How to get horse fit for 3DE?

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skye123

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Ok i am aiming for the MK3DE in May so my question is how would you go about building up fitness and when would you start etc? Horse is currently ridden around 4 times a week and dressaging or sj at weekends
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Probably bit of a stupid question but would really appreciate some ideas
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When I did the Burgie 3DE I was riding 6 days a week. I was lunging for 20 minutes before riding abd I was riding a minimum or an hour a day. I had built up 7/7/8 canters with a 3 minute walk in between. The Vet at the end of XC said my horse was one of the fittest there
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Sadly at the moment he looks like a woolly mammoth.

My sister made this plan for the last 3 weeks
Week 1
27 -Tuesday (today) Lunge with side reins 20mins and 1 hour hack
28- Wednesday Grid work and short hack
29- Thursday 15 min school and Canter work 3/3/4
30- Friday Lunge with side reins and trot round The Hill
31- Saturday 2 hour hack
1- Sunday 15min School and Canter work 4/4/5
Week 2
2 -Monday - Day Off
3- Tuesday 30min School and trot round hill
4- Wednesday Grid work and hack
5- Thursday 20min school and Canter work 5/5/6
6- Friday Lunge with side reins and school
7 -Saturday 2 hour hack including trot work
8- Sunday 20min school and Canter work 5/5/6
Week 3
9- Jump course and light hack
10- Tuesday 15min lunge with side reins and school practice test
11- Wednesday school 20min, go over test and canter work 6/6/7
12- School and prepare for dressage test
13 -Event
 
I have not a clue if i did this the right way, but I aimed on in the final three/four weeks.

Every four days, cantering once, schooling once, hacking once and then on the fourth either a day off or a lesson (alternated).

I could not keep too stictly to this because of uni etc and light as it was october but the thought was there!
 
I've done the MK3DE four times now with 3 different horses.
To be honest you really dont need a super fit horse.
R&T speed is pretty slow and distance is short.
Same for steeple chase.
I found just working the horse 5 days a week with a mixture of hacking/schooling/jumping was sufficient.
Always passed the vet check in 10 minute box every time and never had to re-present.
 
I did MK3DE last year my plan was

1 X gallop work a week
2 X schooling
2 X Hack/ Roadwork
1 X Jumping
1 X Day off

I only did one hack if I was competing that week!

I do that the whole way through the summer as I BE event and it seemed enough for MK3DE. My horse was presented tot he vet after 3 mins rest and passed the vet said he was very fit.

Good Luck!
 
I did it last year and tried to do lunge twice a week, school twice a week and hack twice a week to include as much canter work as I could (our hacking isn't great so lots of roadwork is all we have!). TBH I totally agree with JunoXV, I worked very hard to get J fit enough last year and he was actually almost too fit! We stormed round the roads and tracks finishing about 10 minutes early, and then managed to go 15 seconds faster than the 'window' for the final phase (so 30s under optimum time) as he took off up the last hill!
Had a FAB time tho and def going again this year, and tbh as I am planning a summer of BE I will do the same prep again. Altho had planned to start in earnest 1st of feb and the snow has kind of put a bit of a hold on that for now!
 
As long as your horse is plenty fit enough to PN ODE (and I mean PLENTY fit enough not JUST fit enough) - then you will be fine. As JunoXV says it's not all that demanding - nowhere near BE 3DE levels.

I've done it at least half a dozen times now - first time got horse way too fit (and that wasn't fun!)
 
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