United States Eventing Association

Part Four in a Series by Ashley Adams, with Amber Heintzberger

Ashley Adams is assistant trainer to Bonnie Mosser at Point Above Farm. In this series she offers advice to riders preparing for their first three-day event while she relays tales of her preparations for the Rolex Kentucky three-day event with her horse Vaunted.

I made my conditioning schedule before I even started conditioning Vaunted for the spring season. It is important to make an outline early, primarily because you will have to work into the program your events, any clinics that you may be going to, lessons, and any other scheduling things that by this point you should have discussed with your vet, coach, and farrier.

(Left: The goal? A safe and successful spring three-day event! Amber Heintzberger photo.)

While doing gallops and trot sets are important for getting your horse fit, it is also important to look at your horse’s stats. Some horses are going to be great with galloping every fifth day and doing one or two trot sets a week. However if you have an older horse or a horse that has an old injury, or you have been instructed by your vet or farrier to keep an eye on certain things, then you may be scratching your head as to how to get him or her fit enough for a three-day. Have no fear! There are many options to consider.

For example, swimming an older horse is a wonderful way to get them fit. Swimming for horses is becoming more and more popular and widely available. This is a low impact fitness exercise that you build up just like you would in gallops. It does not have such a “jarring” effect as galloping so it limits the damage from concussion on the horse’s joints, feet and ligaments that galloping can cause. Swimming is often done less often than galloping and usually costs about $20-$30 a swim.

Another good fitness tactic for an older horse or a horse that gets fit fast, (like those OTTB’s that we all love!), is walking. You can go out on a hack, with your horse on the bit, for any where from 20 minutes to an hour; it will not only keep their mind in the right place but also aid in your fitness work. Walking allows the horse’s back to become stronger as well as putting a good base of fitness on them. Older, more experienced horses often get fit a bit quicker because of their body type or their eventing history. Walking allows you to work them without having to drill them and it also reduces the physical stress of doing long trot sets.

While these are good alternatives to strenuous activities you should also speak with your vet and coach as they will be very important players in developing your conditioning plan. The vet will also help you with the post-conditioning plan, meaning the care that you should give to the horse after doing his or her gallops. For instance, I stand Vaunted in knee high buckets filled with water and ice after his fitness work. This is to help prevent any injuries that the frequent concussion of galloping and fitness work can create.

Also when you are speaking with your vet about aftercare you should ask what to look out for: for example if your horse has bad feet, you may want to keep an eye out for heat in the foot. As a general rule of thumb, any heat is bad! Also if your horse had an injury in his or her past, then you should make sure you are on target with your vet and coach about what exactly to do and how much.

I am sure that most of you can relate to the fact that when you start working out or you increase your work load, your body starts to get sore and sometimes you will start to perform at a lesser quality. This happens with your horse as well. Bonnie has told me that she often finds that after the first two weeks of strong conditioning, the horses tend to get body sore. It is important to listen to your horse and find out what they are telling you. If you feel that your horse is feeling a bit sluggish one day, maybe you should cut your gallop in half on the next go, or perhaps just go out on a long walk instead of doing a trot set. It is essential to listen to your horse and pay attention to what his body is telling you, as well as his mental state.

The final point that I want to make about conditioning is that just like when your clothes fit differently when you start getting in shape, your horse’s tack fits differently when they start to develop fitness. When the work increases, so does the fat loss and muscle gain, which can change the horse’s overall shape and topline. You should pay attention to your horse’s weight and how the saddle fits. Weight loss is something that I have to watch with Vaunted going into Rolex, and I recommend hitting this head-on if you have a picky eater or a horse that does not gain weight easily. Right now Vaunted is eating three times a day to help maintain his weight.

Conditioning is a good way to spend quality time to spend with your horse, but it can get rather tedious…I recommend getting an iPod and downloading your favorite podcast, theme song, or audio book and get to stepping! Here’s a great way to get started: I recently co-hosted an episode of the Eventing Radio Show, and you can download the podcast for free!

Be sure to check out Ashley’s blog, www.ashleyadamseventing.com, and her Fan Page on Facebook.