Eventing peeps

[racebuddy]

Hi everyone

ive kept mine fit through lockdown and treadmill every other week to 2 weeks

i do cantee fitness at home too ie corcuit canter which have started now did 5 min this am and will
Increase to 7 min this week
Hacks a lot too

hows everyone prepeing

??

 

[ihatework]

What level are you prepping for and what type of horse?

 

[HufflyPuffly]

I have hibernated, refused to get soaked through in freezing weather and eaten my feelings, the horses have done similar .

I've now picked them up to get them fit, Skylla has been de-fuzzed and is surprisingly fit despite 6 weeks of light work. She is now getting her ass moving up the welsh hills and I need to start some interval training for her stamina. Aiming for BE80's with Llany in May being our first goal!

Topaz has had the same but kept her fluff, she's not a fan of hills and doesn't think dressage horses should be made to do them .

 

[racebuddy]

What level are you prepping for and what type of horse?

Ish , be 90 and schooling around be 100 my 18 year old

 

[GG13]

I’m the same as HufflyPuffly. I always give mine the winter off anyway and pick them up again around January to start their walking.
I wouldn’t plan to have them in full fitness before end of March, more likely April, as I’ve found a lot of the earlier events end up having to cancel in recent years, or I wouldn’t want to risk running even if they do go ahead

 

[Ample Prosecco]

We've got an indoor and an outdoor so we have kept up with schooling all winter. Dolly has been ridden or lunged 5 times a week since she had her post season break. She is not as fit as I'd like as hacking has been hit and miss recently. Also she has not had the opportunity to go XC since 2nd Decemeber but we are doing that from 29th March.

 

[TheMule]

My mainly TB mare has not done any fast work yet. She is planned to re-start at BE100 level on 6th April ? She does hill work in walk/ trot twice a week and I am about to up the intensity of that. She jumps once a week so I'm starting to demand a bit more of her in those sessions and I will replace one of her hill days with a canter from this week so that gives us 4 weeks of faster work including 2 xc schools once possible. She is easy to get fit and wasn’t let down at all over winter so she doesn’t need much more.

 

[sportsmansB]

My 16yo 100 horse didn't have a proper break as he had a self inflicted one during lockdown one last year for 6 weeks. He did a 90 at the end of the season without breaking a serious sweat and has held that fitness since.. Hes a pretty athletic guy anyway and being older hes tougher and holds it well. I wouldn't hesitate in taking him round an event as he is. I don't do any fast work in prep for events with him, he hacks 2 x week, jumps / cavaletti once or twice and flat work once or twice. He is definitely fitter than he needs to be and I am concious of not putting unnecessary strain / mileage on his legs. Unless you have a particularly heavy type I'm not sure how much fast work is necessary before novice to be honest. In an ideal world we'd have a xc school now but neither of us are big fans of slithering around in mud so we'll leave that and hope we get out SJ soon

 

[Roxylola]

I've written off the early season. We had this intention to get really fit, do lots of arena eventing and galloping so we could get some strong 80s and up to 90 mid season. Time is not our friend and its a lot of money to have a good competitive dressage and then be mid div on time. So having lost all of November and now Jan onwards we won't be ready for a good while. Stamina wise he'd be fine as we hack plenty but we have no facility for faster work without either our field being fit or hiring.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

With mine both being carriage bred, the basic fitness is there but they need the specific canter work to build that fitness, they can trot for miles but they are not built for cantering so although plenty fit enough for an 80 they still need to work the canter. Having lost our canter/ hill field and hiring off until the 29th I need to be more inventive with my hacking!

Topaz is joining in the canter/hill fitness as it's the best way to build her up without over doing the schooling work, at 18 the fitter I can keep her without too many circles the better!

 

[AnShanDan]

Young friend's horse that I have a significant interest in is hopefully starting back at Novice when there's anything on we can get him to distance-wise, maybe frenchfield first weekend in May. She is just schooling him as normal and hacking out a couple of times a week. Planning a few SJ schooling rounds as no BS on obv. Also a couple of XC schooling sessions when ground is OK.
He is a TB x WB and can jump and gallop for fun tho.

 

[ihatework]

Ish , be 90 and schooling around be 100 my 18 year old

Well I personally wouldn’t be doing 7min sets on an 18yo doing BE90, unless what you mean is a slow steady inhand canter. What is a BE90 time 3.5-4.5 mins?? Why put the extra strain on an 18yo body?

My 5yo, assuming no disaster, will probably go out at BE90 end April/May. He hasn’t done any formal canter fitness work yet, and possibly won’t do structured stuff for a 90. But he is a buzzy gung ho type.

Whereas the big carthorse x I had, needed to do a disproportionate amount of fittening due to his type and wind. As a prep for Novice last year, by now he would have been alternating 2 x 8 furlong gallops with 6 min mid pace canters.

 

[racebuddy]

Thanks for everyone’s replies ,?

 

[racebuddy]

Well I personally wouldn’t be doing 7min sets on an 18yo doing BE90, unless what you mean is a slow steady inhand canter. What is a BE90 time 3.5-4.5 mins?? Why put the extra strain on an 18yo body?

My 5yo, assuming no disaster, will probably go out at BE90 end April/May. He hasn’t done any formal canter fitness work yet, and possibly won’t do structured stuff for a 90. But he is a buzzy gung ho type.

Whereas the big carthorse x I had, needed to do a disproportionate amount of fittening due to his type and wind. As a prep for Novice last year, by now he would have been alternating 2 x 8 furlong gallops with 6 min mid pace canters.

Even thougg he is 18 hes is fit as a fiddle and absolutely thrives off his work , he has three month vet checks teeth / physio massagers treadmilled which he loves , just because hes 18 doesnt mean he should be written off , never overworked and legs always looked after and cautious of ground

 

[Teaboy]

Even thougg he is 18 hes is fit as a fiddle and absolutely thrives off his work , he has three month vet checks teeth / physio massagers treadmilled which he loves , just because hes 18 doesnt mean he should be written off , never overworked and legs always looked after and cautious of ground

I don’t think ihatework was talking about writing him off just that interval training on an 18year old horse to go round a BE90 is a little excessive possibly and will add wear and tear for no particular reason.
For what it’s worth I never interval train unless aiming for a CIC or something, possibly when moving up to intermediate as well. I’ll do long hacks with canter where able and schooling otherwise.

 

[Ample Prosecco]

Deleted as I hadn't read the previous posts properly. Sorry!