How long do you trot non-stop for?

MrsMozartletoe

MrsMozartletoe

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I ask because I got a response from the vet (she's been ill) re. Dizzy's progress:

I have to build up to trotting Diz to 40 minutes each day, including a minimum of 20 minutes sustained trotting. I cannot canter her until she is capable of this; when we do we have to start with five minutes of canter.

Until the Diz can sustain the above I cannot ask for any work from behind, do any lateral work or take her to a show (for a look-see). A different vet has said I can do one minute of gentle canter now.

This is different from how I would normally fitten a horse, but I'm open to all thoughts and opinions
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To me, five minutes of cantering is quite a lot, and as the Dizz is quite bouncy and forward going(!), I admit to being a little nervous of holding her back from a canter for another eight weeks, especially as she is getting fitter - I have visions of either parting company in fine style or disappearing across the next three counties
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I know it's a bit different with Dizzy as the damage to her SL has to heal.

My vote would have been for a short gentle canter evey now and then as of now, just so she feels that it is part of normal life. We trot about half of an hour's hack, but the maximum stretch is around four minutes.

Hot chocolate with marshamallows and sprinkles all round
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. Cookies for all responses
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Edited: 'cos I'm not very awake yet!
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At work, I've had to trot for half an hour solid for fittening purposes and that's round a school so very boring for said horse.

Personally I'd agree with you over the short canters, if that is what she's used to, and she trots for half an hour on a normal hack, I can't see a problem with it.

From my experience the more you try not to canter, the more they'll want to...even the laziest of horses seem to be able to sense it!
 
Blimey!!!
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I don't know about Dizzy but I think I would struggle to trot for 20 mins!!
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To be fair I have never timed how long we trot for - we tend to trot certain stretches of the lanes ie for about a mile in one place, uphill in another and inevitably just as you get a nice trot going a car comes and you have to go back to walk while it passes. When it comes to cantering I always vary were we canter so they never canter on the same stretch on consecutive rides to stop it being a habit but we are lucky with lots of bridleway and fields so have variety. Do you have a couple of nice short canter stretches that you can do every now and then just to keep it different and not to stessful on Dizzy's joints/muscles? but also keep it reasonably sane!!
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I like a couple of uphill canters round here as it help keeps a lid on the excitement - and me in the saddle!!
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Probably no help at all as I am waffling.....
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I do about half an hours solid trot in the school when I'm trying to get mine fit - lots of serpentines and circles though - is she able to do these yet?
 
When I'm training I wouldn't do more than 20 mins trotting at a time. Although in an hour's riding I would expect to do 45 mins in trot I would break it up with walk or canter.

Competing is a different story. We regularly do 15-20 miles of forestry routes at trot only, but then the adrenaline is going and it doesn't feel like 2-3 hours of non-stop trotting!
 
When trotting for a sustained period don't forget to change diagonals at regular intervals. I used to do endurance riding and long sustained trotting was the normal but I was always careful to change diagonal regularly especially inportant if you are not in a school and changing direction frequently. best of luck
 
Thank you folks
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Very interesting responses
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. The vet says (and sorry, it's long):

"You stated that she cannot do more than 4 minutes of trot at any one stage. She needs to be able to do withstand significant trot work before you even think about lateral work / canter work / making her work from behind. She needs to be doing at least 35-40 minutes of total trot work to make sure she can cope with this before increasing the pressure and she needs to be able to sustain a lot more than 4 minutes of trot at any one time. You do not state how much total trot work she is doing. It is the equivalent of us trying to run a marathon when we can't even run 5 miles."

The vet knows we have a riding paddock, but no school, and that the fields are disgusting
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. There are tracks in the local estate that we can use - just have to slow up every now and then for walkers/dogs/squirrels. There are a couple of spots perfect for short gentle canters, but I don't know of anywhere that we could do five minutes in one go.

Thank you Eventmum - I wouldn't have thought of the diagonal changes
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SU - nope, neither can I
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H - you're a darn sight fitter than me!
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W_M - I know what you mean! She's been pretty good at staying back, but it's getting a tad harder to hold her: not being able to make her work properly means it's harder to keep her attention
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E - she slides down hills even in walk, so no trotting downhill for us. Can't have road nails due to the medio-lateral balance of the foot needing to be maintained.

JTI - I'm thinking not
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If I can't make her work from behind, it's goign to be hard to hold her together - she's a big, long rangy horse who doesn't know where her legs are half the time
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Mrs. M, I don't know about Dizzie, but my word you will be fit if you trot non stop for 40 minutes
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I hope your knees are in good fettle!
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edited because of crumbs under the O key!
 
If you were getting your mare fit for an endurance, trotting for 20 min would be fairly standard.
Most riders use interval training so walk 10 to warm up, then trot 15-20min, walk 5min, trot 15/20, canter 10 (if you can) walk 5, trot 5/10, etc.
PS endurance riders are fit and keep the 'deep heat' people in buisness =)
When the vet says 20min trotting I think he means that of the 20 min 90% were at a trot obviously you have to slow down for uneven/muddy ground.

I not sure what her injury was, but long slow trotting (no butchers boy trot) is the best way to build up general leg/back/tendon/bone strength.
Slow jogs on streteches of the tarmac are excellent for toughening tendons. Just make sure she is balanced (ie not ploughing along on the forehand) it doesn't have to be 'collected'.
If the vet has said don't canter he probably has a good reason and unless you think she is going to explode either in the field or when you are riding try and wait to canter.
If she has had a tendon injury particularly at the back cantering too soon can be bad just becasue at a canter the back legs do so much more pushing and carry more weight.

Good luck with it! I know how fustraiting it can be trying to do slow work on a horse that just wants to gallop!
 
When I used to help my neighbour with her hunter liveries we had one ride which was 20mins on the main road, which we did in walk and the other 40 mins on quiet country lanes and a green lane. Other than at road junctions we used to trot the hunters all the way round this bit. They were used to it and enjoyed it, even when extremely fit - even if something spooked them it would just be a quick jink and then back into their rhythm. We would do this at least twice a week when they were hunting 1/2 days a week.
Oh yes and we often did this when riding and leading, total body workout and I have never been so fit!
 
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