Long Distance Training Plan PLEASE

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kymw90

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I'm hoping to take part in my local Ride4Life event which will take part in August. Its 12 miles and will be over all different terrain including roads. It will be my first long distance ride/event and I don't intend to "race" but want to be able to make it over the finish line with my nag intact. She will need training for it and I want to start now as spring has sprung and its now a good time to get out and about.

What is a good long distance training plan for an at present happy hacker??? Even if you write a simple plan in a reply will be good.
 
How many times a week do you ride now? 12 miles is not very far so if you ride regularly then your horse will cope fine. If you want something specific then maybe aim to be riding 5 or 6 times a week, inluding at least one long ride (more than an hour). You will be suprised how much distance you cover in a short period of time - maybe see if you can borrow a GPS watch or if you have a smart phone use a distance app. If you feel she is not fit enough then try and gradually increase what you do now. If you have hills on your ride then trot up them instead of walking and canter the grassy bits. Let her be your guide and if she feels like she is working well within herself push her a little harder, increase the pace until she is puffing a bit and then slow down and let her recover before doing the same again. If you have set loops then maybe try and go a bit quicker each time or add an extra bit on.
 
12 miles isn't long distance - you really shouldn't need to train for it, provided your mount is of a reasonable basic level of fitness (i.e. riding 4 times a week for a decent amount of time - e.g 2 hour hacks / 40 minutes reasonable intensity schooling / jump sessions without too much issue).
 
during the summer about 3-4 times a week and these were short and long trecks. Durin winter we started off doing about the same but as it got so much wetter we stopped all together. So she'll need to start up again. I'll google how far 12 miles is (place wise) so I can see how far it is. I thoght it was far lol :p

Your right we've probably done near enough that distance and not even realised it. I tend to just hop on board and keep going until I think its time for home.

She is a bit of a full firgured girl so perhaps a bit more of a push won't hurt and because its not that far maybe I could try and be apart of the race.

Thanks :)
 
Endurance GB rides start at 20 miles (as far as I'm aware anyway) and that's just intro type pleasure rides. Just go and enjoy yourselves at whatever pace you see fit - I'm sure it will be fine and you'll have fun :)
 
JFTD said:
Endurance GB rides start at 20 miles (as far as I'm aware anyway) and that's just intro type pleasure rides. Just go and enjoy yourselves at whatever pace you see fit - I'm sure it will be fine and you'll have fun :)
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I've never done anything so this is all new to me. All I ever do is hacking and sometimes we do some school work. So I'm quite excited and will enjoy myself and I'm sure Dolly will have fun too. Being a hacker we don't get to do much group work or see other riders (no one I know has horses close to me so we often ride solo) I'm sure we'll manage 12 miles quite nicely
 
Actually the pleasure and training rides start at about 16km so are only a normal hack in terms of the effort for the horse.

I am doing a training ride this weekend that has a 16 km class and a 32 km class. Then in April our first competitive (loosest sense of the word!) is 33 km but there are also 16km, 25km and 33km pleasure ride classes in that event.

As the others have said 12 miles isn't that far so if you just get out and do plenty of hacking your horse will be fit enough in no time.

Enjoy. I love endurance. This year we are doing it in the RC team event so it will be even more fun.:D
 
tiga71 said:
Actually the pleasure and training rides start at about 16km so are only a normal hack in terms of the effort for the horse.
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I stand corrected (I did just look on the EGB website and thought it said they started at 32km - but I find their webby really difficult to read / navigate :o ).

All the best hacks are longer than 16km anyway :D
 
Yes I am. I have added it but have yet to post. I might do it soon because. Riding alone gets boring as heck!! To the point I start talking to Dolly.... Now don't act like you don't talk to your horse/pony like a person.. We know you all do ;-)
 
JFTD said:
All the best hacks are longer than 16km anyway :D
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I know. I can't see the point of getting tacked up to pootle along the lane and back. Don't know how you can call anything less than 10 km an actual hack.

But then my yard tend to think we are barmy going up on the Downs for 4 or 5 hours! :rolleyes:
 
tiga71 said:
I know. I can't see the point of getting tacked up to pootle along the lane and back. Don't know how you can call anything less than 10 km an actual hack.

But then my yard tend to think we are barmy going up on the Downs for 4 or 5 hours! :rolleyes:
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You're just making me jealous... Hacking round here is alright, but nothing compared to that :mad:
 
You'll be fine. If pony is fit enough to hack out for an hour or so, pony will be fit enough for the ride :)

ps It's the competitive rides that start at 30km - we run an 8km option on one of our pleasure rides ;)
 
JFTD said:
You're just making me jealous... Hacking round here is alright, but nothing compared to that :mad:
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Sorry.;) If you are ever down this way Izzy and I will be happy to take you for a long hack with lots of hills and gallopy places!:D
 
tiga71 said:
Sorry.;) If you are ever down this way Izzy and I will be happy to take you for a long hack with lots of hills and gallopy places!:D
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Goes to find a map :p


Maybe one day... I am unbelievably jealous of the hacking down there though. I make the most of what we have - and it isn't bad - but really, nothing like yours!
 
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tiga71 said:
Actually the pleasure and training rides start at about 16km so are only a normal hack in terms of the effort for the horse.

I am doing a training ride this weekend that has a 16 km class and a 32 km class. Then in April our first competitive (loosest sense of the word!) is 33 km but there are also 16km, 25km and 33km pleasure ride classes in that event.

As the others have said 12 miles isn't that far so if you just get out and do plenty of hacking your horse will be fit enough in no time.

Enjoy. I love endurance. This year we are doing it in the RC team event so it will be even more fun.:D
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ooh, is that the Tilford one? - if so, see you there!! (I'll be on the ginger warmblood, probably doing her nut as it will be her first one - and babysat by a friend on a coloured warmblood who will hopefully be a bit more sane!).
 
ooh, and to answer the question - walking, walking and more walking...... if you're horse isn't really fit at all at the moment, the best way to build up to more long distance fitness initially will be to hack increasing distances, but not particularly fast - workmanlike walk is fine. If you can do that for as long and as much as possible (building up over time, then introducing increasing stretches of trot then later canter) then you'll have done your horse a big favour in terms of correctly conditioning her body to handle the longer rides.

As said above, a 12 mile ride isn't really all that long - but if your horse is hasn't really been ridden much at all and is the "fuller figure" type then he'll still need some conditioning to prepare for it.
 
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