THE PROFESSIONALS
G
etting your horse fit and how to do it can seem like an overwhelming challenge especially on the back of a difficult winter, with both the weather and lockdown working against us all. So where do we start? “First thing to understand is fitness comes in two different forms; cardiovascular fitness and muscular fitness, or the trendy term ‘core strength’ “General riding a couple of times a week should establish a very basic level of fitness but for the competition horse this is unlikely to be enough. “Raising the heart rate is the key to cardiovascular fitness, so increasing the amount of canter work within your schooling session may be a very easy way to start to increase cardiovascular fitness. Incorporating some medium canter and some more collected canter on a smaller circle will start to strengthen and condition the muscles too. Changing from a medium canter and then to a more collected canter and then back into medium several times, will provide a good workout for both the heart and lungs as well as the muscles. (Provided your riding your horse’s way of going is correct of course! If it’s going round like a giraffe, then its not working the right muscles in the right way!). “This very simple principle of changing gears in canter is key to developing a horses stamina and fitness for top level eventing competition. An event horse is expected to gallop cross country and change gear multiple times over a sustained period of time,
IS YOUR HORSE FIT &
RARING TO GO? over various terrain, all whilst staying in good balance and maintaining self carriage. Good, correct flat work training is vitally important because if a horse cannot work in balance and self carriage on the flat, there is little chance it will be able to do so once challenged by terrain and obstacles. “If you are blessed with hilly areas for hacking this is fantastic for getting the horse’s heart rate up and also strengthening the muscles. Walking up very steep hills will be enough to make a horse puff or blow, whereas trotting up more gentle inclines will have the same effect. “You can make it into a strength
HAVING RIDDEN FOR GREAT BRITAIN INTERNATIONALLY AND TRAINED WITH THE WORLDS BEST COACHES, HARRIET MORRISBAUMBER IS IN THE UNQIUE POSITION TO BE NOT ONLY A TALENTED RIDER BUT A TRAINER TOO. HERE SHE ASKS... and conditioning workout for the core too by repeatedly changing gears within the trot or canter, all the time imagining you have a dressage Judge watching you so you keep your horse’s way of going as good as possible! “Working your horse in this way is fantastic training for them for
If you’re lucky enough to have a friendly landowner with fields and tracks where the going is good enough to trot and canter, then this can be the ideal for adding in some extra cardiovascular fitness.
several reasons as it is less mental pressure for them than being in an arena, and if you can train your horse to politely canter faster, slower, bigger, shorter etc out in the open, you can do it anywhere! “If you don’t have access to tracks with good ground you may need to use an all weather gallop to ensure good going. Incorporating pole work, cavaletti work and gymnastic jumping are good ways of building strength in the core muscles. There are also other forms of ‘training equipment’ such as a water treadmill which will make the cardiovascular system work whilst encouraging the core to strengthen as the horses lift their limbs up and out of the water.” www.harriet-morrisbaumber.co.uk
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