Horse fitness for sponsored/pleasure rides any advice please!

[karenjj]

Hi,

My friend suggested doing a sponsored ride in September but it is 10 miles long. How can I tell whether my pony would be fit enough to do this? She is ridden every weekend out on the roads and over gallops for about an hour each time. I try to ride her once in the week as well in the sandschool for at least half hour. She is 14, and a New Forest. She seems fit when I ride her out but we do nowhere near 10 miles! Does anyone have any advise? Is 10 miles a long ride?

 

[Happytohack]

10 miles is not a long ride

If you go at a slow pace (mainly walk and trot and the odd canter) you will easily do it in 2 hours. If you are hacking out at the weekends and ride a couple of times in the week, your horse will find it a breeze. Have fun and enjoy it.

 

[kellyeaton]

10 miles is a long ride to a horse that dont do much! i would start her fitnesss work now i would do 1 day ride one day lunge and 1 day hill walks you want to be working her at least 4 times a week other wise she will end up pulling something work on her muscle as well!

 

[Kenzo]

Well at least you are taking your ponies fitness into consideration which is more than some people do, so good on you.

Fitness is can be mis judged, you could do a 5 mile ride that would require more fitness than a 10 mile depending on how you ride, the pace you do, the ground conditions, the climate, time of year etc etc.

Think marathon runner v sprinter v hill walkers, all can be fit but have been trained differently to cope with what is required.

Also depends on how you pony copes already with the work you do, I'm sure by the sounds of what you already do then 10 miles will be fine as long as you don't try and belt around too much, and just because your pony is willing to go and seems fresh due to excitement of following the rest (if trotting and cantering in long sessions) this does not mean he/she is ok, so just be sensible....and have good time!

 

[Madam_max]

I would think she will need a little more work before then. Bearing in mind a horse walks at about 4 miles per hour. Why don't you work out what is a 10 mile ride near you and use that as a guide.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

If she is going to cope well and you have some fun (ie some fun faster bits) then you need to be riding her 3-4 times a week in the run up, even if its only an hours hack or half hour schooling each time.

Maybe you could do what you do now but do a couple of sessions of lunging or longreining on top of that?

If thats not possible then she could still do the ride potentially but you would really need to stick to walk and trot, and also listen to her, if she tells you a third of the way round shes fed up and tired, then abandon and take her back.

 

[Natch]

I think she'd cope fine on her current workload, just as long as you take it easy and play it by ear. B recently did an 8 mile fun ride and coped fine - we walked quite a lot, had a few short ish trots and canters, and he was tired at the end of it but not beaten. Of course, tat was with a very sensible escort (aka me and F!) who were in control and sensible - make sure your friends and you will be!

Its good advice to start to build up the work a bit, you've got plenty of time, but don't panic by any means.

 

[mintaka04]

I think if you are riding your horse regularly, as you are doing, you will breeze through a 10 mile ride!
You will be enjoying yourself so much the 10 miles will pass so quickly!

If you want to know how fit your horse is, check it's resting heart rate. Take a pulse or borrow a stethoscope and listen to it's chest just behind the left elbow.
It should be 36-44 beats per minute.
Then go for a long ride, and check your horses heart rate again about 20 minutes after you get back.
If it's the same as your resting heart rate yay! your horse is fit for a long ride.
If it's over 50 then you've got some work to do.
Seriously hun, your pony will do 10 miles no trouble at all.
Get out there and enjoy it!

 

[Weezy]

The horse will be absolutely fine - We do a lot of pleasure rides and 10 miles is an easy one and our horses do not do fittening work in preparation

Just ensure she doesn't go off at a mad gallop and intersperses the canter work with walk and trot

 

[angiebaby]

10 miles at a slow pace is a long way! It takes my TB who is extremley fit and fast an hour and a half to do 12 miles, and thats mostly fast walk and canter!
It took my cob an hour to do 3 miles yesterday! so depends on the horse and fitness. But I think you need to get her fitter to ensure she doesn't get injured.

 

[merlins-mum]

I would have thought that would be fine.
I am a weekend rider and Merlin (who is 15) and I recently did a 10 mile sponsored ride. He stormed his way round and could have gone round again - me, i ached for a WEEK.