People competing BE80- what's your horse's weekly training plan?

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Olliepop

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Hi - I'm used to having a veteran horse so have been very careful not to do too much with him so that he keeps going and I don't strain his legs etc.

I now have a mare who I will BE80 with but I'm not sure of how much I should be doing with her each week in terms of time spent flatwork, hacking, SJ, XC, fastwork/ interval training, days off and also how often I should event once she's fit i.e. 1/ month, 1/ fortnight etc. So those of you at BE80 - what's your weekly training plan look like and how does this change when you have an event on a particular week? She's a 12 year old stocky TB mare who seemingly has energy to work forever!

Do you give them time off over the winter and if so how long or do you hunt them?

:-)
 
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A horse does not need to be very fit to compete at 80 and they all vary so much that one persons plan would be far too much work for someone else, once they are fit and competing most will require just enough to tick over and work on any weaknesses, your mare sounds as if she has plenty of energy if her fitness level is on a par then you need to find what will work for you, fit in with your life, which events you want to do then plan her exercise to fit in.
2 BE80s a fortnight will be fine, with the odd other comp in between if you want to brush up on dressage or sj, once they are out and about regularly then time at home should be maintaining rather than fittening so something like this would be my plan for the "average" horse, Mon day off, Tues short hack, Weds schooling on the flat, Thurs longer hack with a canter or two, Fri flatwork and a jump if required to keep the eye in, Sat short hack or an easy schooling session possibly a bit of both, Sun compete.

I think all horses benefit from a break if they have had a busy season, if they get a month off they will not lose much fitness and could easily come back up in time to hunt, a rest gives any minor twinges time to heal but nowadays it does not seem to be normal for the one horse owner to give the horse an unenforced holiday, in my opinion there may be less lameness if horses did get routinely turned away at the end of a busy competition campaign, even at the lower levels it can be pretty full on.
 
Thanks be positive.
That's precisely why I asked as I want to do everything I can to prevent injury to her. In terms of XC schooling/ competing what's the recommended gap between times especially considering the hard ground conditions?
I barely ran my oldie on grass as I much preferred a surface to look after his legs.
Dressage is her weaker thing and jumping is mine, especially XC as I haven't done much of this in the past and am learning all the time at the moment.
 
I don't think there will be a recommended gap but I would not want to jump on grass more than once a week if I could avoid doing so, certainly not when the ground is firm, so school one weekend comp the next, bearing in mind that a xc schooling session is usually more jumping efforts than an event will be, probably no more than 20-25 inc warmup at an event, most people probably do double that in a one off schooling session, if you can give a day off after any xc, or at least an easy walking leg stretch day, it will do no harm to the fitness levels yet allow any minor bumps to settle.
If we run something a few times close together I like to give a few days or up to a week off so they can recharge the batteries and rest their legs, if they can go out 24/7 they will keep fit moving around as long as they are not the type to put on weight too easily.
 
That's about what I thought. Once per week jumping on grass either XC or SJ. I tend to either give a day off (most likely) or just a 25-30 minute walk hack to loosen up after a competition. Mine also live out 24/7 in the summer so sounds like I am doing as much as I can to help things. I've just really got into it all this year but need to remember not to rush things and it will come in time. I also worry about turning them sour by doing the same thing all the time so like to have a good mix of things going on for them to keep their brains active.
 
MONDAY: day off
TUESDAY-THURSDAY 45 mins flatwork, 15 mins jumping in a sand arena, field at night during the summer, stabled during winter
FRIDAY: day off
SATURDAY: 2 hours walking/trotting, field
SUNDAY: day off
 
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