Getting a pony fit for first hunter trial????

[ponymad56]

Hi

My daughter is doing her first hunter trial, pairs on her 14hh connemara gelding in about 3 weeks time. She's doing the 2'3 -2'6 and her horse is 16.

He is fit, she hacks him out happily for 1-2 hours on the roads, show jumps him without a sign of sweat around 3' courses, but obviously a hunter trial will be more demanding.

What can we do to fitten him up for the hunter trial? it's judged on boogey (sp) time.

Any ideas for a little fitness program, daughter can only ride tues,thurs and fri evenings and then sat and sun at the weekend.

Also any hunter trial pairs tips??

Thanks - cookies for all!

 

[rhino]

For the competition a lot depends if they have 'dressing fences' i.e. you have to jump the fences exactly alongside the other horse or not. If they do, it is a good idea to practice a few jumps (sj are fine as long as they are wide enough and verticals/parallels not x-poles) to make sure the horses are happy cantering and jumping together.

If the horses are very different then you may need to put some work into planning the jumps as well - I used to do a lot of pairs classes with my 16hh wb who was very naturally quick, had a huge stride and liked to stand off his jumps; my pair horse was a 14hh stocky cob who liked to get in close! It took a bit of practice to be able to jump together (but we did win quite a few classes).

With fitness I wouldn't worry too much now, certainly wouldn't want to change much with only 3 weeks to go. It sounds like he is doing a good level of work anyway and with bogey time not fastest it will help. Make sure he does some fast work a couple of times a week but other than that I wouldn't change anything. Hope it goes well!