Help me devise a fittening plan - endurance

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goldypops

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I am planning on starting (low level!) endurance riding this year with my 5yr old welsh section c cross gelding. My first planned event is april to do just the 13km ride and then at least 1 ride a month increasing in length. Can anyone help me devise a fittening plan for him???? Aim is to just enjoy doing some competitions and then possibly next year do some or all of the Pennine Way.
Last summer we just did hacking, probably the furthest we went was 7 miles and then he has been off since November due to family commitments. He is a fairly laid back character but long striding. I would prefer to hack out saturday and sundays as the roads are quieter round here and plan to work him also on tuesdays and thursdays - lunging/schooling??? (though both of us find that boring!). I have a large field with a gentle incline up the longside that is about 0.6 of a mile round the outside so could do some interval training on that???? Hacking wise we have a good few steep hills round us which will help I am sure.
Any other tips for a first timer at this type of event??? How fit do I need to be also!!!
Half a box of posh choccies for anyone who can help!
 
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foraday

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To do low level events at endurance ie the 'pleasure rides' which range from 10km upwards then mostly people are the 'happy hackers' as no vetting is compulsory, sometimes an endurance event will do a complimentary vetting to show happy hackers that its nothing scary.

To do Novice events ie 32km 20 miles in old money then really to stand any chance you need to be doing between 5-10 miles daily to get your horses heart rate fit

Take your horses heart rate before you hack out. Then on your return, then 30 minutes later.

This will give an idea if your heart rate training is working.

Another invaluable tool is a garmin forerunner 301 which will record the speed, time and distance taken and if you buy the wireless heart rate pad for the horse it will record the heart rate also. Handy piece of kit and you can download all your graphs to your laptop and put the overlay of the ride onto OS maps and google maps.

You can buy the garmins second hand on ebay

Good luck and most of all have fun!
 
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EstherYoung

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OK - a few pointers.

I don't tend to ride every day. Even when I had H 80km fit I didn't ride every day. I can usually manage 4 times a week, and I look at two longer, slower rides and two shorter, more difficult rides.

To start off with, my longer rides are 45 minutes in walk around the local estates, and my shorter rides are 20-30 minutes in walk around the local estates but I will either incorporate a hill in walk or I will start asking for some bending/gentle lateral work.

I build up gradually from there, usually with at least 6 weeks walking, and my rule of thumb is that if they are happy doing a couple of hours hack including walk/trot/canter, they will be OK to do a pleasure ride.

If they're competing at 30-40km, my short days will be about an hour and may include some proper canter/gallop work, a schooling/lunging session, or some active hill work, and my longer rides will be 2-3 hours at 'scouts pace' ie bit of walk, bit of trot.

When I had H at 80kms, my short days would aim to make him puff, and my longer days would be 3-4 hours of 'scouts pace'.

You don't need any fancy equipment. The fancy equipment is interesting and can be fun if you are a gadget freak, but you don't need it. You don't even need a stethoscope as if you hold the horse's head up and slightly to one side, you'll see the pulse beating in the big artery at the base of the neck where it meets the chest. I just have a glance at that when I get off, and then 10 minutes later to see how its dropping.

Really with a young horse, what you want to be doing is introducing him to as many different types of terrain and ride as possible without putting any pressure on yourselves to go further and faster. Personally I'd stick a 30km cap on yourself for this year, and just get to a varied selection of rides so that he can learn his craft. Try and pick out some flat ones, some hilly ones, some quiet ones, some busy ones, some with gates, water crossings, moorland, roads, etc, all the stuff that he is likely to meet during his life. Maybe look at doing a multiday pleasure ride later in the year, so that he learns to corral overnight/stay away from home. Doing a long trail off your own back is a really good education for them so definitely try and get one of them in. If you've got any ideas of going for the novice trophy, stick to pleasure rides this year and do your novice season next year, but if you're not bothered about that and he's going well, maybe you could do a couple of your last 30kms of the year as competitive rides.

But, if you take this year steady away, next year you will have a horse that knows what he's doing and you will know what you're doing, and you'll find upping the distance with him that much easier. You'll also know how he reacts out there and what works and doesn't work with keeping him fit and getting him to eat and drink away from home. Any shortcuts you take now will come back and bite you on the bum later so it's worth spending the time getting it right.

Our local group ran an 'ask the panel' event last year which you might find helpful as I've put the first two parts online:

Part One:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EumwzOSuFV8

Part Two:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGvpNKXYI2Y
 
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EstherYoung

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ps Human fitness - to start with you'll be OK with general riding fitness, but as you get on in distance it will be very helpful to do additional fitness work on yourself. I go dancing once a week, and try and get myself out jogging on the days that I'm not riding. We go walking in the wilds quite a bit, on foot, and doing that at scouts pace yourself is quite a good exercise as it gives you an idea of what you're expecting from the horse. We've also done a couple of walks with the long distance walkers association, which is basically endurance riding but on foot, and they were good fun if knackering (I'll need to be a lot fitter before I go again) - but again, it gives you an idea of what you're asking from the horse.
 
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