Fitness not quite as expected

Michen

Michen

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Bog flew around Munstead BE100 jumping a double clear in his first go last weekend but he did unexpectedly tire towards the end, at the last three fences.. and it's a flat, not particularly long course. He continued to jump well until the last one (which was massive) where he chipped in a stride and had to work to get over it cleanly. A few time faults but he recovered very quickly and was bouncy by the time he walked the few mins back to the lorry, he’s since had a week off whilst I’ve been skiing.

The week before he finished a hilly Swalcliffe 80 with me without breaking a drop of sweat, and he’s hunted all season and looks/seems very fit. Obviously there's a huge difference in height etc. I’ve probably been a bit lax about maintaining it, as felt he could loose a fair bit of fitness and still be fitter than needed, so perhaps he’s lost more than I should have let him and combined with the increased height/technicality/brain requirement he got tired. It is the most tired I've ever actually seen him! There wasn't much of a gap between phases, all three were done within 1 hour 30.

What should I aim to do to increase this? He's running at Calmsden with me mid April for the 90, then will either be heading to Broadway (hilly, so perhaps not if there's a question mark over fitness), or Millfield BE100. Should I be aiming to jump more to increase his fitness, or more gallop work.. specific interval training etc etc?

I can't actually believe I'm writing this, as if anything I was hoping for a drop in fitness to dull him down a little!

Video of him finishing so you can see what I mean.

[video]
 
I reckon you have had a quiet week and are now trying to find things to worry about 😂

He got the last fence wrong. It happens. His fitness will have come on for the run and will have again once he has chugged up calmsden hills.

If you genuinely feel it’s fitness, add an extra 5 mins canter into your schooling sessions, add an extra couple of miles onto your hacking. Give him an extra fast canter out hacking.
 
ihatework said:
I reckon you have had a quiet week and are now trying to find things to worry about 😂

He got the last fence wrong. It happens. His fitness will have come on for the run and will have again once he has chugged up calmsden hills.

If you genuinely feel it’s fitness, add an extra 5 mins canter into your schooling sessions, add an extra couple of miles onto your hacking. Give him an extra fast canter out hacking.
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Haha, that is likely very true!

His jockey did say he actually tired at the end and I do think he looks it even if the awkward jump wasn't necessarily because of it...? Just lost his oomph and I guess I am thinking that it was an easy course in terms of fitness, so maybe I need to up things a little if he's going to go around one that's trickier/hilly. I'm not saying I'd expect him to finish like he could go around again necessarily, but a tired Boggle is unheard of!

Should be easier to hack for longer with the lighter evenings.

Schooling... I'll try ;)
 
what was the weather like on that day, some days it has been very warm and if that was the case it may just be it took more out of him and you neednt worry. he looked pretty good to me even though he got the last one wrong..
 
splashgirl45 said:
what was the weather like on that day, some days it has been very warm and if that was the case it may just be it took more out of him and you neednt worry. he looked pretty good to me even though he got the last one wrong..
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Not that warm, he was clipped the day before and was in the morning :) I guess I just know how he usually finishes, and his rider felt he was tired too. Just want to keep everything "easy" for him :) His ears are back at the end and everything- ha!!
 
ester said:
ha sorry I just love IHW's reply, no more to be said!

If you don't get schooling how are we going to come and cheer you on at the grass roots at badders :p
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So spot on, I can only laugh at myself! If I put as much effort into worrying about my job as I do about Boggle I'd be a multi millionaire.

I think the chances of Bog and I ever doing a dressage good enough to qualify for grass roots are about as high as me ever going around ACTUAL badminton :P
 
Ok if that was a racehorse it would come on for the run. If it were running again in 2.5 weeks and you have given him a week off I would do 2 days of good walk and trot hacks so the muscles are being used again but not enough for him to tie up. Then we would do a week of steady canters, a bit of work mid way through next week before calming it down again to short, steady canters, hacks maybe a bit of jumping to let the body recover from the bit of work and rebuild the energy needed to race again.

I wouldn't worry too much about the fitness. He looked to be going good guns til the 2nd last in the video, making the mistake which cost him a lot of energy to actually get over the final fence won't have helped but it's not the end of the world. And as you say everything was up a gear - the brain, the fences etc.

He will be fine for your 90, don't worry about it!
 
EKW said:
Ok if that was a racehorse it would come on for the run. If it were running again in 2.5 weeks and you have given him a week off I would do 2 days of good walk and trot hacks so the muscles are being used again but not enough for him to tie up. Then we would do a week of steady canters, a bit of work mid way through next week before calming it down again to short, steady canters, hacks maybe a bit of jumping to let the body recover from the bit of work and rebuild the energy needed to race again.

I wouldn't worry too much about the fitness. He looked to be going good guns til the 2nd last in the video, making the mistake which cost him a lot of energy to actually get over the final fence won't have helped but it's not the end of the world. And as you say everything was up a gear - the brain, the fences etc.

He will be fine for your 90, don't worry about it!
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Ahh definitely not worried about the 90, but wondering if I need to do more if he goes to hilly Broadway 100 instead of flat Millfield 100 to make sure he's ready.

The above advice is great, sadly no rest for the wicked though as he's had a quiet hack this week and tomorrow is off to a 2 day eventing camp to work his socks off, though there won't be any interval type fitness training obviously!

Tbh, probably could do with getting him as fit as possible whilst the ground is still good for doing so. He will probably do not much in June/July/August if we get another dry summer but would be good for him to maintain fitness as much as possible to run if theres an opp.
 
I'm currently training for a marathon (well actually it's on sunday and I'm currently lame but we wont talk about that)
So from a point of endurance type fitness, one of the biggest things I've found is that it takes me longer to recover from long runs than I think it does, so a long run Sunday, 4 or 5 mediums in the week and I find I struggle with my next long run.
You see he did a hilly run the week before and the phases were very close, he's likely plenty fit enough, he was just possibly still a bit spent by the end of the xc from the week before and the short breaks. I would carry on as you are and not stress too much if your next run is a couple of weeks away.
 
Don't forget that the actual running at events makes a difference to their fitness too - even though he tired a bit, overall that will have added to his fitness bank too.

If you are worried, up the longer hacks and maybe tag on some steady canter work at the end.
 
I would consider the mental side of it and perhaps the closeness of the phases plus the up in height may account for it. I sometimes try schooling a bit and then hack or the other way around. Or i may even school in the middle of my hack and then pop a round of fences when i get home. Each bit stays easy physically but it ups the mental load of having to change phases.
 
One thing my instructor said to me recently is you can increase technicality but ask less speed/endurance or you can increase speed/endurance but keep technicality the same, until they start finding it comfortable then you push it again, but doing both together is not likely to be a recipe for success.
I'm not an eventer so I could be talking out of my arse here so feel free to ignore, but if you apply the above, you upped the technical by doing the 100 (I'm widely assuming as well as being bigger fences the approach/striding etc is more complex too). I wouldn't under estimate the extra mental effort required in doing that. So based on that, I'd probably try and get some hill work and interval work into him and some practice with some technical set ups between now and the next event. If he's fairly new to 100 I'd probably go for the flatter course to allow him another run to adjust to the increased technicality.
This is very much my humble opinion though and there are far more qualified posters on this thread than me!
 
chaps89 said:
One thing my instructor said to me recently is you can increase technicality but ask less speed/endurance or you can increase speed/endurance but keep technicality the same, until they start finding it comfortable then you push it again, but doing both together is not likely to be a recipe for success.
I'm not an eventer so I could be talking out of my arse here so feel free to ignore, but if you apply the above, you upped the technical by doing the 100 (I'm widely assuming as well as being bigger fences the approach/striding etc is more complex too). I wouldn't under estimate the extra mental effort required in doing that. So based on that, I'd probably try and get some hill work and interval work into him and some practice with some technical set ups between now and the next event. If he's fairly new to 100 I'd probably go for the flatter course to allow him another run to adjust to the increased technicality.
This is very much my humble opinion though and there are far more qualified posters on this thread than me!
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No I agree, and I think we will probably go for millfield over Broadway because of that!
 
Don’t go building up one slight miss into a big thing .
I think if he where mine I would be checking that he was confident and happy after the step up .
I would do some grid work and a fun xc session before his next run .
Make sure you are training for the increase in technical difficulties you will be beginning to meet by training the jumping at angles etc in the school .
I don’t know the course you did but I do think 100’s look a clear step up from 90’s he may have mentally tired as he went round .
He’s looking good though .
Don’t over think ( defiantly pot and kettle comment ).
 
Goldenstar said:
Don’t go building up one slight miss into a big thing .
I think if he where mine I would be checking that he was confident and happy after the step up .
I would do some grid work and a fun xc session before his next run .
Make sure you are training for the increase in technical difficulties you will be beginning to meet by training the jumping at angles etc in the school .
I don’t know the course you did but I do think 100’s look a clear step up from 90’s he may have mentally tired as he went round .
He’s looking good though .
Don’t over think ( defiantly pot and kettle comment ).
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Just at a camp and been jumping grids with no reins! XC schooling tomorrow.

He made nothing of the height whilst going around, his rider said he felt no different at 100 than he did at 80 or 90 last year. Just a bit tired at the end
 
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