Fitness for 70cm ODE?

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Sprat

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Hi,

Long time lurker, first time poster!

I have entered into my first 70cm ODE in a couple of weeks time, and wanted to get an idea of the best way to increase Sprats's fitness (Section D cross, 15.2)

I currently do a mix of schooling, jumping, hacking and have started interval work with him over the last few weeks, and he is definitely becoming fitter, but he isn't hugely forward!

He's currently fed 1 1/2 scoops of healthy hoof daily (a v. good doer so don't want him to balloon!)

Does anyone have any recommendations on work to increase fitness / energy levels or an extra something to add to feed without him becoming silly?

Thanks :)
 
Used to feed my D oats, small amount daily and a bigger scoop before anything energetic. They are fattening so need to watch you don't over feed but it worked really well with mine and also my friend's D.

Also find adrenalin keeps my friend's horse going at competitions. He's very fit, just never seems to get keen unless competing.
 
Thanks for the reply - I am a bit of a dunce when it comes to feeding for energy as I've always had good doers that I would rather slowed down!

Did you find that feeding oats added any extra spookiness? As Sprat is quite spooky as it is so ideally I would like to avoid adding to it!
 
Ohhh, good luck :)

To me it sounds as though you have been doing enough for him to be fit enough.

I have always found oats to add weight not energy!

All mine are good doers, and I don't feed cereals so I add propell to their basic feed of red bag grass nuts, it does seem to help - let us know how you get on :)
 
nato said:
For a spooky horse you could try Magnesium in the feed. Equine America Magnitude is great and cheap.
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I had him on EquiFeast CCC for his spookiness which included magnesium and while it worked with his spooking, it turned him into a bit of a zombie! I can deal with his level of spooking now, I just wouldn't want to increase the risk!

He is the type that tends to lull you into a false sense of security when cantering in the field, and then BAM - shoots sideways at 100mph to avoid scary bush monsters!
 
Hills are great for adding fitness to cobby types - have you got any near you? Doesn't have to mean cantering - we used a really good hill out of our village to trot up to get the hunters fit. Try to make him keep the same rhythm all the way up -he'll probably want to slow up as he gets puffed. Make sure you have good walk to cool down afterwards before getting off him.
Grid work or raised pole work is also good as it makes them more athletic and they have to use all their muscles.
 
I had to do fitness work with my cob even for 70cm eventing. I did canter laps round fields, and also grid work. And lots of trotting up hills out hacking. I would find a hill and trot up it and walk down it and repeat! it was soooooo hard to get him fit!
 
Fab thanks, we have a few hills around us, I have been doing bits of trotting up and down them; I'll start to increase it!

[deleted user] - how long did it take you to get your cob event fit?
 
Sprat said:
Fab thanks, we have a few hills around us, I have been doing bits of trotting up and down them; I'll start to increase it!

[deleted user] - how long did it take you to get your cob event fit?
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Gosh to be honest it was more of a constant thing really. I just never let him get unfit, if you know what I mean. I rode him 6 days a week, and jumped him once a week. Did laps once a week and hacked twice a week. Other 2 days in the school.

I would say it would have taken me maybe 8 weeks to get up to being happy at 70cm. I sadly lost him before I could get him fit for his 80cm debut, but to be honest I think I would have struggled to get him that fit. But he did have health issues, so not sure how much of a part that played in the end.

Don't underestimate how hard it is to get a proper cob fit!
 
If he is fit I would try oats. If he's not then there's no point. My trainer suggested oats and my friend thought it was a terrible idea for her D as he can be a spooky idiot at times. That's why I suggested only feeding a small amount daily so the horse is used to them in the diet, but upping it the day before/day of the competition.

This is what we both did, and it worked really well, my mare unfortunately died (suddenly and not connected to the oats!) but my friend's horse is out winning everything just now still on this regime. He never does appear that fit in his wind but she's doing 50km endurance rides and winning 75cm hunter trials and he doesn't break a sweat/breathing returns to normal really fast. It's just him, and a lot of other Ds.

My new D is actually a really athletic type with bags of stamina - she's not the norm in my experience.
 
Sprat said:
Hi,

Long time lurker, first time poster!

I have entered into my first 70cm ODE in a couple of weeks time, and wanted to get an idea of the best way to increase Sprats's fitness (Section D cross, 15.2)

I currently do a mix of schooling, jumping, hacking and have started interval work with him over the last few weeks, and he is definitely becoming fitter, but he isn't hugely forward!

He's currently fed 1 1/2 scoops of healthy hoof daily (a v. good doer so don't want him to balloon!)

Does anyone have any recommendations on work to increase fitness / energy levels or an extra something to add to feed without him becoming silly?

Thanks :)
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Ooh Hi Sprat. Is it the ODE at SRC on the 20th? I'm doing that too: the 70cm as Bailey is proper spooky at XC and if I am going to trot into them which I probably will do, its best they are small. I don't want to do too many jumping efforts in case the weather makes the ground too hard so the 70cm course is over a slightly shortened distance. My other half works as head groundsman, he says its a nice course - he built it ha ha. Bails is hacked out probably three times a week, jumped in the school one day a week and schooled for 30 mins max other days with one day off every week/ten days. There won't be many jumping efforts for the 70cm course, so it won't be very long in distance. I wouldn't worry, it sounds like you are doing the best thing. I found that when I used to compete every weekend my horse would fall asleep tied up to the back of the trailer between classes although he was always quite strong and forward round the jumping track. I used to feed him Spillers instant response mix. It provides stamina and energy but doesn't make them go all silly. It was very effective for my horse so it might just be what you are looking for.
 
applecart14 said:
Ooh Hi Sprat. Is it the ODE at SRC on the 20th? I'm doing that too: the 70cm as Bailey is proper spooky at XC and if I am going to trot into them which I probably will do, its best they are small. I don't want to do too many jumping efforts in case the weather makes the ground too hard so the 70cm course is over a slightly shortened distance. My other half works as head groundsman, he says its a nice course - he built it ha ha. Bails is hacked out probably three times a week, jumped in the school one day a week and schooled for 30 mins max other days with one day off every week/ten days. There won't be many jumping efforts for the 70cm course, so it won't be very long in distance. I wouldn't worry, it sounds like you are doing the best thing. I found that when I used to compete every weekend my horse would fall asleep tied up to the back of the trailer between classes although he was always quite strong and forward round the jumping track. I used to feed him Spillers instant response mix. It provides stamina and energy but doesn't make them go all silly. It was very effective for my horse so it might just be what you are looking for.
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Yes it is - Glad to hear it's not just me who will potentially be trotting at jumps :lol: Also glad to hear it's a nice course. I know the ground round us recently has been awful, it's like concrete! What breed is your horse? I've had a few people say oats, so I think I'll have a look into them and the Spillers instant response mix as well
 
Is that the novice and nervous one? I wanted to do that but but worried he wont load to come home...stroud to chipping sodbury is a long way to walk 😂
 
In your place, if you haven't done many ODE's then I wouldn't want to increase energy levels.

Horse sounds fit enough to go and do an unaff ODE tomorrow. He will probably be silly enough for the dressage at the sheer excitement at being at a party, & some adrenaline in the jumping will see you through.

if it isn't timed, then you can go at your own speed.

If he starts getting really tired you may just need to increase your fast work to up his fitness, if he starts loosing weight then up his feed a bit.

I've evented cobby types to PN with no hard food. Have also competed at 2 & 3 day events off grass alone. So long as he gets enough vits and minerals and in particular salt then you should be fine.
 
siennamum said:
In your place, if you haven't done many ODE's then I wouldn't want to increase energy levels.

Horse sounds fit enough to go and do an unaff ODE tomorrow. He will probably be silly enough for the dressage at the sheer excitement at being at a party, & some adrenaline in the jumping will see you through.
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Oh ******. Yes. Hadn't thought about that.

Best get my sticky bum jods on!
 
Are you going for an outing or are you wanting to be competitive?
I'm looking to do some hunter trials in the next few weeks, only small ones. I'm working to improve my ponies fitness but we are only going to have some fun so if pony gets a bit puffed I'll trot a bit (of course if she's really struggling I'll pull up but I don't imagine she will). I'm not looking to be hitting the time so I'm not worried about taking it steady if needed.
Of course if you want to be in the rosettes then you will want to be guaranteeing that fitness.
I did a 2'3" ODE in the spring and didn't have to do much fittening work. The xc course was shorter than the usual HT course and there was time between phases for my pony to recover. She steamed round the xc no problem.
 
little_critter said:
Are you going for an outing or are you wanting to be competitive?
I'm looking to do some hunter trials in the next few weeks, only small ones. I'm working to improve my ponies fitness but we are only going to have some fun so if pony gets a bit puffed I'll trot a bit (of course if she's really struggling I'll pull up but I don't imagine she will). I'm not looking to be hitting the time so I'm not worried about taking it steady if needed.
Of course if you want to be in the rosettes then you will want to be guaranteeing that fitness.
I did a 2'3" ODE in the spring and didn't have to do much fittening work. The xc course was shorter than the usual HT course and there was time between phases for my pony to recover. She steamed round the xc no problem.
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Not going to be competitive really, I'm just aiming to get round in one piece!
 
You would need to be able to be doing around 60 mins steady trotting daily to have a horse fit enough to do a X Country with minimal stress on the horse.

With increased fitness you may find he will become more forward, but the addition of some oats in his feed should perk him up. Contrary to long held belief they do not always fizz up horses, they actually contain less carbohydrates than Barley.
 
Sprat said:
Yes it is - Glad to hear it's not just me who will potentially be trotting at jumps :lol: Also glad to hear it's a nice course. I know the ground round us recently has been awful, it's like concrete! What breed is your horse? I've had a few people say oats, so I think I'll have a look into them and the Spillers instant response mix as well
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HI Sprat hope you had a nice time. After only 30 hours rest after our holiday I was at the yard for 6.15am and on board for 7.30am for the warmup as my dressage test was at 8am!

We came 11th out of the 15 in our section with 34.5 dressage, 4 SJ and clear XC but with loads of time penalties XC because of the trotting! He is a Belgium WB stamped horse although dutch bred. The spiller response is very good, I might put him on that again this winter for the SJ classes I hope to do with him.

He was full of running after the XC - I was having trouble trotting him to the fences; he wanted to canter everything! Pulled up sound afterwards so really pleased with him although his shoe was hanging on by a thread.

Note to self - must do more XC with him. He loved it, as soon as we were in the warm up field he was off! Ears forward the whole way round, eager, excited and loving every second!

So how did you do?
 
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Tnavas said:
You would need to be able to be doing around 60 mins steady trotting daily to have a horse fit enough to do a X Country with minimal stress on the horse.

QUOTE]

60 mins trotting a day? Where do you get these figures from??? its only a distance of about half a mile and 16 jumping efforts at 2ft 6!!! Its not Badminton or Burghley :)
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applecart14 said:
Tnavas said:
You would need to be able to be doing around 60 mins steady trotting daily to have a horse fit enough to do a X Country with minimal stress on the horse.

QUOTE]


60 mins trotting a day? Where do you get these figures from??? its only a distance of about half a mile and 16 jumping efforts at 2ft 6!!! Its not Badminton or Burghley :)
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General fitness, on the day you have the warmup for the dressage, the test, the warm up for the SJ, the SJ round, the warm up for the cross country and finally the XC round. The distances all add up. Tired horses make mistakes, unfit horses damage tendons.
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Tnavas said:
applecart14 said:
Tired horses make mistakes, unfit horses damage tendons.
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The above statement I agree with whole heartedly. However taking it into account 60 mins trotting daily for a mini riding club XC is a bit much. I still don't feel a horse has to be that fit. My horse finished barely out of breath and yet is only ridden six days a week, 3 days hacking, two schooling and jumping and one day competing, although this isn't every week and depends on what shows are on. I've lightened his competing quite a bit lately although this is not to do with his physical limitations, this is to do with mine! :)
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applecart14 said:
HI Sprat hope you had a nice time. After only 30 hours rest after our holiday I was at the yard for 6.15am and on board for 7.30am for the warmup as my dressage test was at 8am!

We came 11th out of the 15 in our section with 34.5 dressage, 4 SJ and clear XC but with loads of time penalties XC because of the trotting! He is a Belgium WB stamped horse although dutch bred. The spiller response is very good, I might put him on that again this winter for the SJ classes I hope to do with him.

He was full of running after the XC - I was having trouble trotting him to the fences; he wanted to canter everything! Pulled up sound afterwards so really pleased with him although his shoe was hanging on by a thread.

Note to self - must do more XC with him. He loved it, as soon as we were in the warm up field he was off! Ears forward the whole way round, eager, excited and loving every second!

So how did you do?
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Congratulations, that's brilliant! Which section were you in?

I came 6th in my section, with double clear and 37.5 dressage (he warmed up beautifully but then was quite tense in the test)

Managed to canter through most of the XC, he was a bit sticky over the first few jumps but then really got into it about half way round. Need to practice some water though as we walked through it, with me pony club kicking our way through!! :lol:

Are you doing the next one on the 31st?
 
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