# Conditioning



## Jumping4Joy (Jan 29, 2014)

I would say start trotting, cantering, and galloping at different intervals. I would also include trotting poles and canter poles. Maybe you could trailer out to a place with more hills? Or maybe a beach?
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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

Don't forget to give yourself credit for your ring work. It does not matter if you are on the trail or not....6 miles per hour in the arena is still 6 miles in an hour. So, if you trot a working trot at 8 mph, and canter at 10-12 mph, and do not walk a lot, you are getting good milage in the ring. That is why it is fairly commonly held that any reasonably consistently ridden horse can do LD, as long as you don't try to do it in 2 hours, lol.

Good Luck!

Nancy


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

When I was conditioning my Arabian mare for endurance, I also noticed that, after the initial conditioning was over, walking on a ride was best as a sometimes thing (where I would get off my horse to give her back a rest and let her, and me, unkink), and riding 45-90 minutes like that, every alternate day, mostly at an extended trot or a comfortable canter, was giving us the best value for training effort. Sometimes I varied that with a 30 minute interval training session; walking and jogging in between flat out sprinting. Yes, the muscle fibres that handle sprints are different from the ones that do marathons (slow-twitch versus fast-twitch), but the horse really enjoyed it, and it was great for her cardiovascular system and lungs. She often returned from endurance riding, which we did at quite a cracking pace, with total recovery in less than 30 minutes - back to resting heart and respiratory rates. I kept the longer sessions for actual endurance rides - for us anyway, I felt it took more out of the horse than was gained to have overlong training sessions. My mare averaged 15-25km/h on rides, depending on terrain, weather etc.


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## Atomicodyssey (Apr 13, 2014)

Thanks for the advice! As far as trailering out to hills... Well there are some slight slopes but that's about three hours away. Otherwise it's all flat! I am highly considering going to the Alabama Yellowhammer ride which is hills and small mountains so I want to be prepared even though we would be doing the LD. Am I being overly enthusiastic wanting to go out of state for a beginning season doing only LDs? Should I stay in state for my initial season and branch out when we are ready for "real" rides?


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

AO, do you have any sandy areas your can ride in? That's also good for conditioning your horse in the absence of hills - plus throwing in twice weekly interval training will give you many of the benefits of hill riding when you don't have hills.


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## Atomicodyssey (Apr 13, 2014)

Yes sand isn't hard to find! I've actually not been riding the past few weeks for one thing or another. To make a long story short he developed an allergy at the new barn, almost back to normal now and discovered my saddle didn't fit as well as I thought. I bought a treeless saddle in hopes it will solve my woes as he is hard to fit but we shall see, it should be here today or tomorrow so with ANY luck at all (lately I've had none!) I will be riding and conditioning again. He was doing really well before, he has a big motor and keeps going like a machine. If he was doing so well in an ill fitting saddle I'm anxious to see how he does in a comfortable one!


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## Rob55 (Mar 6, 2014)

If you have sand and beach you have hills. Sand dunes are hills. From the water to the road is a hill. Any grade helps. Your horse uses different muscles going up and down. Keep up with the steep rugged even if it is not long distance as it keeps your horse limber and willing.
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## 2scicrazed (Apr 7, 2014)

You can also plan a weekend trail ride vacation and trailer out to a state park with similar topography to the AERC event. Do it a bit slower than you would in a race to avoid injury. 

My daughter and I just got back from Land Between the Lakes. We did 43 miles there in seven hours on our two main mounts and 20 miles on our backup (boots wouldn't stay on her). Included a three hour lunch break (so it was a ten hour day). So it was like a heavy duty trail ride. But when the two main horses began to race against each other even with their heads held to their chests for the last ten miles - we know they're ready for a fifty at Big South Fork. Hills are a little longer than at LBL - but terrain and footing is similar.
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## Atomicodyssey (Apr 13, 2014)

Yes I live by the beach but horses are not allowed out there unfortunately! There are sandy trails but no dunes. At this point I don't own my own trailer (my goal is to by next year) and I was going to rent one to attend any rides this season. However when I do get my own I fully plan on traveling around for serious day rides! Glad to hear others are getting out there on strong, healthy horses.


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## 2scicrazed (Apr 7, 2014)

Steel stock trailers are light, versatile and easy on the wallet. I traded in a 40' Aluminum Side Kick deluxe four horse slant last year. We just never camped enough as a family to make the investment worth it. Got a brand new 16' bumper pull steel stock trailer for $5500. Had my school's welding class modify it to a 4 horse slant with front tack. Works great! (They just moved the center gate forwards for the tack room)

A 12' steel stock bumper pull runs around $4000 new. Can easily be converted into a two horse with tack room by keeping center gate closed.

I'll never go back to aluminum again after having a modified stock. So easy to find someone to work on it - since any welder can. And our new used Expedition has no problem pulling four horses in it. Much more useful than when we had a monstor Dually. Can use the SUV for nonhorsey family trips 
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## Atomicodyssey (Apr 13, 2014)

I have been wanting a stock trailer! I live where it's hot and they provide much better ventilation than a "normal" horse trailer. It will probably be just me going to rides so I may also just end up setting a bed ontop of hay bales and sleeping in the thing, put a tarp over it if it rains. I ain't fancy that's for sure lol!


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## 2scicrazed (Apr 7, 2014)

My prices were for new. You can find used much cheaper. Nice thing about steel is that you can strip and primer/paint them all in your backyard. Floors are wood and easily pulled up to replace and to check condition of weight bearing metal. Definitely sand and primer underneath every few years in a coastal area.

I actually slept better in a tent with a pool float for air mattress this week - than I did when I had sleeping quarters. Guess it was because I could hear the horses at the picket. Only thing I've missed is not having a convenient commode 
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## Atomicodyssey (Apr 13, 2014)

I love sleeping in a tent. I've grown up doing all kinds of hunting and camping in tents and while my brother has moved onto a camper there is just something about being in a tent, feeling the breezes and listening to the night life.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

A convenient commode, 2SC- how about the bush toilet, which is two sticks. One to lean on, one to keep the dogs away! ;-)


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## 2scicrazed (Apr 7, 2014)

Hahahahaha!

Hard to do that in the middle of the night in a lighted camp ground with no brush 
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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

Put a bucket of shavings(contained in a trash bag) in the trailer . hang a curtain. TADAH! private privy!


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

greentree said:


> Put a bucket of shavings(contained in a trash bag) in the trailer . hang a curtain. TADAH! private privy!


I used to do this, only used cat litter instead of shavings. Cover it up and the smell goes away! :wink:


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

I have to hand it to you guys. You would have made Sir Thomas Crapper proud. 










Thomas Crapper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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