United States Eventing Association

Winning with Horses

The following is an excerpt from "Winning with Horses" published by Trafalgar Square Books.

Conditioning the Whole Horse

Proper conditioning is a very important factor in getting the most out of a competition horse. There are two elements to fitness—cardiovascular and musculoskeletal. They are equally important. Both are ideally developed through long slow distance work (LSD). Imagine a triangle of time spent riding your horse. Walking is at the bottom of the triangle, comprising the vast majority of minutes spent in the saddle, particularly when “legging-up” horses after periods of rest, but also during a competition season. An hour-long walk maintains muscle tone and suppleness without any risk whatsoever. Flatting and trot sets would take up the second-most amount of time. Sports-specific training comes in near the top, and performance is at the very tip.

Once attained, horses maintain their cardiovascular fitness very easily. This is one place it doesn’t help to extrapolate from humans—we lose our cardiovascular fitness in a matter of hours (24 to 48). Horses takes days or even weeks to lose theirs. They have wonderful, large hearts. The better for riding them.

Maintaining musculoskeletal fitness is more of an issue for horses—especially sport horses who are asked to do somewhat “unnatural” things. It behooves us to remember that both bones and muscle are tissues that are adaptive—that is, they react to use and pressure. They need to be stressed to become stronger. The LSD work helps with injury prevention in these tissues, as they have time to adapt and change according to the work they are asked to do. It is also so important to remember that, just like humans, horses vary a lot in their physiological capabilities. Therefore, what is an appropriate amount of conditioning for one horse does not necessarily translate into what will be appropriate for his stablemate. Programs in conditioning need to be individualized.

One of the most important distinctions to learn as a rider is distinguishing the difference between a horse that is “heavy” (not quite fit), and a horse that is “spent” (tired). They can feel the same to the rider, but they are obviously treated in an opposite manner. Knowing the back story is important—nine times out of ten I can ask what the horse has done in the last two weeks and know the answer! I love it when my client speaks Spanish, because the Spanish words for these two syndromes—pesado and pasado—even sound alike. It makes parsing the difference more real. A few recent media interviews with top eventers have interestingly veered toward this topic, with unanimity on the opinion that less is more when it comes to working their top horses. For them, overwork is more of a problem than underwork. If you have horses in a fairly strenuous program, it really helps to keep track of their exercise, especially the number of “maximum effort days” (heavy training or competing). When it is written down, it is easier for the human brain to acknowledge and assess.

Consistency is crucially important for muscle health. Some programs go so far as to test muscle enzymes on a daily basis to provide immediate feedback on how hard to push the next day. Short of this, a regular work schedule based on good training principles for your sport will go far to prevent tying up and other muscle injuries as well as optimize muscle building. A hard-and-fast rule with horses: no “weekend warriors”! Also, the easy way out is almost never the correct way. If you read an advertisement that says, “Use…for guaranteed increased performance” run the other way! It is almost never that simple!

This excerpt is is reprinted with permission from Trafalgar Square Books. Purchase your copy here.