How fit do horses have to be...

Fairly. The lessons will usually be an hour-2 hour and it will involve canter jumping and trotting. There is usually a long hack and a blast around a field too.
 
The lessons are an hour- twice a day if that helps.. It's mainly flatwork with the odd jumping lesson and a fun ride half way through (to which will mainly be walking)
 
i wouldnt just jump on a horse that hadnt been worked in a while and do it no that would be too much... an hour is a long time for a unfit horse so i would be looking at moderate fitness level... or at least a horse that had been working for an hour a day 6 days a week for a few months or so without it being a huge strain :) i dont really know how you would measure fitness but if the horse is panting after 40 mins work (and i mean actual work not slobbing about like i do most of the time while 'schooling') then it wouldnt be fair on the horse or you tbh! :o
 
Ours were being worked five days a week.

If hacking, anywhere between one and two and a half hours (though that was walking up and down hills and stopping at the pub halfway round for half an hour :cool:).

If schooling, anything from thirty minutes to an hour, dependent on what we were doing.

Let's put it this way, I was sweating before they were :cool::rolleyes::D
 
Quite fit. Two hours of lessons can be quite a lot of work. How many will be in the lessons is a factor - private or semi private lessons can be a lot harder work than a group lesson... It also depends on the horse and how it works. A keen, forward going horse (say that gets excited jumping) would use more energy than one that is a bit of a plod and does the minimum, so my mare, who is the former, was more tired when I did a camp that other horses there that weren't as fit...
 
When I was preparing for camp I built it up to 1 and a half hours - 2 hours per day, 5 or 6 days a week. That would either be a long hack or a schooling session followed by a shorter hack. Started walking with some trot (she was already in work, but needed to build up fitness) and built up to trotting everywhere the ground was suitable. Made sure we included lots of hills and cantered where it was soft enough. Took a couple of months.

I had 3 lessons a day at camp - 1 flatwork, 1 jumping and 1 x country.

We did a farm ride on the last day. She was still fresh enough for that so must have been fit enough.
 
Hmmm I'm unsure now.

Mines hacking fit ATM, I can increase her workload this week (camp would be next week).

Group lessons of around 6-7 one hour twice a day. Personally I wouldn't say it's hard work, I work her harder in the school at home BUT she's not been worked hard for at least 4-5 weeks now, previous to that she was in medium work. She is only young so I tend to work her for a while, give her a break and then do some more work- she seems to like this.

She's a proper excitable youngster who never seems tired half the time! She knackers me out!
 
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