Amateur Preliminary Riders - Scheduling

[LadyB]

Adult Amateur here, who works a 730-4 office job Monday to Friday. I ride 6 days a week no matter what, and put my full time and energy into my horse and this sport. Shipping out seems to be tougher with prices of everything, plus with many farms shutting down, getting out to school isn’t as easy with locations.

I am unable to afford a true program unfortunately. I am wondering what your Prelim horses weekly rides look like?

I have an OTTB, which makes fitness a bit easier than the average breed, which is great.

What is your schedule like? How many rides of dressage, hacking, jumping or trot sets. I think I am struggling to find the best way to work each week. I am not a huge fan of jumping an excessive amount, I like to save their legs, but you obviously need to practice. Would love to know what your weekly schedule looks like, on an average week or even before a show.

Thank you!

[subk]

It has been a while (a long while) but I think you have to first prioritize conditioning days for the horse and days off for the rider, then work the rest around it. I think ideally you work a 5 day rotation–ie conditioning sets every 5 days. A strenuous conditioning day is followed by a day off, or an easy hacking day then work your days off as needed. Then the remaining 3 days can be flexible: dressage, jump, dressage–or jump, dressage, jump depending on whether you need jumping work or dressage work the most.

Start there and make adjustments for your own particular horse and you own specific needs as a rider. It is so much easier to sit down at the beginning of each week and edit the existing plan.

With an OTTB (and not working toward a long format) you have more flexibility on conditioning and can stretch your rotation to 6 or even 7 days. My scheduling challenges were weekends, so I would get up super early on Saturday morning and do gallop sets with a day off on Sunday–giving me freedom all weekend. My TB was a super jumper and dressage challenged, so we jumped once a week, dressaged 3 times a week. Then one random day a week, he got a trail ride/long hack, a fun day or even another day off. When I was traveling 2+ hours away every couple weeks for training the easy day or extra day off was the day was after a travel day. Throw in some hacking after one or two of those dressage schools for good measure.

Wofford’s old book, Training the 3-Day Horse and Rider, goes into scheduling extensively. Not just what a general schedule should look like but, how to work back 30 days from a competition, when to work in days off, and how to include the competitions themselves into the conditioning program. He also has an appendix that shows the actual schedule he did leading up to big competitions at each level. Granted we don’t need the same level of fitness not doing long-formats, so the rigor can be somewhat reduced, but the concepts still should work very well today.

Here are a couple typical weeks for me on a 7 day conditioning rotation:
Mon Dressage + 30 min hack (walk)
Tue Dressage
Wed Jump School
Thur Trail ride with a friend
Fri Dressage
Sat Trot sets and Gallop
Sun Off

Mon Dressage
Tue Travel for Jump Lesson (4 hours in trailer)
Wed. Off
Thur Dressage + 30 min hack
Fri Dressage
Sat Trot sets and Gallop
Sun Off

[Carried_Away]

I have a coming 7yo ISH gelding that’s about 40% blood but holds his fitness pretty well. He’s done 8 Prelims including a 2*L and my weeks tend to look like this:

Monday - off (busiest work day for me)
Tuesday - hack or light flat using Equibands
Wednesday - cavalletti/canter poles
Thursday - dressage
Friday - SJ
Saturday - long hack (mostly walking + hills)
Sunday - fitness (usually 15 minutes trotting depending on whether or not I have access to hills, in FL I was doing 18 + 5x3 canters)

This schedule also helps mimic event weekends with the fitness day being interchangeable between Saturday or Sunday and swapping the dressage & SJ days so I’m not too off track the week following an event.

Edited to add that my horse doesn’t do great with the same types of ride on consecutive days so I try to really mix up his schedule and make sure he gets a mental break outside the arena.

[beowulf]

I think you need to figure out which of your days you can get the horse off property to school XC, and then modify your schedule around it. For prelim, your conditioning schedule is not as rigid and you can flex days. What does your horse need the most? XC exposure? Fitness?

The general rule of thumb with conditioning work is you need to break it up over several days. If it is a hard conditioning set over hard ground, five days is ideal. If it is moderate to light, you can go as close as three days. With a TB, I don’t think you need to go hard here.

It has been a long time since I was riding that level, but I did all of the conditioning work for one of my BNTs and still remember their schedule. What I liked about this BNT is she had a book log for each horse - you could go back months and see how they were doing and progressing. Each horse had a tweaked schedule that was based on whether it was competition season, their personalities (did they hate dressage? did they do better alternating work days? were they cheeky the day back to work?) but it generally looked like this:

Monday - Off
Tuesday - Conditioning Set on a hack: Trot sets 5m x 3 times. Canter set on hill: 3m x 5 times.
Wednesday: Dressage
Thursday: Hack or trail ride (this can be subbed with SJ school on the on-season)
Friday: Dressage
Saturday: Conditioning Set on a hack. 5m trot x3, gallop set 4m x 3.
Sunday: XC or travel day: Jump school

Every ride at home started and finished with a 20m walk loop around the property. The weekend fitness work/jump schools were interchangeable with events and clinics, with the assumption the horse would still get their conditioning work in.

I really enjoyed this program and modified it for my own projects at home. Keeping the conditioning work on the roads and trails really made these horses fresh and happy to work in a ring. In my own program I have one that doesn’t do well schooling the same thing consecutive days, so we usually break up the week’s dressage schools between something easy like a hack or light conditioning.

With a TB, I would think the emphasis on interval training days not as necessary. I was working with Irish Slug Horses.

[SeeSpotEvent]

Great suggestions. The other thing I’ll add is that I definitely am thoughtful about when I am building up the fitness base at the beginning of the season, routing towards an event and when we have a bit of a lull. I still ride with the same rhythm (6 days) but keep the time I ride shorter (like 30-40 minutes vs hour +). It means that some parts of the year I’m not killing myself to make the time puzzle work, which helps.

I also plan out my XC schools and schedule around those. My horses going prelim and modified are pretty experienced without a lot of XC training gaps, so we go a few times for a tune up before an event.

Depending on if we have a show, we usually do one day of conditioning, two long hacks, two days of dressage, and a show jump school. If I go do XC, I replace the conditioning day with that and just make sure we get enough galloping in to keep us on program.

It’s hard to do, I know. I’m lucky to work remotely now but this is also what I did when I was in the office.

[LadyB]

Thank you!

I think where I am falling short is the xc outings, they are few and far between unfortunately. Our closest facility shut down a year ago, which was a nice 30 minute drive, and didn’t kill the pocket funds. Now the closest is over and hour, and much much more expensive. Add trying to arrange your coach to go, with it being worth it to them by getting other students to go.

I don’t think I am educated enough to know how much xc is truly required prior to an event. I managed with this before at Training, but the height and requirement is just that much more. So much more required from both of us. Maybe this is why most stop at Training and just play there?

I already give away so much of my free time, my life is driven around my riding schedule, but yet after all these wonderful responses make me think I am not doing enough. How does one even balance?

Appreciate all the detail responses, I focus a lot on dressage, but I think I need to realize you can do a bit of both, some dressage work, then jump. The barn I just moved to has the most amazing hacking, this is going to be super beneficial with sets and even just taking a day of long and slow.

[Jealoushe]

I remember the days I used to event without XC schooling, wasn’t even a thing

I think at Prelim and above XC schooling is more about jumping the lines and questions, than the fences themselves. I think you could set this up at home with showjump fences, on grass, to mimic the height and questions.

I feel your pain, our closest XC schooling place is over 2 hrs away now, and most are over 3. I’m starting to build my own jumps soon, because frankly I just can’t afford to drive all over Ontario anymore!

[Carried_Away]

I agree with this, and school only once maybe twice a year. The accuracy questions that are tough at Prelim can be set up in the arena if you get creative Of course it depends on the horse, but I’ve found that if I am competing somewhat consistently I don’t need to XC school. At Prelim the horse should know or be close to knowing what their job is.

To add to the post by @LadyB above, all of my cavalletti and SJ warmup I am focusing on the dressage concepts we work on during a dressage ride (shoulder in, haunches in, straightness, transitions, forward and back, various lateral work), and it’s helpful to be in different tack/bit for this as well sometimes. I like to joke that I am tricking my horse into doing dressage most days, even if he doesn’t have dressage tack on.

[LadyB]

Thank You, I think I lack doing that with my warm ups for jumping, don’t get me wrong, I work on being proper, but I would say I don’t work on it enough prior to jumping that day. Making note of this!

At training level I found I’d school here or there, and the shows worked enough in between that. I think I need to be more resourceful as well and set up better tougher questions at home, I am a tad complacent when on my own. Another struggle is finding someone to come to the farm and coach, they would rather us ship in, which is a 5 hour night at the end of a work day.

I don’t know how many amateurs do it, I applaud anyone who can do it and not feel defeated!

[Carried_Away]

I totally get it, and some days it is definitely tough to fit it all in, (not to mention find the motivation) especially after a long work day!

I used to be really adamant about cleaning my tack after most rides and having a super clean horse (Pony Club PTSD?), but I have learned to compromise when time is short and just do the minimal amount now, saving some tasks for the weekends when I have more time.

The coaching thing is difficult, but it’s important to trust in your training and do what you can on your own to keep yourself and your horse sharp. Practicing the technical questions at lower heights when I’m on my own has helped me to feel more confident when I face the real thing at competitions. I also really like the RideIQ app for ideas plus accountability when I can’t get lessons as regularly as I’d like.

[beowulf]

@Carried_Away

I also really like the RideIQ app for ideas plus accountability when I can’t get lessons as regularly as I’d like.

How are you liking it in specific so far? I was interested in it because I can kind of ‘coast’ and not push myself at home, but the price/time condition made me balk. There are sometimes whole weeks where I can’t get a real dressage ride in and I’d prefer to pay per “lesson” versus pay subscription monthly… if that makes any sense? I just don’t know with my unpredictable schedule if it would be worth it to pay for a month’s worth and only get two dressage rides in.

(Sorry for the hijack OP! I totally commiserate with you as a fellow AA with a zero-flex office job and chores outside of riding)

[LadyB]

If they do a free referral trial I’d be happy to send you a free option when they offer it again. Its a short trial, but I do like RideIQ, haven’t used it in a bit for other reasons. I like it a lot, and felt I learned how much I don’t push myself on my own rides, much better about it now!

I did try one of the jump ones, and found it a bit more difficult, but they’ve come out with so much more in the last month, its wild! Even rider fitness!

[Jealoushe]

I love it. Along with the lessons, the podcasts, chats, FB group, test ride throughs, everything is just tonnes of great educational content.

[Carried_Away]

I am a big fan, even if I don’t ride while listening to the lessons and use them as more of a “podcast”, I still pick up ideas and a sense for what I should be working on. You can also bookmark lessons that interest you so you can go back and either ride or listen to them at your convenience.

I also really enjoy the In Stride podcasts and Office Hours sessions they host.

[fire.pony]

I’m still fairly new to the app but I love it! It helps keep me accountable on dressage school days outside of lessons. I also love the option of having full rides or under 20min exercises to work on.

I haven’t done any jump lessons with it yet since I usually can get a weekly lesson from my coach, but even if I were to only use the app for flatwork, it is well worth the $30/mo!

[SeeSpotEvent]

PS- don’t feel bad! Running prelim+ as an amateur is SO HARD. I did it in an area with less abundant opportunities and it was so difficult, even with a super eventing barn an hour away that I hauled into for lessons when I could squeeze them in. We ended up moving to an area where it is a lot easier but that is not typical and we had a lot of luck on our side for timing.

By the way, I heartily agree on the xc exercises at home. My prelim horse is fab on skinnies and corners and I maintain it using Lucinda’s Day 1 skinnies and corners she builds with those plastic jump blocks set in areas of the farm with a little bit of terrain.

We really need a club, I’m usually the only, or one of a few, prelim amateur at any given show!

[Turntable]

@LadyB

I don’t know how many amateurs do it, I applaud anyone who can do it and not feel defeated!

It really helps if you can band up with other riders to set jumps for each other and ride together.

[LadyB]

Where do I find this Lucinda’s Day 1 skinnies and corners?! Sounds like it is super beneficial!

@Turntable Unfortunately I am the only eventer at my current barn, at this level
I have a friend that comes to help every so often, but sadly not enough.

This thread has given me some things to be more aware of, and things to reassure me with what we’ve done so far. I need to do more in some aspects of our rides, and need to actually challenge myself with better questions.

[seriously1]

Actually, that was something I was going to ask…not that I will ever get to Prelim, but I would think the additional scheduling challenge would be rider fitness. I wonder how you could add to this already packed schedule any kind of rider fitness activities that could help?

[HeartsDesireEventing]

With my current horse, who has been running Prelim for several years now and has done several CCIs and one Intermediate, I plan my schedule around the required fitness work, whatever lessons we have planned, and my work schedule. Typically he works about 5 days a week - he likes a schedule of 3 - 4 days on, followed by one day off. Every week includes at minimum one long hack day, one gallop day, one dressage day, and one jump day. I try not to do hard days back to back - I think of making sure I alternate saddles each day so he’s not for example galloping and jumping on back to back days - and all of our rides include hacking before and/or after the working part of the ride, so each ride is at least an hour, and usually more like an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half.

I work a full time job (8 - 5) that requires evening meetings twice a month. The barn I board at is about 40 minutes from the house and work (I can walk to work) so all of my rides are after work, and in the summer in particular are also modified depending on the weather (thunderstorms anyone?) and sometimes we do work 5 - 6 days in a row and then get a day off due to weather. When we have a major show coming up, I’ll lay out my calendar for 3 - 4 months in advance, noting which days I can and can’t ride, and develop the fitness schedule first - when does he need to start interval sets, etc. - and then work the other schooling in around that.

A typical week might look something like this:
Monday: off (or a long hack)
Tuesday: dressage or cavaletti
Wednesday: gallop/interval sets
Thursday: off
Friday: dressage
Saturday: long hack (1 1/2 hours) or trot set
Sunday: jump

As far as rider fitness, I do yoga at home once a week and am in the gym twice a week - typically Tuesday and Thursday mornings - before work. I use a mix of workout programs/free weights, tabata, work on the treadmill/elliptical, etc. and try to keep up with the cardio and the core strength in particular.