Written by Nancy Okun on July 16, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Things are going great with Reilly! We are bonding under saddle and there is no better feeling than that! I’ve had many great trail rides with some solid friends as baby sitters and Edie has given me some great lessons in the ring. Just last week we did our first solo trail ride and he was a Prince! If it weren’t’ for the deer flies that threatened to carry us away it would have been heaven!
Edie says he’s a star in Kindergarten, but hasn’t graduated to first grade yet! So we’re still working on bending, leg yielding and going around any obstacles we can find – jumps set up in the ring (whoa! not for us!!), hay wagons, parked trailers – and exposing him to everything going on at the farm – jumping lessons, saddle fitting sessions, hay mowing. As a result he’s getting calmer and more resilient every day…and so am I. He’s been coming home with me and Rianon on the weekends and he trailers like a champ.
I can’t believe he’s only been with me for two months!
I thought some of you who may be planning your first CTR this summer or fall would like to have an overview of early conditioning. I just reread an article on the AERC website (which I encourage all of you to check out -
www.endurance.net) to remind myself of some basic principles.
Every horse is an individual. That may sound pretty basic…but it can’t be emphasized enough. Body type and resting heart rate along with god given metabolics obviously come into play as does a horse’s living arrangement. If your horse is out on 50 acres (lucky him) and self exercises quite a bit, his fitness level going into your training schedule will be different than a horse kept in a small paddock. Horses will have limitations so you will just need to listen and know your horse……the more you ride the more you’ll “hear” and “know.”
Most of us work full time so consistency can sometimes be a problem. You know there will be a thunderstorm on your day off … kids and partners will demand attention …you know the scenario! You can’t make up for not riding one day by riding twice as hard the next. So try your very best, for the sake of your equine partner, to be consistent.
You should consider your own physical health and fitness, as well. If you become fatigued your riding will become unbalanced and your body will be tense with discomfort. That will cause your horse to tighten or twist his back and potentially cause lameness. It’s easy and fun to incorporate your exercise program with your horse’s by running alongside him as a warm up to your ride….or getting off to hike with him up or down steep hills. It will also give you an appreciation of what we ask our horses to do while carrying our weight. Plus, it will teach him how to stand still next to a rock or log while you mount.
Ring work is essential for a supple and balanced horse. As a result he will be much less prone to injury.. No, I’m not thrilled with ring work either and find myself having “trail withdrawal” the days I do ring work. But ask any of the really successful endurance riders and they will tell you they take dressage lessons regularly. Trotting over cavalettis is also beneficial. I make a maze of them to keep our waning interest alive. Really all you need as a start is 30 minutes a week. Even with that short time you will see a difference in your horse’s carriage.
Make sure your horse’s feet are in good condition and balanced with good angles. Assuming he is in good health and not too thin nor obese you can start riding 3 miles at 5 mph….if you’ve been riding regularly you may increase that mileage very quickly. If your horse is turned out on a huge pasture 3 days a week might be all he needs to get and stay fit. Horses in a smaller paddock could benefit from a 5 day a week schedule but two of those days should be light work, or ring work. Incorporate hills, but go easy downhill especially if your horse is young. They neither have the strength or balance to negotiate downhill grades well and you could damage their joints. Use common sense. If you’ve done a long ride one day, go easy the next. Never increase mileage and difficulty in the same ride. Trot and walk. Practice transitions. Getting on and off on the trial. Stopping at streams or puddles and encourage them to drink. Keep it interesting and fun.
My goal is to comfortably do 5 miles in 45 minutes. Once your horse can do that you can bet you’re ready to do a 25 mile ride.
Next month we’ll talk about pulse as an indication of fitness and condition.
Till then … Ride Happy!.
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Written by Jay McGarry on at 12:54 pm
I don’t know about you, but I am a goal setter and I love the process of learning. I am lucky that I have my horses at home with a large outdoor riding arena in which to school them. Recently, I had the opportunity to board my horse at my trainer’s barn for a few days while my son was at horse camp and it got me thinking. I have boarded in the past, but it is easy to forget how much I enjoy having someone available for feedback, “eyes on the ground” and riding companions. I know my son loved camp for the sheer joy of riding with others who share his passion.
Many of us don’t have the benefit of a regular trainer or riding buddies. I trailer, weather permitting, over an hour each week to my trainer’s barn for lessons and afterwards make notes on what I am working on. Knowing that I don’t always have my trainer available, I find it really important to set goals. They don’t have to be lofty goals, but simply something that keeps me striving to improve myself or my horse, usually both. It is easy to become dependent on a trainer and many riders become paralyzed without constant input. I find that I need to be a “thinking” student. When I learn something I take it home and really work on it. I refer to my notes, think about my schooling, and develop questions to be answered when I see my trainer again. Edie finds the following helpful: “I always advocate a written lesson plan just like a teacher would prepare for a school class. In that plan (which can be flexible or changed as appropriate), I like to have goals, things my horse does well, and things my horse needs to work on, and a systematic plan to get that to happen.”
When I don’t have access to my regular trainer, I try to reflect on previous lessons, or bounce my questions off other knowledgeable horse people. I read a lot and take bits and pieces of things that might be useful and play with them. It takes more motivation when I am on my own, because it would be easy to just plod along doing the same old thing, but never really getting anywhere.
Some people are in a rush to move up quickly, whether in dressage, eventing, fence heights, etc., but for me, it’s important to just take your time and fill in the “holes” and enjoy the satisfying process of learning.
In reality, we must be responsible for our own learning. I set small and large goals. A small goal might be to have my green, off-the-track Thoroughbred stay calm on a trail, or be soft in a “scary” corner of the ring. A large goal might be getting into a show ring for the first time or doing our first small horse trial. Those goals keep me going. Sure, I am competitive and you may not be, but goal setting and learning keeps the process interesting, challenging and rewarding. Knowing that I can’t have my trainer sitting on my shoulder like the “good fairy,” telling me what to do next means I have to think about what I am actually feeling and doing; as a result, it enhances the learning process.
If you take your time and set small goals, you can build on each success and shape the end result into the larger goal. It is what keeps me going when there is no one at “the barn” to pressure me to get something done in a particular way. I try to keep to my plan whether it’s ninety degrees, such as last week, or below 20 degrees. I have goals to achieve and that is what motivates me.
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Written by Kitt on July 14, 2010 at 4:57 pm
This month’s Success Story features Cindy Sanders and her horse Dane. Cindy was looking for a dressage saddle for Dane; he’s a big boy, a rehab case, and built very uphill.
She’d tried several different saddles, but they all sat pommel-high, and Dane wasn’t a happy guy – Cindy described his canter as “cantankerous.” Cindy’s also quite petite, and small rider on large horse adds another dimension into the saddle fitting equation.
We sent Cindy and Dane a used 17″ wide tree high head Albion SLK . The high head dealt well with his big wither, and it had a very thick rear gusset, which balanced the saddle and kept it from sitting pommel-high. Things looked pretty good from the first time Cindy put the saddle on Dane’s back, and a few days later, she told me, “I’ve been able to ride Dane in the Albion enough to make a decision. I believe it is a good match for both of us. He’s not protesting to trot sitting nor canter departs. I am comfortable in it, as well.”
She very kindly posted on the Ultimate Dressage Bulletin Board: “Great eye, great call. We’re a very happy pair. Thank you!” and included the following photos – which truly are worth a thousand words!
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Written by Brady on at 4:43 pm
Phew! Back from camp. GMHA Junior Horsemanship Camp was an exhausting experience. We rode for a combined total of nearly three hours during the day. We typically did flat and/or jumping every day. My camp trainer’s name was Olivia. She probably had the most fun out of all of us in the group, frankly, because she didn’t have to work that hard. She could just sit in the shade and tell us what to do…especially when we were jumping. The temperatures were steaming almost every day. I did soak Punky in the stream daily.
At camp we had to take care of our ponies and horses; feed them morning and night, clean stalls, keep our areas clean and raked, and make sure our tack was very clean. During our lessons and when we took our ponies for a walk, the expectation was that there were no shavings whatsoever, on the ponies.
I worked on folding on the front of the jump and leaning back and giving on the downside of the jump, especially when they were downhill, balancing him right away, on landing. I also learned some supplying exercises and I learned how to communicate with my legs better, to Punky.
In the middle of camp, there was a horse trial. In dressage, Sue Berrill, my trainer, was the judge and she gave me a 40.5, (event score).She told me I was very accurate and I have been working tirelessly on that. Stadium; I was almost finished with a clear round until I was getting cocky and let down my guard, and he stopped at the last fence. Cross country was a stellar experience. I had a clear round and after the last fence I started pumping my hand like a jockey. I came in second in my division.
On the second to last day our trainer had us play some games. We played tennis ball and spoon races, slalom poles that had to weave around, cup and ball races and more. Punky thought the tennis ball was an apple so when I refused to give it to him, he got angry and he bucked. I didn’t come off, but I only had one hand on the reins, because I was holding the spoon and tennis ball in the other. I kept the tennis ball balanced; probably all the experience I have gained from the li’l guy bucking, rearing, you name it, he has done it. We won that game.
I made a lot of new friends. One of them even joked to me that more people know Punky than know me. And, that probably played a big part in me getting the “Bell Wood” annual award. It’s given to the camper who exhibits a strong bond with their pony and made camp special for everyone. All in all, Punky and I had fun at camp and can’t wait until next year.
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