# TWH for endurance?



## kait18 (Oct 11, 2011)

they do fine on trail lol... they are smooth in there gaits its not as bumpy  but like any horse needs to be conditioned to handle the long ride


----------



## Wallee (Mar 7, 2012)

kait18 said:


> they do fine on trail lol... they are smooth in there gaits its not as bumpy  but like any horse needs to be conditioned to handle the long ride


 
I have a coming 3 year old filly and was looking at endurance riding on her in the future and was just thinking of the possibilities. Looking for a future job for her and I dont think the show ring would be my thing with her.


----------



## kait18 (Oct 11, 2011)

they do fine my twh cross loves it and i think its joe4d who uses twh aswell and i know alot of people near me prefer the twh on trail. 

just train her like a trail horse and condition her and you will have a great mount


----------



## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

My horse is a gaited and half TWH. She holds up great... But I'm not sure how much my letting her trot factors in to that. She's trained to do both trotting and gaited, so my mixing it up might help. Her gait is way more exhausting for her than her trot, but that might be due to her excessive action. Her gait is a saddle rack, which is less efficient than a running walk.


----------



## kait18 (Oct 11, 2011)

just keep working her in all her gaits once she is in better condition she will be able to handle longer periods in each gait. the only thing i suggest is making completely different signals to get her to gait and to trot. walkers pick up there gait naturally some don't and have to be trained to hold it. so just keep working her for longer periods of time in the gaits you want her to do. 

goodluck


----------



## Wallee (Mar 7, 2012)

The TWH is a nice breed. I have enjoyed my filly so far. She was started at 2 and then rested over then winter. She turns three in a month and will be put back to work then!


----------



## kait18 (Oct 11, 2011)

well then have fun with her  thats all that matters


----------



## Wallee (Mar 7, 2012)

kait18 said:


> well then have fun with her  thats all that matters


Yeah that is the important thing. I am really interested in endurance riding anyone out there that can explain how the events/rules go?


----------



## Jacksmama (Jan 27, 2010)

I would think if conditioned properly she would excel. That is pretty much what they were bred for after all, covering a lot of ground comfortably. I think brighteyes is right though, a horse with a lot of action would have a harder time maintaining that for long periods because it takes more energy.


----------



## bellagris (Dec 6, 2010)

TWH are awesome for endurance -if your horse racks - even better! Around here TWH typically do very well in the placings if they're in shape.


----------



## kait18 (Oct 11, 2011)

just know for most events the horse must be atleast 4. so you still have a year of training, conditioning, and desentizing to do before you are able to particapate


----------



## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

I've owned several TWH's and TWH crosses. They all eat up the trail, so to speak, so I can see why you'd want to compete with one in endurance. I guess it depends upon how many miles you will travel. Pretty much Arabs win the 100 miler's, but many of us have gone 25 miles on a trail ride on whatever we ride, so I'm sure that wouldn't tax your horse.
If you are competing with people warming up to the 100 milers I have a few suggestions.
1) Get yourself super fit, so that you can save your horse and dismount and lead..a LOT. Especially up hills.
2) Pare down all of your tack, weightwise. Apalachian trail hikers drill holes in their toothbrushes and other such things to "lighten the load."
3) Strengthen your horse by
(a) Dressaging, for flexibility
(b) Plateauing. Work your horse to reach a certain endurance goal. Then, back off for a week to train for a LOWER goal. Set a higher goal to reach. REPEAT.
(c) Spend some time working on hard dirt, instead of the arena. It takes time to create bone density, which will prevent fractures, and it's hard to do so on the soft sand/surface in an arena.
(d) Train your horse to cavaletti and jumps on the ground. Your horse is doing enough hard work, but he needs to know how to get over and around obstacles, and if you're aboard you will wear him out more and get in the way of his learning.
Hope this helps! =D


----------



## Wallee (Mar 7, 2012)

Thanks for the info everyone! I started her at 2 and did some light trail riding then to get her use to everything. My girl is fearless when it comes to spooking at things. She has not one care in the world and that makes working with her out on the trail so much more relaxing. When she was started last year we did 10 mile trails and maybe a hair more but I would get off ever so often to let her rest and walk her. Being that she will be 3 in a month I think we can start to up the riding on her and she can handle it better now. I still wont push her to hard until she is 4 and has developed more into her adult body. Corporal thanks for the ideas greatly appreciated!


----------



## Joe4d (Sep 1, 2011)

yeh I figured I needed to diet and exercise to loose some weight for my horse,,,, so I bought a bigger horse.
Here's General Beauregard, and my new big girl Miss Emma Tisdale


----------



## Wallee (Mar 7, 2012)

Very good looking horses joe!


----------

