# Long distance riding ( uk)



## Fellpony (Sep 9, 2011)

Hi Everyone I am hoping to start towards doing longer distance rides now I have lost 2 1/2 stone. I feel I am ready to get us both a lot fitter in preparation of my dream to do longer distance rides and camp outs etc... these will be bit different to your USA based trail rides due t the fact most people in the UK stay in Bed & Breakfast when they holiday with there horses... I want to camp out with mine. and make small eletrc fecning coral for them to stay over night in if I cannot find a farm with a small paddock tp stay on/

I will be reading through your threads but wondering whats the basic equipment you would always carry on a ride??? How you got your horses fit enough to ride etc... Sorry for the newbie questins but I am currently hacking 2 to three times a week for about 1 1/2 hours a time... how d I increase this to day long rides with a lunch break????

I have a 13.hh 15 year old Fell pony as my mount  Mz Eva Diva ( Brackenbank Eva)


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## EponaLynn (Jul 16, 2013)

Wow, congratulations on your accomplishment, that's 35 lbs.!!!

I can't help with the rest :lol:.


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## Fellpony (Sep 9, 2011)

EponaLynn said:


> Wow, congratulations on your accomplishment, that's 35 lbs.!!!
> 
> I can't help with the rest :lol:.


 
Thank you my pony was totally my inspiration to lose the weight  I want us booth to be fitter and enjoy our riding 

She is also 13.2 hh (not 13 hh  as I said in my starting post )


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## Oreos Girl (May 24, 2011)

I think that with this kind of journey, you do most of your fitness training on the trip. So if you currently ride about 1.5 hours, you could start your trip by doing that. Ride 1.5 hours, unsaddle and let your horse rest for half an hour or so then start again. Figure how far that should be and see if you can find a place to stay within that distance. Make your first trip just a 1 night stay where you ride to your destination and home again the next. To camp with your horse overnight is do able but most people take a pack horse along to carry the gear. I have seen some threads about managing to pack all onto the horse you are riding but you really need to watch your weight limit.


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## jamesqf (Oct 5, 2009)

I don't know how practical it would be to camp with a horse in Britain. Obviously you know more about it than me, but I have done several bike touring trips around the country, and it certainly seemed like most camping spots were organized public/private campgrounds, most designed for RV-type camping. Maybe there would be something like the B&B networks, with farmers who'd let you stay in their fields.

As for getting in shape, I think the only dependable way is to gradually extend some of your rides (maybe just the weekend one if you have work constraints), until you can comfortably go 4-5 hours. Otherwise, you may be like me, and learn the hard way. One of my first (if not the first) bike touring trip: I thought I was in shape, rode to work & maybe an hour or so a couple of times a week. First day did something over 80 miles, climbing into the Sierra foothills. Second day I was so sore than I managed maybe 5


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## Fellpony (Sep 9, 2011)

Oreos Girl said:


> I think that with this kind of journey, you do most of your fitness training on the trip. So if you currently ride about 1.5 hours, you could start your trip by doing that. Ride 1.5 hours, unsaddle and let your horse rest for half an hour or so then start again. Figure how far that should be and see if you can find a place to stay within that distance. Make your first trip just a 1 night stay where you ride to your destination and home again the next. To camp with your horse overnight is do able but most people take a pack horse along to carry the gear. I have seen some threads about managing to pack all onto the horse you are riding but you really need to watch your weight limit.


 
I am not going to pack her up with two much stuff esp till I lose some more weight... I will get my OH/ friend to meet me somewhere preset with the camping gear to start with.... just do 1 day or weekends or even long weekends away would be fabulous for starters. I like the idea of riding for 1.5 hours untack then rider for another 1.5 hours then camp and build it up from there  I wont be doing over nighters till the spring away we are heading into winter and I am not that hardy ;-)

Thank you for replying.


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## Clava (Nov 9, 2010)

When we do our longer rides of about 3 to 4 hrs, we don't usually take anything to eat , but occasionally a water bottle if hot. Saddle bags are useful (Shires make some). When we go out hunting which is usually about 4hrs we don't take any food and never really missed it, but hungry when we get back.


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## Fellpony (Sep 9, 2011)

jamesqf said:


> I don't know how practical it would be to camp with a horse in Britain. Obviously you know more about it than me, but I have done several bike touring trips around the country, and it certainly seemed like most camping spots were organized public/private campgrounds, most designed for RV-type camping. Maybe there would be something like the B&B networks, with farmers who'd let you stay in their fields.
> 
> As for getting in shape, I think the only dependable way is to gradually extend some of your rides (maybe just the weekend one if you have work constraints), until you can comfortably go 4-5 hours. Otherwise, you may be like me, and learn the hard way. One of my first (if not the first) bike touring trip: I thought I was in shape, rode to work & maybe an hour or so a couple of times a week. First day did something over 80 miles, climbing into the Sierra foothills. Second day I was so sore than I managed maybe 5


This would be so much easier if I were in the States  Here you are right most sites don't cater to dogs never mind horses... I am going to have to pre arrange with farmers and maybe livery owners for staying over night once I am up and sorted.... I don't even drive which makes it worse ( I have epilepsy) But I am determined I will camp out and ride with my ponies. I am 48 years old now and it something I have dreamed about long before I even had horses for real.

I am at a gym. swim and ride currently and its dropped me approx 35 lbs so far and I will continue the spring with the gym and swimming. I am very determined to have lost the same again by summer next year ...

I have kind of started preparing for this by agreeing to do endurance/pleasure ride end of Dec. :-o ..so we both have 4 weeks to get as fit as we can for then the distance is 5 miles - 20 miles so I will see how fit we are and decide on the day how far we can both do....

I cannot wait... and been looking online to start collecting stuff I might need for these rides/trips away 

By the way do you have any good online retailers that sell gear suitable for camping trips..... links would be great!!


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## Fellpony (Sep 9, 2011)

Clava said:


> When we do our longer rides of about 3 to 4 hrs, we don't usually take anything to eat , but occasionally a water bottle if hot. Saddle bags are useful (Shires make some). When we go out hunting which is usually about 4hrs we don't take any food and never really missed it, but hungry when we get back.



My daughter has some of the Shires saddle bags you are on about with two water bottles... she never uses them so I might pinch them lol .... I als have a bum bag what I use now for taking treat and hoof pick and my phone etc in. I am not so bothered about food for me but might take some food balancer for my pony once we start doing the longer rides. I would be happy with a couple of energy/health food bars or similar.


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## Clava (Nov 9, 2010)

Fellpony said:


> My daughter has some of the Shires saddle bags you are on about with two water bottles... she never uses them so I might pinch them lol .... I als have a bum bag what I use now for taking treat and hoof pick and my phone etc in. I am not so bothered about food for me but might take some food balancer for my pony once we start doing the longer rides. I would be happy with a couple of energy/health food bars or similar.


 Until you are doing more than 4 hrs at a time and as long as your pony is fit I wouldn't worry about food for them. Sometimes a stop at a friendly pub where you can give your pony some water and have a rest is a fun thing to do, but it often has to be agreed with the landlord first .


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Have a look for a website called UKCampsite - lots of info on there
This might help with buying the right gear
GO Outdoors | Outdoor Clothing | Walking Boots | Winter Jackets
If you do a search you should be able to find trekking centres where you can take your own horse - might work well for you until you get more experience in heading off on your own


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## jamesqf (Oct 5, 2009)

Fellpony said:


> I am at a gym. swim and ride currently and its dropped me approx 35 lbs so far and I will continue the spring with the gym and swimming. I am very determined to have lost the same again by summer next year ...


That's great for you, but I was thinking more in terms of getting your horse in condition. After all, we all know it's the horse that does the work 

Seriously, there's also a difference between being in good general condition, and training the muscle groups used in specific activities. For instance, every year when the snow falls, I have to resist the urge to cross-country ski all day the first few times I go out, because I've learned (the hard way) that hiking, biking, and all the other summer activities just don't work the same muscles the same way. And likewise in the spring, when I start biking again. Seems to be true of riding, too, at least in my limited experience: even a couple of weeks of not riding, and my inner thigh muscles complain the next time I go.


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## Fellpony (Sep 9, 2011)

jamesqf said:


> That's great for you, but I was thinking more in terms of getting your horse in condition. After all, we all know it's the horse that does the work
> 
> Seriously, there's also a difference between being in good general condition, and training the muscle groups used in specific activities. For instance, every year when the snow falls, I have to resist the urge to cross-country ski all day the first few times I go out, because I've learned (the hard way) that hiking, biking, and all the other summer activities just don't work the same muscles the same way. And likewise in the spring, when I start biking again. Seems to be true of riding, too, at least in my limited experience: even a couple of weeks of not riding, and my inner thigh muscles complain the next time I go.


 
He he some food for thought there...... I my journal I have saved a comprehensive fittening programme that I will use and adapt to get her fit... the only bit I cannot do is the hill work as Lincolnshire is flat as a pancake _ think it is actually quiet a god regime used for getting competition horses fit._

_I will when she is doing more work look into diet too at the moment she is just on grass and will soon start on hay...so as she begins to fitten up and do more work I will add a ration to her feed._
__


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## Fellpony (Sep 9, 2011)

Any fitness programme must be tailored to the horse – its breed, its age, and how long it has been off work. However, where, in the past, a hack for a dressage horse consisted of the walk to the school and back, more dressage riders and show jumpers are starting to use the same basic fittening programme as the event riders.
“In dressage, people focus too much on competition and not enough on building muscle and strength,” says Carl Hester. William Funnell agrees: “My approach is very similar to my wife Pippa’s, especially if my horses have had a long lay-off.”
*Weeks one to three*
Most professionals will walk their horses in week one, building from half an hour the first day, to up to one hour by the end of the week, up to two hours the following week. This is seen as critical to the long-term health and soundness of the horse.
“It is important to remember that you are trying to build them up, not break them down,” says event rider Richard Waygood.
After a long lay-off, both William and Pippa walk the horses on roads for three weeks to tighten the ligaments and tendons, building up to trot work up hills. William says, “I do not agree with pounding them on the roads on the flat. We do trot up the hills, however, as that takes the pressure off the front legs.”
Carl Hester takes the same approach with his dressage horses. “To develop the hindquarters, we will work up and down hills, just as you would with an event horse,” he says.
Dressage riders and show jumpers tend to include some lungeing and work in the school in the first weeks, which event riders usually avoid at this stage — “unless you need to make sure that, if the horse is feeling a bit fresh, it has had its bucks on the lunge,” says event rider Chris King.
Sussex-based dressage rider and trainer Dane Rawlins stays mostly in the school and uses lungeing and long-reining in the first week, working the horses to the point where they are warm, but not breaking out in a sweat.
Danish dressage rider and German-qualified Bereiter Markus Bauer, currently based in Piltdown, Sussex, says that walking the horse off after schooling is almost as important as the schooling itself.
“You often see horses worked and sweating, and then just put back in the stable,” he says. “That will have a very unhealthy effect on the horse. It will come out the next day stiff with aching muscles. The horse will not last very long, it will have a stiff back and there is a danger of him tying up.” He always walks his horses off for at least 20 minutes after exercise, he says.
*Weeks four and five*
As the horse gets fitter, the professionals build up the periods of trot and introduce canter and school work.
Richard likes to canter during the fourth week on a school surface. “Sometimes people get their horses too fit in walk and trot, and then they explode in canter,” he says. He also believes that the canter is better than trot for making a horse supple and working through its back. By the fifth week he has started flatwork schooling.


Markus adds that a fit horse must be made to sweat a little bit. “Without this sweating process, the muscles will not build and change in shape,” he says. “It’s like a person going to the gym and coming home without having worked up a sweat — they have not done enough.”
*Weeks six and seven*
The professionals now build on canter work and start more intensive flatwork schooling and some jumping. William starts with some cross poles built into the flatwork.
“I will also introduce shoulder-in and counter-canter to build the different muscles and get the horses aerobically fit,” he says. He adds that bounces help to build and maintain the jumping muscles, along with regular hill work. “You do not need to jump big to get them fit,” he says, just keep to a height at which you are comfortable.
Depending on how the horse is progressing, the professionals may also start to introduce pipe-opening gallops, whatever the discipline. “I take mine up the gallops,” William says. “I have found that it is good for conditioning the horses’ bodies, and good for their minds.”
Carl also says he gallops his horses. “While a dressage horse needs more fat on it to build into muscle, we would work our horses faster than you can in an arena to build the fitness,” he explains.
*Week eight and beyond*
Now the professionals start going to small local shows to build competition fitness and to make sure the horse is mentally prepared. Depending on the horse, this may be possible from week six, particularly if he has not had a long lay-off.
Dane hopes to be out competing by the sixth week. “The final fitness does not happen until the horses have been out competing a few times,” he says.
From this point, the disciplines tend to differ in their approach. Eventers would expect to take around three months to get a horse fit. For the higher-level events, they now start doing fast work, either on the gallops or through interval training. Richard builds to three 10-minute bursts of canter, followed by three minutes of walk. Warmbloods benefit from gallops, similar to a racehorse’s regime, he says, as they find fast work difficult. Regular gallops open the lungs and build stamina.
A show jumper would already be out competing by now. William expects to get a Grade A horse competition-fit in two months, even if it had had a long lay-off.
For dressage, says Carl, “Up to Elementary level, a horse only needs half an hour in the school. For Grand Prix horses it can be up to an hour.”
The more excitable horses, he adds, do not need to do so much fittening work. However, lazier horses need more fast work to sharpen them up


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## Fellpony (Sep 9, 2011)

*my training prgramme that I will be using and adapting to suit.*

To enjoy your competing this coming season, it is critical your horse is fit for the level of work he will be doing, enabling him to produce peak performance when it matters and minimising the likelihood of any injuries.
Fitness should be worked on gradually over a period of weeks to enable the horse’s body to adjust to the changes in exercise level. There are no short cuts as sudden increases in work can result in pulled or torn muscles, resulting in enforced time off work.
A horse’s general health needs to be checked before any fitness work begins so make sure your horse is ready to start work by organising any vaccinations, dentistry checks, shoeing and worming as necessary.
While most riders follow a similar plan to the one outlined below, each horse is an individual and the period of time required to get a horse fit will be influenced by:



the horse’s age — veteran horses and very young horses will take longer to get fit than those in their prime
how fit the horse is now — a horse which has been kept ticking over during the winter will be fitter than one which has not been exercised at all
any injuries — a horse is coming back into work following time off with an injury will need many weeks of slow work to ensure too much pressure is not applied to the injured part
how fit the horse has been — a horse which is used to being let down over the winter and brought back up in the spring will be fitter quicker than a horse being got fit for the first time
 Most fitness programmes can be broken down into 3 stages:



stage 1 – slow work to harden up bones and tendons
stage 2 – work to improve strength and stamina and basic fitness
stage 3 – faster work to prepare the horse for cross-county type events.
 By completing all 3 stages your horse will be fit to compete regularly in a variety of disciplines.
*A fitness programme for your horse*

The fitness programme set out below caters for a horse which has been kept ticking over with occasional light hacks during the winter and whose rider intends to compete regularly in lower-level affiliated competitions over the summer. The horse should have one day off per week, with time turned out in the field to stretch and relax.
Week 1 – Around 20mins roadwork in walk each day


Week 2 – Increase roadwork to 30-40mins per day
Week 3 – Increase roadwork to 60mins per day, including some hills
Week 4 – Extend hacking time to up to 90mins per day (can be in two separate rides) including some trot work on suitable ground (not tarmac)
Week 5 – Start introducing some gentle schooling in the menage (20-30mins max). Exercise can be increased to 2hrs daily including some trotting up hills (not on roads)
Week 6 – Gradually increase time spent schooling and introduce some cantering on suitable ground out hacking
Week 7 – Build up the period of time in canter, including some cantering up hills. Continue with schooling in the menage, start to introduce jumping
Week 8-9 – Continue with the current work and introduce some faster work (strong canter, controlled gallop) in either a continuous training


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