interval training for stamina

[posie_honey]

pls can someone explain it a bit more

honey can trot till the cows come home - or canter a good few miles and recover v quickly...

but i was told interval training (ie 3 min trot 3 mins walk etc etc) would be better for stamina than doing a constant pace for a longer time (i do tend to vary speeds as i go but only within a pace - not dropping down to walk)

but i can't get my head round it very well

i'm not doubting it as it does seem to be the fitness regieme of choice of all the pros - but i want to know the 'why's' behind it pls

Many thanks

 

[snowcrew]

We tend to do inteval training twice weekly for our event horse. For us, this entails going to our local tracks, where the going is generally very good, which is about a ten minute walk away, to generally warm him up. After warm up we then do two two minutes gentle slow canter work on the flats or up the gentle hills followed by about 1-2 minutes recovery in walk, then repeat this for about 20 minutes. As the fitness/recovery times improves depending upon the ground/weather etc the canter work is increased.
It may not necessarilly be the text book stuff but it works well for our horse who never looks tired on the novice event tracks and makes the time well. I do the same fitness work with my other horse who does not event but it keeps her sane and fit.
Apart from the inteval training our event horse is ridden every day except for day of rest and also lunged twice weekly on pessoa (michael whittaker one, which is pretty much the same).
hope this helps.

 

[kerilli]

it's much harder work to do sprints etc than the same pace for a longer period.
i think the idea is to gain the maximum workout without risking straining the tendons etc for extended periods of time. uphill is ideal for interval work, if possible.
e.g. when i used to use a round flat gallops, i did approx
warmup, 8 mins canter, 2-3 mins walk (depending on temp of day, and recovery time), 8 mins canter, 2-3 mins walk, 8-10 mins canter. (to get fit for long format 2*)
then i shifted to using an uphill gallop, and did
warmup, 1 min 45 secs strong canter uphill, approx 3 mins to walk back down, up in 1 min 40, 3 mins walk, up in 1 min 30, 3 mins walk. (sometimes 1 more trip up, slowly, at about 1.50)
and although the distance was obv much shorter, the horses got much fitter, i could get them breathing really deeply after the uphill workout in a way that the extended canter work on the flat never attained.
hope that makes sense. long slow stamina work is good of course, not to be discounted, but imho interval training gets a horse fitter without risking such a long working period.

 

[posie_honey]

gret thank you
i have a hilly 100acre field (possibly a bit more) that i do canter work in - so i will use that but use the timings and see who i go

 

[Britestar]

In addition to what K has written, the way it works is by stressing the heartand muscles during the canter/gallop, and then the walk period allows the heart/muscles to almost recover and then repetitions re-stress them. This is how the horse gets fitter.

I think this is correct, at endurance comps at the final vetting, they will take the horses resting heart rate and then ask it to trot up and retake it. This is because if the horses is unfit, his heartrate will jump back up, rather than remain low.

I usually judge my own horses fitness by taking recovery heart rates. The quicker they return to normal, the fitter the horse is.

 

[posie_honey]

britestar - thanks that makes sense to me

i actually timed our "usual" hill work that i try to do once a week (i say usual as i've not done it for a few weeks until yesterday as the ground was hard - thank god for the rain!)

anyway - the route is a firgure of 8 round a couple of fields field and is 2/3 mile from her field - which i walk and trot:

first 1/2 is low incline up hill
then 1/8 is steep down hill (i have to trot that bit as v steep - would be fine with studs but slippy without),
next 1/4 is steep up hill,
next 1/4 is repeat of slow incline
then the last 1/4 is a blast up steep up hill

then the walk back to the start is downhill

i vary the speeds of canter and i always blast up the last steep hill

that canter sequence takes me 5mins almost exactly!
the walk back down takes 3-4mins depending on if we take direct route or longer route

and i am doing that 3 times - by the very end she is puffing hard - but not heaving or anything - and she is still pulling me up the last hill as she knows we gallop up that lol! and recovery at the very end is about 5mins back to normal breathing - then she's ready to go again if we touch grass!!

so she';s fitter than i give her credit for! i will endreavour to do that once a week (ground permitting) but will also add a trot interval work on the longer flatter hacks

thanks for the advice guys - at least i have a measurement of her fitness now funnily enough last year i had her so she wasn't really puffing much after the 3rd one and then would hack the long way home (about 4miles) with another steady canter up a mile flat track (i've measured that!) so she's not as fit as i like her - but we're getting there - makes me realise that i have high standards of fitness for my bog pony low level fun comp horse lol!!

 

[oldvic]

Any work with periods of recovery is a form of interval training but it depends on your facilities as to what way you do it. Whether you use timing or distance as your guide the horse should not recover fully before starting again ( about 2/3 recovery is good) as then the work gets a little harder each time so if it is a long walk to get back to the start then trot is best, ground permitting. If you have a large flat field some long slow canters are also beneficial especially if the horse can get a little hot as it teaches them to get into a rhythm and relax.

 

[painted ponies]

I lived in America for a while, it wasnt safe to go in the roads so we done a lot of interval training and slow work.

For Novice/* horses we used to warm up for 10 mins in walk then trot for 10 mins, canter 5 mins, trot 5 mins, canter 5 mins, trot 5 mins, canter 5 mins asking them to move out on the last minute,trot 5 mins and then let them walk out, this was done about once per week and about twice per week they would trot non stop for 30 minutes with a walk warm up and cool down all work was done in a large field so not too much turning and there was a gentle hill.

For Pre Novice they would just trot for 25 minutes and do just 2 canters in the interval training.

Didnt work with much above this level.