Hi all, I’m an eventer, and have been thinking about trying some endurance riding with my horse. She loves going out cross country, and gains/maintains fitness very well, and I thought that this might be something fun to try with her.
How should one go about getting involved in this type of riding? Is there any advice you could give me, or any good books regarding conditioning? Currently, I work for about an hour (she’s only 4) 5 days a week, with about 30 minutes of that being walking if you include warm-up, cool down and wandering around during breaks. She does about 20 minutes of walking on the road 3 times a week, and (moderate for her age) hill work twice a week. Any hillwork or roadwork is on top of her regular riding schedule.
Where should I go to gain more information about events in my area? There are GMO’s for dressage, eventing, H/J, etc, is there one for endurance (I’m in NC)? How do I find out where events will be held, entry information, etc?
How do you decide what type of competition your horse is ready for, and how do you prepare? Is there a certain time that you think to yourself “Ok, now the horse is ready for X number of miles.”? We do interval training for eventing, is it the same for endurance? Or do you just do long, slow miles?
Is the nutrition terribly different for an endurance horse, and does it change depending on what distance they’re being ridden? I’m not terribly interested in going 100 miles or anything, but I’ve been reading the threads on here, such as the one about electrolytes, and I want to make sure that I’m doing the best for her, even if we’re just doing shorter distances.
Thanks!