How far does the typical racehorses in training jog and gallop on a daily basis? I am referring to a horse that has no major physical issues. I am under the impression that 1 1/2 miles is the ‘gold standard’. What would you consider too much/too far? What’s your opinion of horses galloping 2 1/2 to 3 miles a day?
What about times? Unfit 2 year olds - 25s? Older fitter horses in 20s?
Thanks for your time!
A good trainer is going to train the horse as an individual. There really is no average, you design the program based upon what you are trying to achieve. For example you wouldn’t train a two year old preparing for their first start like you would an older turf sprinter coming off a winter layoff even though neither horse is fit. As far as times goes a 15 second eighth is considered a two minute lick. A breeze or a work is a 12 second eighth.
I agree with Laurie — each horse is an individual & all train differently & not the same everyday.
I agree completely that it is always best to treat each horse as an individual! No question about that. Could you describe the training distances and times of 3 of your horses please. However different they may be. I understand that you’d train a 2 year old differently than an older horse returning from a lay up.
I value your input!
I have never timed anything other than works so I can’t answer that, sorry.
I’m an not a trainer but generally “works” means fast, timed moves typically at distances between 2 (for babies) and 7f furlongs though the latter is very rare. “Works” are fast, at or pretty close to racing speed. Most horses “work” infrequently, but gallop and jog almost daily for exercise and fitness conditioning.
If you are trying to build up stamina or leg up a horse that has been off, you might have them jog or gallop at increasing distances up to 1.5 or even more miles. You might throw in a short spped work when you feel his muscles and heart and lungs are ready. Depending on the horse, you might ask for more or less speed. (Some horses can get fit on slow works, others need to feel the burn.)
Someimes you set out to jog and the horse has other ideas. You can slow him with a pony or a strong rider or maybe let him do a bit more. (If he’s coming off a race and you want to ease him back and he wasts to get going, that is a good sign.)
You really need to read the horse. Sometimes they ask for more work because they are ready but some are just busting to go but not really ready to handle it. (Like the armchair rider who spends the winter on the couch and wants to go out and run 2 miles on the first day of spring, he’s going to pay for it.)
Interestingly enough I’ve worked for some very succesfull trainers over the years who have mostly trained every horse the same. Back up and jog 1/4 mile, turn around and gallop a mile and a half. Of course if one were coming back from a lay off, or had special needs the training was altered a bit.
I prefer to train horses as individuals, but generally a mile and a half is the standard, with 2 mile gallops a few times when your preparing one to run long or jogging 1-2 miles for horses that are running in races with little time off.
The larger the barn the more vanilla the training is generally speaking. Its hard to figure out exactly what each animal needs when there are lots of them so they work out a generic program that covers most of the bases. The majority of horses will do fine in a system like that but some will flounder.
Exactly Laurie, pretty amazing really how well these particular trainers did. I was in one barn where all the horses trained in a d-bit, no nose band. After I worked a few I made some equipment changes, and begrudgingly the trainer okayed it…and the horses worked/ran better because of it.
Thanks for your input everybody!
I am familiar racehorse training terminology and techniques. Lately I have been dealing with a few ‘trainers’ who come from the show horses back ground and are now into training TB racehorses. These individuals are owners but think they are trainers and trainer their own horses so to speak.
My mind is very open to new ideas but if something fails year after year why would you keep doing the same thing/following the same training schedules? The horses are being run into the ground before they ever even make it to the track. Too many miles.
I am just looking for input, ideas from other people.
The reason I asked about the times is because our rider is told to go in an specific time. I have talked to other riders about this and they all say what all of you have been saying. That it does depend on the individual horse.
Just trying to deal with a difficult situation here… thanks again. Your thoughts are welcome!
Sounds like they may be proponents of the Tom Ivers book “A Fit Racehorse” That book about made my eyes pop out of my head. Some people swear by it but most think its insane.
Laurieracer: I have just been quickly researching this book online and it appears that this is it!! Interval training, use of a high speed treadmill etc.
I’ll have to get a copy of the book now. I imagine it will be pretty amusing reading it… I bet everything this ‘trainer’ says comes from that book.
Thanks Laurieracer!
Interval training popped into my mind when you mentioned training over 2 miles a day… are they also using the heart monitors?
I galloped a horse for a dentist turned owner/trainer once… he was big on the interval training. He had a decent horse, which he quickly ruined.
There are some new monitors that are good though, and not used specifically for IT, more so to give the trainer a line on where the horse is fitness wise and soundness wise. I saw these first hand and was impressed. It takes some of the guess work out of the equation for those trainers who may be guessing. 
Yup, used to use the heart monitors. Not anymore. It’s too difficult to find a rider who is willing to ride a racehorse for that long/that far, never mind deal with all the other stuff.
I am finding it an increasingly difficult situation to deal with… it’s very sad to see the horses breaking down for ‘no reason’ other than poor training techniques. 
The problem with interval training is that you usually have no horse left after all of those miles. In theory it’s great, but under practical application it falls apart like a soup sandwich. The guys who did have success with the program were starting out with many, many horses, never expecting all of them to be able to withstand that many miles. They weren’t trying to get each individual to the races - they were looking for the “iron horses” that were still around by the time raceday came.
Folks like the sheiks can afford to do that, but an owner with a few horses wants each one to make it, not just the toughest ones that can withstand that training regime.
All the best,
The trick with interval training is to get enough long slow distance miles on the horse before you start speed work, and get the horse legged up enough to go a distance at slow speeds. Tom, himself, stated at one time to never go intervals with a horse that has less than 300 jog miles on him as that is the foundation you build on. Regardless if the intervals are a quarter, a few furlongs or a mile, you must have an equal interval or more to allow the horse’s heartrate and breathing return to normal for his jog speed; jog is only relevant to speed, not gait, can be slow jog trot/pace or very slow lope as long as the speed does not exceed 12mph or fall under 8,as I recall (never read the book, just hung around Tom years ago). The speed portion of the intervals is built up gradually to get air into the horse, and as training progresses, the last fast interval should be at the speed the horse races at, or within a couple of seconds of it. This method is a lot of work, as you can spend over an hour with each horse, but certainly does work well - you have tough horses, and they do last over a distance.
I’ve never been a fan of Interval training, my ideology has always been if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… that being said, anyone know of any stakes horses that have been trained this way?
I think Michael Dickinson was an interval trainer or at least used a variation of that, but am not positive. The logistics alone are reason enough not to do it. Imagine having a barn full of horses that galloped 5 miles on their “off” day or whatever. You would have to pay the exercise riders $100 a head.
I was also thinking about him Laurie, maybe I need to ask around a little… or better yet, apply for a job, LOL…KIDDING!
Don’t forget, he is no longer in business. Coincidence?
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