How to prepare horse for 11 day trail ride --

[Foxglove]

In September my horse (17 year old QH gelding) and I plan to do the Shore to Shore Trail Ride (250 miles in 11 days). The daily rides average 20 miles on trails for horses. My daughter says I should start 12 weeks out and “get my horse fit” for trail riding. I said I planned to start six weeks out. So we are disagreeing.

The Horse: is turned out 24/7 on 20 acres of rolling hills in a grass pasture. He’s a plump QH --but having said that he’s a Poco Bueno Blackburn 4D -and they are short coupled, heavily muscled cutting type horses (look at any picture of a Blackburn 4D gelding and you’ll see what my horse looks like). So maybe not so “fat” as he appears. Vet put him at an 8 body score on Monday.

I foxhunt all winter long --2-4 hours of brisk (usually) riding over all kinds of country --lots of canter, lots of trot, some walk. He never quits or seems to become fatigued. In the summer we play around with reining, western riding patterns, trail obstacles, and basic training. He’s the back up horse for my Granddaughter for 4-H should her own horse not be able to perform --so my horse does about 4-5 hours a week of solid riding --but I don’t do any kind of distance or endurance conditioning.

Daughter on the other hand rides an OTTB (7 years old) and since she rides eventing she does SERIOUS conditioning 3-4 times a week --really hard core stuff all done with an ear tuned toward maximum heart rate/respiration, then slow down and repeat. Since her horse is in PERFECT condition (according to the vet), she seems to know what she’s talking about --except . . .

I don’t plan to race on the trails --I plan to mostly walk, do a little trotting, and maybe a canter here and there. I figure my 20 miles a day will take me 5-6 hours at that pace --and I’m good with that. Leaving the first camp at 7 or 8, I get to the next camp about 3 or 4.

So, how much “getting fit” should I do with my horse? Is my plan of an hour a day, working up to two hours a day of walk-trot going to be enough for my boy to handle the up coming 240 miles? Does anyone know of a “plan” (make your horse trail ready in 30 days type idea?)

Thank you!

Foxglove

[chicamux]

No, your plan isn’t sufficient, start earlier, use a gps to actually measure your mileage per ride, aim to get your horse fitter than you think he needs to be. You are going to be on his back day after day after day which is much more tiring. Also, consider saddle and pads, yes more than one, because the horse’s back can easily get sore.

[Appsolute]

I agree with your daughter! I would want to start at least 12 weeks out for the type or ride you describe.

What sort of terrain will you be riding in? Hills? Humidity?

I am going to try not to be too blunt or nasty, but a body score of 8 is seriously overweight. This horse needs to start getting fit NOW.

Many endurance / long distance conditioning plans address someone getting ready for one, 25 mile ride. You want to do 11, 20 mile rides in a row. - thats not a small amount of riding.

If you are planning to ride 5-6 hours a day, 11 days straight, with no days off for muscle and fatigue recovery - getting a horse fit on 2 hour rides would not be sufficient.

Thats like preparing for a marathon by jogging 2 miles a day - its just not going to cut it. You are not going to build the stamina needed - and if you have a bulky “short twitch” muscle type horse - rather than a “stayer” like a TB or Arabian, the conditioning becomes even more important.

How many miles do your hunts usually cover? How many days a week do you hunt? How long has it been since he hunted? Could he hunt 11 days in a row with no breaks?

With your current plan I am foreseeing a horse who is VERY sore after a few days.

I would reach out to endurance riders for conditioning schedules - if you want to do this, its going to take quite some time, and many hours in the saddle each week to get ready.

[Foxglove]

Thank you!! How much mileage per ride do you think? How soon should I start? GPS is a great idea! I plan to take 3 saddles, 3 pads, 3 girths, 3 bridles --rotating each ride --one saddle is a Tucker, one his regular hunt saddle (my favorite), and the other is our dressage saddle. Each as a different pad and girth.

Foxglove

[Foxglove]

Appsolute --Thank you! I’m hoping to hear from some endurance riders as to what they suggest. I have plenty of time to adjust my plans to make my horse as ready as possible. I hunt once a week and generally cover about 10-15 miles (one of the members has a GPS that lets us know) --and the hunt country is hilly, steep hills, and flat, and sand, and clay, and frozen . . .but hunting is different than trail riding --my horse has a week between hunts, and hunting is a lot of standing around between extended canters and trots.

I hope someone has a plan for us to follow. On the plus side, saddle included, my weight is only about 10% of my horse’s –

Wondering aloud , other than visual, is there a way to see how fit a horse is? As I said, my boy “looks” round, but even the vet said his build made him a tough call because he’s so heavily muscled in his chest, forelegs, and hindquarter. Typical low to the ground, short coupled QH he’s about 1200 pounds on a 15 hh frame. Of course his shoes (he’s never worn shoes before) will make him taller . …

Foxglove

[Appsolute]

Well there is fit - and then there is body fat, which do not necessarily mean the same things.

You can tell fat from muscle by palpating the areas where fat deposit. Can you feel ribs? Do you have to PRESS to feel them? Is there fat at the top of the tail head? What about the crest and neck?

Here is some info on body scoring:

http://www.equineallies.com/images/bsc_p2.jpg

Now fitness is a different matter. You can measure fitness by how quickly your horse’s pulse and respiration rises, how quickly he becomes out of breath etc, and even more importantly, how quickly he recovers.

Here is some good info on condtioning:

https://perseveranceendurancehorses.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/endurance-training/

Really, what you are preparing for is more than a “trail ride” and a real endurance test.

[Foxglove]

Yes! That’s exactly right! And that’s what I need help with --preparing for a long trail ride . . .it’s not an endurance race, or a race at all. But clearly it’s different and more than we usually do --so he needs to be fit but a different kind of fit (maybe) than an endurance horse --and the vet said just what you said: “I can feel his ribs without pressing, and he has no fat deposit on his tail head, crest, or neck --but he’s beefy” (vet’s words). And for a small horse, he carries a lot of body mass.

Thank you for answering!
Foxglove

[tabula_rashah]

You might want to consider moving your planned pace along a little bit- you’re going to make both of you pretty sore if you walk 20 miles, especially that many days in a row.

I’m not a super experienced endurance rider- but my general training schedule to do 25 milers is 3 days a week: 1 day of ring work, 1 day of a 2 hour-ish trail ride with speed or heavy hill work and 1 day of a long 4-5 hour ride LSD (with hills because there’s no flat around here lol!). If I have time, I might do an extra shorter trail ride or lunge one day and I also give a rest day after a hard workout.

[BEARCAT]

“Vet put him at an 8 body score on Monday.”

Yikes! That is obese!
Unless that’s a typo, I would seriously rethink your feeding and training program.

Just because a horse is out on 20 acres doesn’t mean he actually moves around much. Perhaps a grazing muzzle would help?

[Simbalism]

No expert, but I would want to be sure that my horse could do multiple 20 mile rides in a week to be sure he could make the entire distance. I agree that you need to give your self more time than you have allotted to be sure you can succeed. I would lean more towards what your daughter is recommending.

[cutter99]

An 8 BCS is not a horse that is fit. It is a horse that is probably on the verge of experiencing health issue due to being overweight.

To give you an idea, a racing TB is usually a 4+/ 5- BCS. A broodmare getting ready to foal should be around a 6. Ideal for most horses is a 5. Most horse getting ready to go into winter should be around a 6 and should come out of winter at about a 5.

Something sounds off to me if he is being scored at an 8 and he has no fat deposits and you can feel his ribs by pressing.

Here is a great visual chart and explanation from KER.

http://www.ker.com/library/misc/body-condition-print.pdf

[SuzieQNutter]

Why are you waiting? Start now. Simply wearing a bit and tightened girth for that long each day will make him sore even if he doesn’t move.

You have to be fit as well. If you walk for over an hour, and you are not used to it, you find out where your seat bones are!

[reubenT]

I did a week of at least 20 miles a day on a gaited horse and learned a thing or two. My preconditioning was 4-6 miles about 4-5 days a week starting in May, and the week ride was Oct. But the summer included several campouts and rides with groups doing an occasional 20-25 miles in a day. Conditioning was very adequate, no sign of excessive tiring on his part. No 1 issue was sore back. The longer the rides and more consecutive days put in the more critical saddle fit gets. Riding the few miles at a time at home I got myself accustomed to a bareback pad. A few isolated all day rides and he seemed ok with it, but when I started riding all day, day after day, by the third day he started getting sore where I was sitting. Too much pressure on too small an area. By then I was getting pretty sore as well. So I switched to a saddle. (After that much time on a bareback pad, the saddle felt like a luxury seat) Then the saddle didn’t quite fit right and started making a sore spot. But I was using a corrector pad, so by adding shims in the right places, creating a wedge between the flex panel and saddle to match shapes, and raising the saddle a bit in the rear, I was able to finish the week with him. The pad comes with a set of felt shims but they weren’t quite enough, so I cut up an old thin closed cell foam sleeping mat to make some more. I know there are lots of good saddle fit systems developed, the corrector seems to be about the most versatile, but it does take some careful adjustment and experimentation with shims.

I took a ziplock bag of sweet feed along for his lunch every day, (half gallon or so) and let him graze a bit whenever possible. It’s common policy among trail riders to not let their horse graze when riding, but long distance riders soon learn that a horse needs to eat every chance they can get to keep their weight up. Although it can lead to a horse jolting to a stop every time they see an attractive clump of grass, which isn’t nice. So my horse got where he’d ignore the grass when we were moving along, and only stop to eat a bit occasionally when we slowed down, or stopped to wait on slower riders. I enjoyed that summer and want to do some more of it.

[gothedistance]

[QUOTE=Foxglove;8110467]
Thank you!! How much mileage per ride do you think? How soon should I start? GPS is a great idea! I plan to take 3 saddles, 3 pads, 3 girths, 3 bridles --rotating each ride --one saddle is a Tucker, one his regular hunt saddle (my favorite), and the other is our dressage saddle. Each as a different pad and girth.

Foxglove[/QUOTE]

Your daughter is correct. The more time you have to condition SLOWLY, the better your horse will adapt to the workload and the rest periods between the conditioning rides is just as important as the rides themselves.

Glad to hear you are foxhunting him - that’s a really good sport for getting a horse in condition and keeping him there. For your Shore To Shore ride, however, this is your schedule in a nutshell: Follow the program for an LD.
And yes, he does need to be fit like an endurance horse doing multi-days of LDs. Hence, following the LD program will give you the best conditioning advice for this planned ride.

Borrow a heart monitor. It will tell you far more accurately how fit your horse is than trying to judge via body fat (which tells you very little if at all). Your horse’s heart is an excellent barometer for plotting/determining a fitness program that is successful. You want some body fat on a distance horse, and in your case it appears your horse is about right for his breed. That bulk is all slow twitch muscles, great for nice long sustained trots down the trail.

When you train, let your horse find the pace that suits him the best. He’ll work better and more efficiently when he feels comfortable at the speed that his body is most suited to produce. A nice, casual, nonspeedy working trot gait is what you want to achieve. Let him tell you how fast that will be. Anywhere between 6 and 8 mph is fine. Then learn to leave him alone, Let your reins loop, and focus on your own position to make sure it is straight, even, both stirrups weighted equally, that you aren’t hunched or twisted. Your body is of critical importance to ensure that you aren’t riding unevenly and thus putting more pressure on one side of his back over the other. That in itself will produce a sore back quicker than you can whistle Dixie.

You don’t need all those saddles or girths. Find ONE saddle that works best for the type of ride you are doing (which will be mostly trotting and walking) and stick with it. Bring more pads so that you can swap for clean ones during the ride, and also have clean ones for the next day. A clean, well fitted, impact absorbing pad is worth it’s weight in gold for helping keep the back healthy and happy.

Your horse will need to eat at least once every 13 miles. A few minutes of lush grass will do the trick. Carry carrots and haycubes with you, and offer several of them every 3 miles to extend your range. A horse with food in its stomach will travel better, longer, faster, and with less fatigue than one who is forbidden to eat.

Any other questions, feel free to ask. Just make sure you read up on conditioning for an LD first.

[Foxglove]

Thank you everyone and especially gothedistance! I will read the information and start immediately with my horse --I’m still a bit confused on the vet’s determination on his body score --looking at the website someone posted, he should not have been an 8 --on the other hand my OTTB should not have been a six --his ribs are clearly visible (he’s quite old). I think maybe I need to have a second opinion on that issue -but the point is to start soon and get my gelding ready for the ride in September. FYI although the ride is 240 miles in 11 days, no one MUST do that --if my fellow (or I) feel it’s too much, we’ll just take a day off and trailer to the next camp site --as I said, it’s a trail ride, not a competition of any sort.

Foxglove

[sophie]

I wouldn’t worry too much about it. We’ve taken unfit (as in, outside 24/7 but not ridden much at all) horses young and old (18 yo) on 2 weeks treks on challenging mountainous terrain with no problem whatsoever. You just have to know your horse, know when to GET OFF the horse if needed to make it easier on them (steep hills whether up or down, for instance), take breaks, keep the pace varied, and take it easy. You say it’s a trail ride, not a competition or endurance ride, and you’re riding him regularly. He’ll be fine.

[Foxglove]

Thank you, sophie. I was starting to feel a little discouraged. I contacted the Michigan Trail Riders Association and they sent me a suggested plan for making my guy fit enough to enjoy the ride. I feel a little more confident in at least trying to make both of us fit enough to go --but as I said, if we don’t do the whole thing, it’s ok too. We’re going to have fun. I do want to buy a GPS to record how far I’m riding and acquire a heart monitor --other than that, my butt in the saddle following the program gothedistance shared with me seems like a good place to start. Oh, and maybe pulling him off some of the pasture would help too!

Foxglove

[hank]

I have ridden the Shore to Shore and have friends who have ridden it many years in a row. Go ride your horse. Don’t worry about this excessively. There will be people on that ride who ONLY ride on the organized rides. I wouldn’t do that to MY horse, but I have never heard of one tipping over dead from it…:D…

Whoever said saddle fit is the biggest issue was right, make sure your saddle fits and don’t forget your raincoat!!!

[Foxglove]

Thanks, Hank --many of the people I hunt with have done the Shore to Shore with their hunt horses. I’m all good on the rain coat(s) --we hunt in every kind of weather. I have a slicker (unlined rubber thing) and two Dirzabone Aussies --one lined, one unlined. I EVEN have rain pants in the perfectly correct canary for hunting on formal days in the rain. I think I might need waterproof gloves, though --I’ve heard one rider say her hands got cold and wet in the rain. Not pleasant.

Foxglove

[sophie]

On treks we use rain ponchos. They are great, cover everything down to your feet and keep you (and 1/2 your horse) nice and dry! The last one I did, we had terrible weather with rain, fog, thunderstorms and heavy downpours…very thankful for ponchos and waterproof Ariat Terrains!