Warmblood Breeds for Endurance?

lizijj

lizijj

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Hi, I've been taking my HanXDWB on some endurance NC rides and having great fun. Has anyone any experience of more serious endurance riding on Warmbloods? Would be great to know how they physically cope compared to other breeds.
Thanks :)
 
Ive done several endurance rides on my warmblood & she has coped very well but I have made sure she is super fit. Ive just gone at the speed I know she can cope with & pace out between fast & slow, lots of walks on long rein.
Depends what distances you are planning, ive done 38K fine, been a bit tired at the end and that's just me:D
So long as your horse is fit & check their heart beat on arriving back, plus see how long it takes them to recover afterwards.
If you think about some of these great big Hunt horses which are warmblood, some go galloping about all over the places & are fine.
Arabs are by natural design better at coping with long distance than any other breed, hence why used on endurance but their is no reason to not to use other breeds.
Some rides go through streams or rivers where I have offered my horse a drink, doesn't always take it tho.
Ive also seen some Arabs using the 'old Macs' on their horses feet, which does give them better grip when going down the hills, well suppose to!
 
The 'best' endurance horses are tough, with an efficient athletic ground covering stride, but not too big, not too small, and not too heavy in build. Arabs are only one breed that fit into that category, and even then, not all arabs do.

Warmbloods can do quite well. The 2008 overall national champion was by a hannovarian stallion ( http://www.archive.woodsideendurance.co.uk/horse_results.php?horse_id=28213 ), and traks tend to do well, too ( http://www.archive.woodsideendurance.co.uk/horse_results.php?horse_id=15658 ). Besides, there is generally a lot of TB and ayrab blood in warmblood breeding, which makes for a decent performance horse.

So there's absolutely no reason why your horse couldn't cope with some longer rides. :)
 
so long as your horse is fit enough (for advice on fitness for endurance why not contact your local EGB group and see if they can help) - there is no reason you couldnt do the longer rides, I got up to 30k rides with my Cobx (addmittedly she's crossed with angalo arab). My friend who does endurance to a much higher level including endurance race rides (ER's) does it on her Andalucian, but previously did all sorts (including the golden horseshoe) on her connemara - she was capable of doing really long distances 160k etc.
 
I've got a part bred Warmblood (over 50%) and he's an Advanced horse!

Achieving Wessex Junior Champion.

He loves it and has had an EXCELLENT heartrate throughout!

He's 18year old this year and after a few year off he's coming back this year and he's still loving every minute!

Give it ago, not all superstars are Arabs :) although a lot are!
 
Arabs have the advantage of lean muscle mass, which cools easily. Bulkier horses struggle with overheating, especially on hotter days and faster rides.

Therefore a bigger horse will need to be very fit and crewed regularly.

The best rides would be hilly ones in cooler weather (Red Dragon and Golden Horseshoe or rides in Wales;))

I have done lower level rides on my draft horse - so they can do it;)
 
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