Condition Your Horse for Endurance Riding

If you enjoy long horse rides and scenic trails, endurance riding might be a great sport for you. Short endurance trails may be {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} long, while traditional endurance rides are commonly {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} or {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} long. Before you start training your horse for endurance riding, assess its condition to determine if it’s healthy enough for training. Then, you can begin an endurance training program. Additionally, you’ll need to feed your horse enough food to support the extra work.

Steps

Assessing Your Horse’s Condition

  1. Get your horse checked out by your equine vet. Your vet will make sure your horse is in the proper shape for beginning training. If your horse isn’t, they can provide advice on what you need to do before you begin conditioning. Additionally, the vet will administer any preventative measures needed, such as wormer or vaccinations.[1]
    • Your horse may not be able to train for endurance riding if it's been injured in the past, is suffering from an illness, or is too old to start training. Additionally, your vet may recommend a different conditioning program if your horse is obese or very out of shape.
    • Make sure your horse is on a regular worming schedule and is up to date on its recommended vaccinations.
    • Let your vet know if your horse has ever been injured.
    • Consider if your horse has had any healthy issues, such as colic or a respiratory infection.
  2. Have a farrier trim and shoe your horse's hooves, if necessary. Your horse’s feet need to be in great condition before you start trying to ride it for long distances. A farrier will check the length of the hooves, as well as their condition. Then, they can trim the hooves if they're too long or shoe your horse if your horse needs new shoes.
    • If your horse needs shoes, the best type of shoe for an endurance horse is a plain flat steel shoe.[2]
  3. Check that your horse can easily ride at least 1-2 hours with some trotting. Time the length of your rides to see how long you and your horse typically go. You need to be able to go for at least an hour before you start endurance training.[3]
    • If you can’t go at least an hour, start with groundwork training, such as lunging and walking circles.
  4. Make sure your horse can easily go up and down hills. Walk your horse up and down a hill to see if it gets tired or starts huffing. Don’t start endurance training if the horse can’t comfortably climb hills.[4]
    • If your horse can’t climb hills without getting overly tired, take a step back and work on it’s basic fitness. Walk the horse and slowly acclimate it to hills to get it in a better condition.

Checking Your Horse’s Heart Rate

  1. Get a stethoscope from a local drugstore or your veterinarian. You can use a traditional stethoscope, but it’s best to get one your vet recommends for use with horses. It’s important to monitor your horse’s heart rate so you don’t accidentally push it too hard. Plus, your horse needs to be used to a stethoscope before you take it to an endurance competition, as a team of vets will check up on the horse throughout the competition ride.[5]
    • Most endurance ride competitions have periodic vet checks set up to monitor the health and wellness of the horses.
  2. Put the stethoscope behind your horse’s left elbow to check the pulse. The pulse should be slightly above the left elbow. You should hear a lub-dub sound, which is the horse’s heartbeat. Each lub-dub counts as one beat. A healthy horse typically has a resting heart rate of 32 to 40 beats per minute (bpm).[6]
    • If you can’t find the pulse when you’re first learning how to use your stethoscope, trot or gallop your horse, then try again.
  3. Take your horse’s pulse at set intervals during training and recovery. Start by checking its pulse every 15 minutes, then gradually increase the intervals by 15 minutes as your horse gets fitter. Eventually, you’ll be able to go 2-3 hours without stopping to check your horse’s pulse.[7]
    • Your horse’s heart rate can increase up to 120 to 150 bpm while it’s trotting. It should not exceed this maximum heart rate, so reduce the intensity of its training if you notice it go higher.
    • After a ride, a fit horse’s heart rate will drop below 60 bpm within 15 minutes of stopping to rest. If your horse is taking longer for its heart rate to return below 60 bpm, then you may be overworking it.[8]
    • Over time, your horse will be able to work harder at a lower heart rate because it will become fitter.

Doing Endurance Training

  1. Warm up your horse with a 5 minute walk, followed by a 5 minute trot. This gets your horse’s muscles, tendons, and ligaments ready for the hard work of conditioning. Warming up prevents it from getting injured.[9]
    • If your horse hasn’t trained in awhile, you might instead warm it up with a 10 minute lunging session.
  2. Begin with {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} long rides 2-3 weekdays, then slowly add distance. This ride should take you 1 to 2 hours to complete. Alternate between walking and trotting your horse to slowly build up its fitness level. As it gets fitter, begin trotting your horse for the entire ride. After it can easily do a {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} ride in an hour or less, increase the distance by {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} at a time.[10]
    • For example, you might ride your horse on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
  3. Do longer {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} rides on the weekend, slowly increasing the distance. Although you still want to do a mix of walking and trotting, allow your horse to walk more when it's first starting out. This will prevent it from getting too tired while it’s getting used to longer rides. As it gets fitter, begin trotting it more until it can trot the entire ride. Then, you an increase the distance.[11]
    • For instance, you might go for a long Saturday morning ride.
    • Don’t forget to check your horse’s pulse regularly to make sure it isn’t overworking.
  4. Ride up and down hills 1-2 days per week, at a minimum. Start with one ride with hills every week to get your horse used to them. Then, increase how often you do hills as your horse’s fitness improves.[12]
    • If you plan to ride on trails that are very hilly, you’ll want to progress your horse up to doing several hill rides every week.
  5. Incorporate 20 minutes of arena work 1-2 days per week. Follow your prefered arena training plan. This might include activities like turning cones, jumping, circling, trotting, and galloping. Use this time to improve your horse’s skills and to bond with your horse.[13]
    • Do your arena work on days you take short rides.
  6. Cool your horse down with a slow 10 minute walk. Similar to a warm up, a cool down slowly brings your horse’s heart rate back down. This will reduce soreness and stiffness the next day. Plus, it helps the horse improve its fitness level faster.[14]
    • For example, you might walk it around the pasture for 10 minutes before beginning your grooming routine.
  7. Allow your horse to rest for 1-2 days each week. Your horse needs plenty of rest, especially if it’s training hard. This keeps your horse happy and relaxed so it can work hard on training days.[15]
    • Your horse needs this time for its muscles to repair. Don’t overwork your horse by skipping rest days.

Feeding Your Horse for Endurance Riding

  1. Give your horse constant access to fresh alfalfa hay or a pasture for grazing. Your horse needs good forage in order to get the energy it needs for training. Ideally, it needs at least 2-3% of its weight in food, but giving it extra hay will ensure it eats enough.[16][17]
    • Make sure your horse has a steady feeding routine, too. Some people feed their horses in the morning and evening, while other people feed their horses at midday as well.[18]
    • Don’t feed it extra grains or oils, as these can make it gain too much weight. However, it’s unlikely your horse will become overweight from hay or grass while it’s training.
    • Talk to your vet if you’re not sure how much hay to provide for your horse.[19]
  2. Feed your horse a grain mix if it’s losing weight. A grain mix is more concentrated than hay, so your horse can intake a lot more calories and nutrients in less food. This makes grain a terrific option for horses that don’t want to eat enough to meet their training needs. To prevent overfeeding, replace about {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of hay with {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of grain mix.[20]
    • Ask your vet if your horse needs a grain mix. Alfalfa hay is the best option for your horse, but a grain mix can help provide your horse enough energy to build its fitness level, if necessary.
    • Don’t feed your horse the grain mix on non-working days.
  3. Provide the horse with corn oil or vegetable oil as a fat supplement. Give the horse up to {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of the oil on training days. You can mix the oil into its food or provide it separately. However, most horses won’t eat this much oil in one day, so give your horse as much as it will eat.[21]
    • Always talk to your vet before giving your horse any type of supplement. They can help you decide if a supplement is right for your animal, and they'll be able to recommend the best amount for meeting your horse's needs.
    • When riding for endurance, your horse will need to pull energy from fat, as this energy lasts longer than carbohydrates. Although it will get fat from its hay, adding a supplement helps ensure it gets enough fat.
    • Store your fat supplement in a cool, dark place so it won’t go bad.
  4. Offer your horse plenty of fresh water, including on rides.[22] Provide at least 2 buckets of fresh water in your horse’s stall, or use a water trough. Empty and change the water at least twice a day, as horse’s prefer clean water.[23] During long rides, give your horse water at least once an hour. It can drink from clean water sources, such as rivers and streams, or you can give it fresh water in a feed bag, as long as you line the feed bag with a plastic bag to prevent leaks.[24]
    • You can use a regular plastic shopping bag to line your horse's feed bag so that it will hold water.
    • During competitions, your horse will get water during recovery periods, so this is a great practice to use during training.

Tips

  • If you have a question about something, reach out to an experienced endurance rider, a horse trainer, or your riding instructor. Never risk your horse’s health or wellbeing.
  • Make sure you’re increasing your horse’s exercise very slowly, as you don’t want it to be sore or stiff.
  • For endurance riding, it’s best to focus on stamina rather than speed.
  • It will take time for your horse to build up its fitness level, so don’t rush the process. It can take 2 to 3 years for your horse to reach its peak fitness level, though you can start doing short endurance rides as early as 6 months into training.[25]

Warnings

  • Don’t push your horse to be an endurance horse if it’s struggling to keep up or your says it isn't ready. Not all horses are capable of endurance riding.
  • Failing to warm up or cool down your horse can cause injuries ranging from sore muscles to sprained tendons.

Related Articles

References

  1. ↑ https://aerc.org/static/aerc_rider_handbook.pdf
  2. ↑ https://www.seraonline.org/Conditioning.pdf
  3. ↑ https://aerc.org/static/aerc_rider_handbook.pdf
  4. ↑ https://aerc.org/static/aerc_rider_handbook.pdf
  5. ↑ https://www.seraonline.org/Conditioning.pdf
  6. ↑ https://www.seraonline.org/Conditioning.pdf
  7. ↑ https://www.seraonline.org/Conditioning.pdf
  8. ↑ https://aerc.org/static/aerc_rider_handbook.pdf
  9. ↑ https://aerc.org/static/aerc_rider_handbook.pdf
  10. ↑ https://www.seraonline.org/Conditioning.pdf
  11. ↑ https://www.seraonline.org/Conditioning.pdf
  12. ↑ https://www.seraonline.org/Conditioning.pdf
  13. ↑ https://www.seraonline.org/Conditioning.pdf
  14. ↑ https://aerc.org/static/aerc_rider_handbook.pdf
  15. ↑ https://www.seraonline.org/Conditioning.pdf
  16. ↑ https://aerc.org/static/aerc_rider_handbook.pdf
  17. ↑ [v161307_b01]. 17 March 2020.
  18. ↑ [v161307_b01]. 17 March 2020.
  19. ↑ [v161307_b01]. 17 March 2020.
  20. ↑ https://aerc.org/static/aerc_rider_handbook.pdf
  21. ↑ https://aerc.org/static/aerc_rider_handbook.pdf
  22. ↑ [v161598_b01]. 18 September 2020.
  23. ↑ https://aerc.org/static/aerc_rider_handbook.pdf
  24. ↑ https://thehorse.com/112201/keeping-your-horse-healthy-on-the-trail/
  25. ↑ https://www.seraonline.org/Conditioning.pdf
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