[SweetSavannah]

Just want to know how many rides should you do with a young horse in it's first year. I have a 5yr old Anglo mare who I've owned for a year. I've been doing dressage and jumping with her as well as training her over distance and terrain for the past 6 months (we had a 4 month break from work in Sept-Dec due to Equine Influenza).

Under Australian rules & regs we have to do two 40km (just under 25miles) training rides at novice speed (about 12km/h or 7.5miles/hr) , then three 80km (just under 50miles) rides at novice speed. Then we qualify as an endurance horse and are eligible to compete without time/speed restrictions.

I've legged her up and we've done our two 40km/25mile training rides, one in March and the other at the start of May. We are now able to move up to the next level and do an 80km/50mile ride.

There are a few I can choose from for our first 80km/50mile ride and I've chosen one in late June that is going to be on very flat country so that both me and my horse can get a feel for the distance without having to worry about terrain.

There is also another ride in late July that is over steeper rocky terrain and I can either do another 80km/50mile or do a 40km/25mile in that ride. I've done the 40km/25mile for this ride in March and she held up well over the 40kms/25miles finishing with an 'A' for overall conditioning.

Then in November there is a nice ride through a State Forest with gentle undulating terrain. Once again there is a 40km/25mile and a 80km/50mile ride to choose from.

What do you think is a reasonable schedule for my horse? She is incredibly fit and has done really well in both her 40km/25mile rides. But I don't want to overtax her and burn her out early on. What would you recommend?

[Jess!]

Some people do three or four a month, others only do one a month or every few months.

It really depends on what you think you and your horse can handle And how competitive you really want to be. If you want to be extremely competitive, come in for the year end awards/points, than you'd want to do more.

Also depends on what speed you're going to ride. Do you want to be a front runner and top 10 all the time? Or are you happy with just completing with the middle of the pack?

A lot of riders also give their horses a month or so off in the winter.

[SweetSavannah]

Hey Jess!

Here in Australia we don't get "placings" until your horse becomes a Qualified Endurance Horse (or Yellow Logbook as we refer to it). I'm still classed as Novice (or Blue Logbook as we refer to it). So I've still got three 80km/50mile rides to do before my place in the field is even recognised so at the moment there is no first and last.

I would like to be able to get qualified by early next year, so I would like to do maybe two 80km/50mile rides this year, and then one 80km/50mile ride early next year to get my Yellow Logbook.

I cannot believe some people compete every weekend! That's insane! Wouldn't your horse be exhausted? Lol!

I do like to be near the front at rides. I average about 13km/hr at the moment and once I get my horse striding out properly in trot we'll easily do more. I don't like to dawdle along becuase that's not what I'll be doing when I start competing.

[Jess!]

You could probably do all three 50 mile rides by the end of this year That is 8 months from now, three 50 milers in 8 months is nothing

I know some people that get over 2,000 miles a year competing.

[SweetSavannah]

2000 miles on one horse in it's first year of endurance training? That can't be right?

[Jess!]

Originally Posted by SweetSavannah

2000 miles on one horse in it's first year of endurance training? That can't be right?

No, not in it's first year. I was just saying I know of people who DO put on 2,000 a year.

I plan on doing at least 200 miles or so with my mares, and this will be their first year on both of them. And that's 200 miles of the rides themselves, I already have over 120 miles of conditioning/regular riding on my one mare

[pantha11]

I think the biggest questions are, how is your horse vetting in, once you finish the ride....heart rate, vital, is it tying up, etc....
Things to watch out for is shaking/quivering...this can happen when your horse is over fit and you are compeating in a short ride sometimes there bodies cannot handle it, they need to go longer.

Quick tip- check points, do not let your horse cool down...this can cause tying up....give your horse what it wants to eat and drink, and get out of there...this should take less than 3 mins.

If you are up to 80k rides, you should be training your horse about 2 to 3 times a week, doing 40 to 60k's each time....but please keep an eye on your horses vitals and heart rate, these training rides can take as long as you want them to there is really no need to rush them save that for the comp but make sure that one of your training rides has a time limit, just so that your horse knows that it still has to move fast lol

[Jess!]

Originally Posted by pantha11

I think the biggest questions are, how is your horse vetting in, once you finish the ride....heart rate, vital, is it tying up, etc....
Things to watch out for is shaking/quivering...this can happen when your horse is over fit and you are compeating in a short ride sometimes there bodies cannot handle it, they need to go longer.

Quick tip- check points, do not let your horse cool down...this can cause tying up....give your horse what it wants to eat and drink, and get out of there...this should take less than 3 mins.

If you are up to 80k rides, you should be training your horse about 2 to 3 times a week, doing 40 to 60k's each time....but please keep an eye on your horses vitals and heart rate, these training rides can take as long as you want them to there is really no need to rush them save that for the comp but make sure that one of your training rides has a time limit, just so that your horse knows that it still has to move fast lol

This is not right, at least in the United States. "Check Points" are often Vet Checks, and there is often a hold of 30 minutes once the heart rate gets down to the target heart rate that the vets have set.

To prevent tying up, if it's cool, you use a rump blanket, or a light fleece blanket to throw over the horse to keep the muscles warmer.

But you want to give that 30 minutes of rest, let them eat and drink all they want. Loosen their girth [don't take the saddle off it it is cold, the saddle will help keep the back muscles warm] and just let them relax.

[SweetSavannah]

We have a few types of check points to choose from in Australia.

Vet-gate-into-hold is where you are held for 30minutes

They can also use normal vet check points where there isn't a compulsory hold time instead of vet-gate-into-hold.

My horse has vetted through with "A" for overall conditioning in both rides. Great heart rate and vitals. I have a heart rate monitor for her when I'm riding so I can see how she's holding up and when she's tiring. I can't train that many kms during the week as I work until 5pm and it gets dark pretty quick. We do lots of dressage and jumping, and usually one long-ish trail on the weekend (about 20km). I'm going to start floating her out to places where they have more challenging terrain though, our local trails are all gentle undulating fire trails so they don't present much challenge.

[SweetSavannah]

***bump***