I've struggled to keep him as fit as he needs to be, since I don't actually know how fit he needs to be! What I do know is that he wasn't quite fit enough at the last show. Well, he was fit enough to do the I2, but by the end of the test he was itching for a break and with moving up to GP in the next month, I need him much fitter than he is now to get through that test, since it's quite a bit longer.
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| Milky Way over my barn! Finally got to edit these pictures |
Currently, he's been sitting pretty at the following:
3-4x/week- dressage at home
1-2x/week- lesson with Heidi
1x/week- day off
1x/week- light day, trail ride, hack, etc
Dressage at home means:
15-20m walk
5m warm up
1m break
4x8m work sets with 2m breaks in between
10m walk
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| Toward the neighbor's house |
What I do want to change, is what we do in our rides. Eight minute sets are great, but he needs to do more. I'd rather have him be used to more work with fewer breaks so that in the test when he gets a walk break after four minutes, he's like WOOHOO instead of thinking he deserves it and that it's about time.
So we're moving up to TEN minute work sets rather than eight for the next two weeks and after that, he'll move up to TWELVE minute work sets.
I'm also going to make a point to ride when it's hot. We take lessons in the middle of the day and don't get to pick our ride times, but at home I always try to ride early or late when it's cool. Yeah it's easier on both of us, but it makes us ill-prepared for shows and lessons which are then MUCH harder on us. So we're riding as much as possible in the 90 degree heat doing all of this work. Ugh.
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| Such a pretty place |
I'm also getting fitter! This is my sixth month doing crossfit and the other day I took up cycling. Boyfriend now lives near a paved trail, so we (plus his roommate) went out for a ride. We ended up doing about 7 miles! I expected to be sore afterwards since I haven't ridden a bike since March when I did four miles and was sore for five days. I was not sore. I wasn't even tired. The next day I just got up early, went to crossfit, rode two horses, and ate my weight in whatever I could find in the kitchen that had protein in it.
It's really helping my riding, I can out ride Rico easily. Now he needs to get on my level :)
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| Milky Way! |
Yes! Being in shape as a rider is so much a part of riding well. I actually have had to tone down the fitness work so I could increase flexibility work. So, be aware of that. Things like bicycling and running really shorten and tighten my hip flexors to the point that I have to to do yoga (yuck!) to get them supple and long enough to effectively ride.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I feel like other disciplines discount dressage horse's fitness needs. I'm so glad you're talking about this. Dressage horses require so much muscular strength and endurance, but rarely is enough attention paid to their fitting up.
Go Rico!
My hip flexors have always been ridiculously loose but my hamstrings and IT band tighten up like crazy from lifting and now cycling. I have a foam roller that I use regularly, which really helps. I've never been able to get into yoga, I wish I could, I'd love to be more flexible!
DeleteI see that too, eventers do so much great conditioning but you don't often hear of a dressage horse going out to do trot sets. It's like ballet- it takes so much strength to look effortless, but because it looks effortless, it doesn't look like it takes as much strength as it does.
GORGEOUS pictures!
ReplyDeleteIt's really interesting to see how much work you guys are doing to be fit for your level. I've never really worried about being fit for dressage, because I always fitted up event horses with interval training - so they were plenty fit (maybe a little TOO fit!) to put in a 3.5 minute dressage test. Being dressage fit is a whole new thing for me, and I'm taking notes!
Rider fitness is huge too, and I'm embarrassed about how unfit I am. More yoga, more jogging - yuck! But hey, if I expect my horse to be fit, I have to be as well!
It's all new to me too! For the most part I used to be able to just put in solid rides each day and whatever horse I was on would be fit enough for whatever we were doing. But Rico's age and laziness coupled with the level we're at makes it suddenly important. I struggled for a while but now I think I have a grasp on how fit he needs to be (hopefully!).
DeleteI struggled with rider fitness so much! When I was training full time it was easy because I'd ride so many horses each day, but now I'm doing a lot more sitting at a desk and a lot less exercising. Even though I'm working out a lot more now, I still struggle with sitting the trot when I get tired!