrong at all, all I'm wondering is if there is such a need for the intensity and types of work program's that have been mentioned here. Who knows?
Anyone remember that H&H article about Lenamore- clearly said that most of his work is hours of hacking out.
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This is a little naive to be honest. To get a horse ready for high level eventing there has to be at least one if not two sessions of canter work per week, several schooling sessions, maybe some jumping and a hack.

There is little use comparing eventers with pure dressage horses. The reason high level dressage horses suffer soft tissue injuries is because of the extremely physically demanding nature of the collected and elevated movement that they have to perform. Having the horses' weight truly down through its hind legs puts a tremendous amount of strain on the limbs. Eventers compete at a much lower level of dressage which does not really involve getting the weight down behind, so a 45 minute schooling session even for a 4 star eventer would be less physically demanding than 10 minutes of grand prix level dressage.

I really think the need to get the horse fit enough for a high level three day event cannot be emphasised too much. Until you have taken a horse round at that level you can never really know just how physically demanding it really it. The horse uses most of his energy on the continuous technical jumping efforts, which makes him tired for the galloping in between. There is little point comparing it to racing fitness.

I have seen some pretty unpleasant sights of horses going round three day events clearly not fit enough. It is dangerous for both the horse and rider, but sadly with the short format people are regularly underestimating the fitness required. A 10km runner would not prepare for a race by walking and jogging! Aerobic training is required to increase oxygen transport and efficiency, and unless the body is being made to work in order to provide enough oxygen then it is not going to increase efficiency.
 
I've worked with a few 4* riders before and after long format was stopped. So I have seen a change in the fitness work slightly. However also seen very diff approaches to fitness and management.

With regards to work the horses started fitness work with two weeks on walker two weeks walking, two weeks trotting then canter work introduced and then schooling session then jumping then fast work for horses at novice and above only. Once fit the work each horse did was very horse specific. The TB types would do less work in general and often schooling sessions in general focused on long and low to keep top line and aid the muscles for the dressage as lots of fast work uses the opposite muscles and doesn't help this type on the flat (generalising here). The laid back types (note these were not always WB) did often more fast work, for example up the gallops an extra time. It was always a pattern of four days work with the fourth day being the hardest session so gallops or jumping then day off then another four days. On competition weeks this changed again depending on horse. Some horses benefitted from being worked hard a couple of days before event others not. Again after an event some benefit from a short hack to stretch legs.

One of the riders did the majority of work out hacking and only two session max per week in the school. However he did have excellent hacking over ditches/banks/hunt jumps/streams etc all on the side of a very steep hill! The horses were very sound and very fit.

General horse management at home went somewhere along lines of worked in morning and turned out in afternoon. Some horses were living out 24/7 if weather permitted. They always got dinner and depending on whether they needed it breakfast and lunch. Feed regimes were often a balancing act as the laid back ones were often good doers and the sharp ones always seemed to go off their food when very fit. Hay/haylage ad lib unless a particuarly good doer. Legs were iced after fast work and sometimes feet if it was a footy horse. The horses were shod every four weeks too. Seen by physio on a regular basis too when competing.

In comparison my TB who has only competed at intro level is in very little work. Lightly Hacked four times a week and one jump session and one session on flatwork. I should do more flatwork though.
 
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I agree with pretty much every word TD has said. It would be an exceptional horse at 4* that didn't need to go to the gallops every 4th day. ElleJS's is one of those horses. Some just hold their fitness much more easily.
The last few I got fit for 3 days were for a long format 3* and then a short format 2*. The second horse (2*) was stuffier than the first, but we did about the same, for that reason. We went to the gallops every 4th day, all-weather gallops with a good hill, which we went up 4 times. She got a very occasional day off, really a day off was usually a long walk hack (or a session on the walker, when I had one). Turned out every day for as long as possible, lived out if weather nice. Was jumped once or twice a week, schooled a few times a week. Lots of long hacks over all sorts of terrain. What I found with the Adv horse was that the galloping (even though it was on uphill gallops and she was not on the forehand) slightly set back our flatwork canter in particular, almost every time. Working the wrong muscles I guess. (she was 1/8 Irish but looked a bit more). It was a really difficult balance to get, the fitness and the correct frame of mind and body for the flatwork...
I think what some people maybe forget is that a good flatwork session is interval training. If you canter for 5 minutes in a dressage session, then ease off, then 5 more minutes, it's interval work, it really increases the fitness. Lungeing is very fittening too. TD's right about Pros working the horses much more intensely, too, imho.
 
I've evented to CCI*** level back in the long format days and do agree with TB and Kerilli broadly although as they said it does depend on the horse. Whereas when long foramt was used i can remember several instances where horses broke down perhaps due to do much gallop work/preparation, nowdays i think it is far more frequent to see horses not fit enough. I was at a yard briefly last year where the young amateur rider hardly rode her horses at all in between competitions and guess what she had a lot of injury issues! I now have a warmblood who actually gets and keeps fit very easily and at 2 star level only gallop once a week but do atleast 2-3 long hacks with hill work every week to and 2 schooling sessions (45minutes to 1 hour) plus jumping once a week max. He is the sort of horse who would get sour doing too much schooling, but he does also get to practise his half pass and pirouettes out hacking aswell! In reply to sea biscuits concerns this regime isnt week in and week out as generally he events every 2-3 weeks and after an event always has 2-3 days off followed by 2-3 days slow hacking for both a physical and mental break, before picking up the regime again. I was advised this many years ago by a top eventing vet as any competition can cause tiny tears/strains in tendons and ligaments and giving this time for these to heal is so important. Obviously after a bigger CCI competiton the break might be longer. The most important thing is your horse should be finishing the cross country full of running at any level, if they are tiring before the end you need to rethink your regime:)
 
ah yes, i forgot post-event regime. from working with pointers... the day after a run, walk ONLY. not even allowed a step of jog. (they were kept in though, i turn out the day after an event, but try to discourage hooleying around!) then the next day a walk hack. the next day another walk hack or school, maybe a bit of a jog here and there as a check up. no jumping until day 4, if then.
 
As a rider whose other hobby is running (although off injured at the moment!), I would definitely emphasise the point that being not fit enough is far more likely to cause injury than over work. Also, for me the early fittening work is crucial. I believe in the maxim that the longer you take to get fit, the longer you stay fit for. I always plan the early walk/trot work very carefully with gradual increases in intensity and duration and never rush this stage.
 
Horses should be just as fit for CCIs now as when there were R and T and steeplechase. In those days the actual xc was less intense and therefore tiring in a different way, due to more endurance rather than intensity of effort.
As has been stated, schooling work is a form of fitness work. It doesn't have to be monotonous for the horse. You don't have to do the same exercises each day and the emphasis can vary in each session - trot, canter, stretching, collecting, softness, power, etc. As long as you have a system, the horse understands the ground rules and there is focus then the schooling will be beneficial. Factor in the jump training, fast work, an easy day and the brain should stay happy. Top level horses tend to have a lower boredom threshold and can be happier knowing what they are going to do so too much variety can stress them more. Just because a horse gets a bit sweaty and finishes his work knowing he has done something, it doesn't mean that his body has been abused or he will go lame quicker. Also a certain amount of harder work for a young horse helps it develop and cope with later life. If they are left too long then the initial fitness programme is very hard for them and can create more soundness issues than working them younger.
There are many ways and systems that lead to the same end goal and often they suit the rider's mentality and attitude as much as the horse's.
 
Just another wee point to note...
It is actually necessary to school a horse enough that their flatwork is established for the level they are working at.
Some learn more quickly than others
If you need to work on canter half pass before a big event its hard to do it without schooling!!
In the Pro yard I help at (Northern Ireland)
- Very basics- horses are fed pretty simple feed (cool mix/conditioning cubes), really really good quality haylage, supplements only where absolutely necessary. One who was previously longlisted for a team had her bloods done and the results were so good that they didn't believe the simple feeding regime she had.
- Daily every horse goes on the walker for approx 40 mins. Some who need turnout get it for 3 hr (approx) blocks- day after an event those who went normally get out, night before the ones who are sharp in the dressage maybe get out.
- The novice/1* horses get (approx) hacked x 3, 1 day off (and day after event), 2 x 30 mins schooling and jumped the day before an event. Might canter round a big field a couple of times on a hack. rarely specific 'fittening' work
- The babies (before Prenovice) get hacked with 10/15 mins in the school after, approx 4 days a week, then maybe 1 day SJ or XC schooling.
- prenovice would get a mix of the above
- Nothing gets galloped until 2*, and then maybe once a week with 1 swimming session too. Might do canter interval training in large outdoor on surface. The 'big' horses get longer hacks (1 1/2hrs, 2 x week) more intense schooling and taken out to jump elsewhere once in the week.
It is all built up gradually from babies on, it seems like a natural progression for them.
Some less natually fit horses at the higher levels might get hacked and schooled (i.e. ridden twice) in a day if they need it.
 
My personal rules or goals for an idx competing at Nov/1* is to;
canter every 4 days alternating been long canters and short sprints
Ride 6 days a week then if something happens and I only manage five I am Ok
Two days off after an event or just a walk hack on the second
School and hack on the rest. Short hacks due to traffic then on school
Weekly lesson.
Very happy with fitness for level I am competing at. Sure many less chunky horses could manage on less.
 
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