Getting eventing-fit on weekends... impossible??

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hannahg16

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I'm at university in London full time but live in Suffolk, and am trying to get my 11 yr old TB fit for a few BE events this season. I can generally only get back Saturday and Sunday, occasionally Fridays, and every now and then my mum is able to work him on a Wednesday.

I wondered if anyone has any tips on getting a horse to eventing-level fitness when you're working or studying full time? We have excellent hacking where I live, a floodlit outdoor arena and two large fields to exercise in so space isn't a problem! Any advice would be very welcome!!
 
I event my horse at intermediate and at the start of the season she is only worked 4 times a week. 2 of those include canterwork- a weekend day will be interval work in the fields and one of the weekday rides will be on the flat but with 2 long canters at the end in a large arena.
It's not ideal and I prefer to work her 5 days a week for that level but it is do-able.

For intro/PN I think it could be done with 3 days work a week but not 2.
 
He lives out so he keeps himself pretty fit, and I managed it before with my old eventer, thanks to lots of hacking! It's what to do to make the most of the time I have that can be problematic... do you think working twice a day for 3 days has any extra benefit to 3 'normal' days of work for instance?
 
Thank you, that's good to know!! I think 3 days is definitely manageable, and if I can get myself out of bed at 4am on mondays to ride before I go back to London, 4 might be a possibility too
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It does depend on the horse (age, ability, type, previous fitness, etc) but imo 3 times a week is not enough to get a horse to be fit enough to compete safely.

Lack of fitness can cause many problems- poor performance, injury, unwillingness to work, stress, increases fall risk, etc and imo it is never worth competing a horse unless it is fit enough for the job.
 
I would think that the problem is that these 3 days are all going to be at one part of the week and then he gets 4 days off. 3 days spread out might be doable?

Is it possible to get/pay someone to ride him once in the week for you? I dont think I would be happy competing ODE at any level (I am unaff only) on anything that is only essentially being ridden at weekends.
 
For our brief flirtation with eventing I managed with only working my horse 4 days a week, one of which was just a quick lunge, because of work commitments. I found this was fine for Intro, but mine had plenty of turnout and is naturally an active horse in the field so does keep himself reasonably fit on his own.
 
He's quite a tricky horse - it took me a long time to get him to go well for me, and I'm quite wary of trusting someone else with him when I'm not there, just because if they did something he didn't like he has been known to nap quite badly, don't want to go back to those days!! I'm on the lookout though, someone who could come in a couple of times a week and give him 20mins canterwork on the lunge would be ideal!!
 
Isn't it funny how peole's opions on fitness vary. It depends on the horse. I had a little very active TB who would gallop round the field every day until he blew, however my present horse is so lazy he is incredibly difficult to get fit.

Getting fit is a lot harder than keeping fit and ticking over. I don't think a horse has to be ridden EVERY day for a one-day event, after all endurance horses don't. Getting fit, building up heart lungs and legs is the hard work, and it mght be a good idea to get someone to help during the week until you are competing regularly. If you don't want the horse ridden perhaps they could give a good work-out on long lines - not lunging.
 
i think 3 to 4 days a week would be ok if spread through the week but not riding Fri-Sun and off Mon-Thurs.

i would hack out instead of school but get the horse working properly in an outline out hacking.
 
if you got him to a certain level of fitness while you had been off over christmas, and then factor in easter & any reading weeks you have, you may find he's fitter than you think, but it will depend on how fit he is currently, how far away from eventing fit do you think you are, and do you think you can top up between now & your 1st event
 
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