Heart Rate for Endurance

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Ali2012

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Hi All

Me and mare are starting our first endurance season and i have so far done two pleasure rides and at the end of June i have my first lower level competitive class.

I'm just wondering if any endurance riders out there could tell me what kind of training programme they do with their horse to keep them fit.

I am limited at the moment as i do not have transport to go anywhere to practice ride and my hacking is all road and quite limited distance wise, but is fairly hilly. I do however, have a menage and a 6 acre field i can ride in.

At present we lunge for 30mins followed by riding for 30mins 3 times a week, then we will do an hour of interval training in the field and hack out once or twice a week for an hour/hour an half.

Any tips and information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Mandy
 
Unfortunately my phone doesn't presently support apps due to being dropped at the stables and not being yet :rolleyes:

I did a 12.5 mile pleasure ride at an average speed of around 5/6 mph, i'm in the process of finding out how long it took me to do the 17 miles i did on Saturday, so will let you know.

As its mainly on roads when i hack it tends to be at walk with only a few bursts of trot when safe to do so, but my mare does walk quick enough for others to trot to keep up.
 
Ali2012 we compete in RC team endurance and to keep to the speed required on 13km ph you need to do a decent pace trot. We run at 32km which is approc 2.5 hours. So if you can keep a decent pace trot for 2.5 hours then you are on a winner. My Ex racer usually has a heart rate of between 32-42 half an hour after the finish line :)
 
I am far from experienced but I'll add what I do in case it helps. I did a couple of pleasure rides last year, one this year and then did my first 31km a couple of weeks ago. Finished on a heart rate of 44 and he'd easily have gone further. He's an Irish Sports Horse so not the lightest on his feet. I nominated SC3 but had to stop and waste time as I was going a bit too fast.

So, mine lives out. I have no school so all my work is hacking. He hates being lunged so I don't subject him to it (I'd rather ride anyway!). I ride 4 or 5 times a week depending on work. Most of my rides will be an hour or so, covering about 10 - 12 km. Every hack I do involves at least 2 serious and lengthy hills and I'm in a decent trot or canter for all but the first and last 1 km. I'm lucky that my local woods are set entirely on the side a hill so I can do a figure of 8. Once a week I do a longer hack. I have one I can do from the yard which is 18 km and has one long (2 km and it's relentless!) pretty steep hill - I go down into a big valley and then up the other side - plus 2 other decent hills. Again I trot / canter pretty much all of it.

Before my first 31km this was the furthest I had done. The extra distance was no problem. I am now planning to start trailering every couple of weeks somewhere different with the plan of going further. I definitely think the hill work is a massive help. I use an app on my phone to measure distance and speed. We tend to average about 11 km/hr - we were averaging a good bit higher than that on our competitive ride but it was almost completely flat.

I'm really enjoying the endurance. It gives me a lot more focus when hacking out and my Horse looks better than he ever has. I have no idea if what I do for fitness is correct or not but it's worked so far!!
 
My boy is only 20/30 mile fit at the moment, by that I mean we will average 10mph and have a hR of around 40 within 15 mins of finishing.
To do this he is hacked out 3 times a week. I walk the first and last mile and trot the rest when on the road and canter/trot the bridle paths. Except once a week when I use one bridle path for interval training.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I'm really struggling with the hacking and as i have no transport yet, its difficult getting madam out and about really.

I could hack if she would, but strangely she doesnt like to hack out from the yard and refuses, backs up, spins and just makes it damn impossible to go on our own, i don't think she is scared, just stubborn! Anyhow, am doing some long reining with her and walking her out in hand and then getting on and riding back, it is a fairly new yard to us we have only been on there since September so I'm hoping with all the inhand work it will help. I do have a couple of others i can hack with but they do not want to trot so makes it difficult and her walk is naturally fast too so they have trouble keeping up.

I mean is it possible to have her fit without the long hacking 3 times a week??

My next ride is with Sport Endurance at Chester Zoo at the end of the month, am really looking forward it :D
 
I am also a pretty inexperienced endurance rider but have had the luck of meeting and riding with some very experienced people. They have been impressed with my lads fitness (15.1 cob), his heart rate (40-42 after 34km fast ride) and his ability to keep up with the arabs.

Here is how I have got him this fit - more by accident than good management I might add. :rolleyes: We are on the South Downs so our hacking has lots of hill work.

1 flat lesson a week
1 jumping lesson a week
1 long lining session a week
1 long hack a week - about 3 - 4 hours - lots of trot and canter work
2-3 hacks of 1.5 - 3 hours a week - lots of trot and canter, sometimes 1 of this will be swapped for a 1 hour session of interval training.

He will generally get a day off every week or 10 days. In the summer he is sometimes worked twice a day if there is a lot of grass. He is a very good doer.:D
 
Ali2012 said:
Thanks for all the replies.



I mean is it possible to have her fit without the long hacking 3 times a week??

My next ride is with Sport Endurance at Chester Zoo at the end of the month, am really looking forward it :D
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depends on the distance you are going t be doing and the speed you want to be going at

I might see you at Chester, I'm hoping to get out to that one
 
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