Lunging for conditioning

[IrishKharma]

I need help conditioning for my upcoming ride in a few weeks- it’s a 25.
I’ve been getting in a long slow ride (2-3 hrs) at least once and lunging 2-3 times a week.

Does lunging count as conditioning? I’ll do it 20-30 mins to get them breathing hard and sweating. My rides consist of mostly long slow distance and some trot work so I use the lunging as the cardio. Any other ideas?

My horse was in shape last Nov for 35s, just got slack with weather and time to keep him up. How fast does their condition go away? How fast can you build it back?

He is a 9 yr old arabX, but he’s huge at 16.2

[Guilherme]

The trouble with longing (and round penning, too) is that unless you’ve got a banked track you’re stressing the lower leg as the horse moves at higher speeds. Think centrifugal force. For short periods to teach transitions it’s not a problem. For “legging up” a horse it can cause issues.

I’d think short streatches at the canter on reasonably straight lines would be a better option.

G.

[gothedistance]

25 LD or 25 CTR? You can actually get away with less conditioning for an LD because you can get off and walk the horse and can take the whole 6 hours to finish and pulse down. With a CTR you have to maintain a certain mph gait, can’t get off and advance forward – the horse has to carry you the whole way – and have a narrow time window in which to finish.

How far are you going in miles on your 2-3 hour rides? What is the terrain like? Flat? Hilly? Sandy? Rocky?

Lunging does nothing to condition a horse. :no: All it does is take the edge off their energy, and warm them up in preparation for real work.

You need to RIDE the horse to condition – trotting an average of 7-9mph cross country so that the HR gets up above 120 to about 160-170bmp. You need to do 2-3 trot workout on hills or slopes to get the HR up to about 180 for about 2 minutes, then give short walking breaks during the workout to let the HR fall to 90 or less before you continue the workout again. Give at least 2 days of rest between workouts.

[IrishKharma]

Ok, I was hoping the lunging was a cardio type workout.

I can go outside and lunge a horse while my kids are asleep, but I can’t go for a long trot out/ ride. I feel safe right outside in the yard with monitors but not getting on and riding so much.

Why wouldn’t lunging for 20 mins equal a cardio workout, wouldn’t it at least be better than nothing?

This is for a 25 LD to by the way.

[gothedistance]

I hear you with wanting to keep the sleeping kids within ear shot. Been there.

Unfortunately, lunging doesn’t work for getting the HR up because the body isn’t being stressed with weight and changing terrain. It helps keep the muscles limber…but that’s it. If you have the time to lunge, you have the time to climb on the horse’s back and work it at the canter. This is excellent conditioning (even on a circle), gets the HR up, and builds stamina for the both of you. MUCH better than making the horse trot around you on a line.

Now…if you take your lunging to a hillside and work the horse on that for 15 minutes, you will be helping build muscle. :yes:

Don’t sweat over an LD. Ride it mentally as 4 laps of 6 miles each, which is 3 miles twice for each segment.

[Beverley]

Actually, I’ve used longeing for ‘some’ conditioning help for decades. It’s better than nothing. No question that longeing can stress the joints- but if done correctly, where you are moving in a small circle with your horse, well, I’ve not had any problems. Just now, mine have been off since mid-Dec and I am longeing them for about 20 minutes, primarily trotting. One will be going hunting in Reno, end of March. I’ll start riding tomorrow- but on days when I don’t have enough time to ride, longeing is, well, better than nothing.

When I hunted 2-3 times a week back east, once they were fit, I really didn’t ride them between hunts- each horse went once a week- but I did longe a bit, 30-40 minutes for a ‘hunting fit’ horse.

If yours was in shape for 35s in November, you should be in pretty good shape. A really fit horse will hold much of that conditioning for a good six weeks, in my experience.

[Icecapade]

running your horse around in circles to take the edge off for 15 minutes won’t do much really.

For people it takes anywhere from 20-30 minutes of working to get your heart rate to a point where it will burn energy, up to that point you are still using sugar energy rather than you bodies stored energy.

For a horse, a much larger animal who is more active during the day compared to a human (walking around eating standing constantly vs sitting constantly in front of a computer) is going to take at least 30 minutes before they start conditioning.

On top of that… a circle is not really all that good. its like doing the same lift every time you go to the gym… for 20 minutes straight.

To get the most out of your time on a line… YOU need to be moving as much as the horse… YOU should be sweating too. Long lines to work on extensions, spirals to work on collection and raising the barrel through the back by stepping under… etc etc

add cavalleti as well and obviously switch sides… this bucking and running around nonsense won’t help, but you can drastically improve your horse’s top line with proper long line work, absolutely.

[Mendin_Fences]

[QUOTE=gothedistance;3877980]
Now…if you take your lunging to a hillside and work the horse on that for 15 minutes, you will be helping build muscle. :yes: [/QUOTE]

Does lunging on a hill really work? I started doing that a few times a week with my horse just to help strengthen her hind end and then the weather got bad so I had to stop. I think it might have helped a little, but I’m not really sure. Not to mention, there are almost no hills around here, so I had to lunge her on the sloped edge of the driveway where everyone could stare at me :rolleyes:

[HoofHeartSoul]

[QUOTE=Guilherme;3877441]
The trouble with longing (and round penning, too) is that unless you’ve got a banked track you’re stressing the lower leg as the horse moves at higher speeds. Think centrifugal force. For short periods to teach transitions it’s not a problem. For “legging up” a horse it can cause issues.

I’d think short streatches at the canter on reasonably straight lines would be a better option.

G.[/QUOTE]

hello, i was wondering what a banked track is ( is the kind the slants and is NOT flat?)? and also how it stops a horse from stressing the legs while lunging. not being critical, just want your input

Thank you.

[Icecapade]

on the short ‘sides’ the outside track is higher than the inside track if you will

http://www.cabq.gov/recreation/images/IndoorTrack24_000.JPG

tried to find more exagerated pictures but you know… its deceptively hard!

but I think you have the right idea!

personally having run quiet a big on a banked track… I find it makes my knees hurt even more than flat, but thats just me IMHO.

[Guilherme]

Watch a NASCAR race and you’ll see a “banked track.” :lol:

I’d have to go find a high school physics book to explain it. And I’m fresh out of high school physics books. (I’m sure Brother Michael is rolling in his grave about right now. :))

Maybe we’ve got a physics or science type who could do a better job explaining the phenonminon than I can.

G.

[HoofHeartSoul]

[QUOTE=Guilherme;3889929]
Watch a NASCAR race and you’ll see a “banked track.” :lol:

I’d have to go find a high school physics book to explain it. And I’m fresh out of high school physics books. (I’m sure Brother Michael is rolling in his grave about right now. :))

Maybe we’ve got a physics or science type who could do a better job explaining the phenonminon than I can.

G.[/QUOTE]

yes a nascar track was what i thought of also a river bank…that is sloped lol

but yeah i always thought it would put uneven stress on joints, because i used to boared at a place that had a banked racetrack the kind trotters with buggies work on. and i never liked riding on it because i thought his legs would be stressed. so i kept to the inside rail where it was flatter. but now i am wondering lol

[gothedistance]

@Mendin Fences;3889418

Does lunging on a hill really work? I started doing that a few times a week with my horse just to help strengthen her hind end and then the weather got bad so I had to stop. I think it might have helped a little, but I’m not really sure. Not to mention, there are almost no hills around here, so I had to lunge her on the sloped edge of the driveway where everyone could stare at me :rolleyes:

Yes, lunging on a slight slope does work. Do NOT lunge on a hill!

When a horse goes up a slight slope the HR goes up as the muscles are called into work against the force of gravity. As the horse goes down the slope the HR lowers as the body rests in allowing gravity to do most of the work.

5 minutes each way when you are starting the fitness program. NEVER do more than 10 minutes each side (no matter how fit the horse is) and always include 10 minutes of walking in between each side workout. Also, do NOT do this type of work while riding the horse. It is only for lunging.

Remember, lunging on a slight slope give the horse just a minor workout when you can’t ride. When you do ride on slopes you want a long grade so that you can ride straight up and straight down. Riding across the diagonal of a hill stresses the muscles and bones all wrong and can result in injury.

[BEARCAT]

I think it would do more harm than good…
(stress on joints, etc from going on a tight circle at a high rate of speed for 30 min)
I would switch and longe at a walk for 20 - 30 minutes with a bit of trotting and lots of direction changes, and then ride at higher rates of speed.
I would also do some lateral longeing, with the horse going over some poles, ditches, etc and a lot of straight lines in between.

[Mendin_Fences]

[QUOTE=gothedistance;3890348]
Yes, lunging on a slight slope does work. Do NOT lunge on a hill!

When a horse goes up a slight slope the HR goes up as the muscles are called into work against the force of gravity. As the horse goes down the slope the HR lowers as the body rests in allowing gravity to do most of the work.

5 minutes each way when you are starting the fitness program. NEVER do more than 10 minutes each side (no matter how fit the horse is) and always include 10 minutes of walking in between each side workout. Also, do NOT do this type of work while riding the horse. It is only for lunging.

Remember, lunging on a slight slope give the horse just a minor workout when you can’t ride. When you do ride on slopes you want a long grade so that you can ride straight up and straight down. Riding across the diagonal of a hill stresses the muscles and bones all wrong and can result in injury.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the advice gtd I was only lunging her on a slight slope on 1/2 of the circle and it was flat on the other 1/2 (the dirt driveway) I only had her trotting and doing walk-trot transitions, no cantering, for 5-10 mins on each side. She’s in pretty good shape, but I wanted to strengthen her lower back and stifle muscles. It wasn’t to replace riding, it was in addition to. Sort of like weight training. Unfortunately, there are virtually no slopes or hills to ride on around here so lunging on the driveway was my only option for “hill work”.

[ZiggyStardust]

I have been doing a lot of lunging with my horse lately (kind of a re-training process), so was interested when I saw this thread. I am an event/dressage rider and know next to nothing about endurance riding, but wanted to throw in my 2 cents based on what I’ve learned recently.

I used to think lunging pretty much was only good for getting excess energy out, but the dressage trainer I’ve worked with since June is teaching me how to lunge properly :yes:

The amount of muscle (in the right places!) my horse has put on through using proper techniques (getting his hind end under him and used as the engine instead of strung out, and encouraging him to use his back/neck properly) is amazing!! I think you are asking more about lunging for cardio conditioning, and I would think that I would not want to drill a horse around a circle for long enough to really make a strong cardio impact, but I just wanted to make the point that lunging can be really beneficial for other purposes and help with other types of conditioning.

I have learned so much by seeing from the ground how my boy is using himself, and the affects of my attempts (correct and incorrect) to influence how he is using himself. Not sure at all if this applies to endurance riding, but just my latest epiphany!

ETA: I lunge using side reins, to help as part of the equation to encourage him to balance himself more and not just run on his forehand.

[gothedistance]

Ziggy - Congrats on your epiphany. Lest you have to ask – I’ve competed at Dressage at Devon and evented for many years when I lived in Chester County PA, so I do agree 100% that correct lunging can certainly help the dressage horse learn self carriage and build muscles for collected work, which also helps the event horse be able to readjust to meet a x-county fence correctly.

However, in endurance the rider learns to leave the horse alone, sit light, quiet and balanced, and pay attention to the trail, HR, and mph speed for hour after continued hour after continued hour. Conditioning a horse for dressage and eventing is a far cry from what is needed for endurance riding where a different use of muscle groups demands the type of training best suited to “build” a horse for 25, 50, or 100 miles going down the natural, ungroomed trail that could be all mountains or all sand or any type of natural terrain in between.

The OP is looking for alternatives to ridden conditioning for competing in an LD (25 miles). Lunging works for ring work and the short times the dressage and event rider is on the horse, but…endurance is not ring riding. It is a whole n’other world like you’ve never experienced…until you get out and try it.