How do you tell how fit your horse is?

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From seeing the thread about fast work I expect some of you will be very technical about this!!

Badger is always a bit big bellied in the summer but I think he's fairly fit now, but people would probably say he looks unfit?:

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We did our own version of "interval training" today which was mainly cantering/trotting with a few gallops with a little walk in between for what I think was about 2 - 2 1/2k.. he wasn't blowing much and not sweaty, although after XC at Eland (intro type course), he was quite sweaty and blowing but not excessively.

Talking rubbish now but how do you know if they are fit enough to do what they are doing? He's not the type to "act" tired so important to get it right I think.
 
I go on how long it takes for them to recover, and do interval training until it takes them longer to recover - ie if I do 3 mins canter and it takes 2 mins walking to recover, then I will keep doing 3 mins canter until it takes 5 mins to recover - does that make sense?? Sory not very good at explaining!
 
I didn't totally understand that explanation either sorry!

I use recovery monitoring too. I build up the fittness with a fitness program, once cantering (or even in the trot work) I time how long it takes for the breathing to get back to normal - this should get shorter and shorter.

I build up the canter until I am cantering for about 5-6 minutes and try to use hills (up and down) too. When they can easily do this, and their breathing goes b ack to normal fairly quickly I consider them fit enough to event at BE90/100..

I think you know your horse. My mare doesn't give up either, but I can feel the times when she's not fighting to go on, so know she's tired, even though I know she'd keep going. My gelding would throw the towel in well before he was tired!
 
sorry times weren't real it was just meant to be an example. It is for my mare as she has COPD so takes slightly longer to recover from fast work.

I use recovery monitoring too. I build up the fittness with a fitness program, once cantering (or even in the trot work) I time how long it takes for the breathing to get back to normal - this should get shorter and shorter.
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same here but the way I see it is if you can do 10 x 3 minute bursts before your horses recovery rate goes up then use that as a bench mark, so next time you might do 12 x 3 mins before it goes up, then 15 x 3 mins etc. It's still not making sense is it?! LOL
 
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Interesting thread!! I have been doing a lot of fitness work with my mare, she has a quick recovery time but she still sweats a lot.....

Can some horses still sweat even at a good level of fitness?
 
Horses learn to sweat, it enables them to get rid of excess heat. A prime example would be an endurance horse that starts sweating very early on in a race, they are almost conditioned to do so and their recovery rate would be much quicker.

The most accurate way to assess fitness would be with a heartrate monitor. You would be able to see how quickly the heartrate drops back to 'normal' after a heavy workout.

To be honest I would be surprised if the average rider doing Be 90 / 100 would really need to worry about this level of monitoring, horses being ridden regularly doing walk, trot, canter with a bit of schooling and jumping will be more than fit enough to maintain fitness.

Saying that, a horse with more bone will take longer to get fitter than a blood horse and may take a little more effort to maintain fitness.

I personally find they will tell you if they are finding work harder even if they don't actually act tired, particularly if you need a bit more leg on at the end of cross country for example
 
this is interesting especially as i am preparing for 3 day in sept.

i have a TB so has made things a little easier. she does sweat alot so that was interesting to learn about them conditioning themselves to lose excess heat.
my mare has a great attitude and would go on forever even when tired so i go on her recovery time aswell. nice knowing different methods and theories though!! :D
 
I have just started doing endurance with my mare so am taking some interest in this post. I regularly monitor her heart rate both pre and post ride. On sunday we did a 32k ride in 3 hours her heart rate before the ride was 41 bpm and 30 mins after the ride was 43 bpm. I would say that for the distance she did the recovery was good and she was fit enough for the distance and time.

As for interval training you would want the recovery time to get quicker. I would probably say canter for 5 mins then take heart rate both straight after and then in 5 mins. I would keep this time of interval training going until the heart rate recovers quicker then increase the amount of canter time.
 
Foxglove said:
Horses learn to sweat, it enables them to get rid of excess heat. A prime example would be an endurance horse that starts sweating very early on in a race, they are almost conditioned to do so and their recovery rate would be much quicker.
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This is so true my mare sweats very much at the start of the ride by is usually bone dry by the time we have finished!!
 
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