what does the average racehorse workout look like?

[Xanthoria]

I’ve often heard it said by race trainers and other track people that racing is the hardest work a horse will ever do – dressage, jumping or eventing are nothing compared to racing and injuries to a horse in racing won’t prevent it’s jumping career.

My thoughts are that this may just be something track sellers I have met say to get you to take their (previously injured) horse, because I think that keeping a horse sound for 1-2 years of racing is nothing compared to keeping it sound for 10-15 years of jumping…

But I don’t actually know what a horse’s work load at the track is, so perhaps it is harder on the body than an hour of riding 6 days a week, including a jump or xc school, 1 or 2 days of interval training/gallops, and a competition every 2-4 weeks.

The average race is a mile and a bit, takes 2 minutes (?) and is on flat, perfectly groomed footing? What does the average race horse’s work week look like?

[keepthelegend]

It’s true that nothing is as hard as racing on a horse. As far as the daily training, most racehorses gallop about 1 1/2 miles per day. Usually there is one day off and there might be a day or two that the horse only jogs. If a horse is building up to it’s first race or it’s been longer than 2 weeks or so between races, the horse will have a workout/breeze 1x a week.

It’s the 40 MPH part that makes it so much harder.

[sjdressage]

Thats true, it is basic physics… the speed combined with the weight of the horse puts more force on the horses body. I have had people turn down sound horses that had osselets that could jump 3’6" cross country jumps. They were freaked out by the ankles. Poor horse raced for years, came out of it sound and no one would give him a chance because his ankles looked funny. Yet, I could race him and he would come out of it sound…

[Xanthoria]

@keepthelegend;6209750

As far as the daily training, most racehorses gallop about 1 1/2 miles per day.
…

If a horse is building up to it’s first race or it’s been longer than 2 weeks or so between races, the horse will have a workout/breeze 1x a week.

Interesting! So… they gallop 1 1/2 miles - flat out? Every day?

What’s a “workout/breeze” - flat out gallop?

And a jog is a slower canter, right?

An eventer going Prelim does 520mpm (over 19mph) for 1.3-2 miles with 22-30 jumps, and going Advanced does 570mpm (over 21 mph) for 2-2.7 miles with 26-34 jumps IIRC.

When you add in the jumps, doesn’t that seem sort of equivalent?

I guess you don’t do xc every day, though!

[DeucesWild11]

Jog is trot.

[Angelico]

sjdressage, I know how you feel! I’ll see people come in the shedrow to look at horses and when the trainer tells them they have an osselet, “OMG well, I just couldn’t have a horse that’s had leg problems”… I wonder what they think an osselet really is? Hehehe…

  Cross country, even at the UL's is not as strenous on the horse. They are going much, much slower, they are not at full extension, and there is no one else trying to beat you to the wire. 

A good training program is beneficial to the horse and its body and rarely destructive (usually the horses that break down have poor feet or bad conformation, or were even shod badly), but a race... Many trainers get their horses fit by racing them.

 They walk over in the deep footing, they are saddled, then walk/trot/cantered/hand galloped a good ways with the outriders, then they break from a gate with twelve other racehorses, who are all LIT at this time, and race in a group anywhere from 5 furlongs to 1 3/4 mile at speeds up to 45 MPH, at full extension in the final furlongs (or sometimes the whole race). Then they stop usually halfway around the track after the wire, canter back, are unsaddled, walked all the way back to the barns, then handwalked for another hour or so.

 Then after a day or two off, back in training. At tracks the footing is well groomed and cared for, however if you have ever walked out there, that stuff is deep! You work for every step. Training tracks are a whole different ball game, the majority of horses train on p!ss poor footing.

[alspharmd]

I would venture to guess that the “average” race is 6-7 furlongs. The “average” publicized races may be a mile or more, but at the lower levels, there are a lot of 6 and 7 furlong races.

For the daily gallop, it’s not a full-out run. A lot of daily training sessions are “two-minute licks”, which is a mile in 2 minutes, or about 15 seconds per furlong (1/8th mile). A breeze is more like a full out run, and is usually targeted to 12 seconds per furlong. A lot of trainers will breeze their horses once a week, often times 3-4 furlongs, sometimes longer.

“Racing sound” and “sporthorse sound” are two very different things. We see a LOT of trainers at the track say that a horse is racing sound, but it wouldn’t come close to passing your typical sporthorse PPE. That’s not to say trainers are racing unsound horses, just that the definition of “sound” varies greatly.

[Madeline]

@Xanthoria;6210095

Interesting! So… they gallop 1 1/2 miles - flat out? Every day?

1.5 miles at a two minute lick is 30 mph.

What’s a “workout/breeze” - flat out gallop?

Faster

And a jog is a slower canter, right?

Jog is a slow/moderate trot.

An eventer going Prelim does 520mpm (over 19mph) for 1.3-2 miles with 22-30 jumps, and going Advanced does 570mpm (over 21 mph) for 2-2.7 miles with 26-34 jumps IIRC.

When you add in the jumps, doesn’t that seem sort of equivalent?

I guess you don’t do xc every day, though!

There is a big difference between 21mph and 30mph. Nearly 43%.And that’s just training speed. 40 MPH, race speed, is almost twice as fast.

Maryland Hunt Cup: 4 miles, 22 big fences. About 27mph. Longer, faster, bigger fences.
Yes, racing is very stressful. Speed makes it difficult.

[ReSomething]

FWIW breaking from the gate, which they do as practice fairly frequently, is on several orders of magnitude more energy than anything I’ve ever been around in the sport horse world. The amount of stress going from zero to 40MPH+ in a few seconds must be tremendous.

[Preposterous_Ponies]

I think you also see the difference in the mere appearence of a racing fit horse and your average jumper - there’s no arguing that the racehorse is in tip top athletic shape. I’m not saying that horses in other disciplines are not fit but well… compare your average everyday jumper (not grand prix, but showing competetively) to your everyday racehorse (say, a 10 000 claimer). Which one is fitter?

The amount of food the racehorse needs is also an indication of how hard they work. Their calorie intake is enormous.

[Linny]

There are far more sprints than routes but they are also tougher on horses. Sprints are run fast early. The goal is to go as fast for as far as you can. Routes usually have a more moderate (by racing standards) pace. A deep closing sprinter who lags behind early typically goes faster early than a pacesetter in routes.

A sprint at may have a first 1/4 mile time of 22 2/5 seconds. Routers are almost never asked to go that fast. The early pace for a 9 furlong ( 1 1/8 miles) for horses of equal class might be 23 4/5/ That 1 and 2/5 difference is significant in racing.

[Drvmb1ggl3]

You only have to look at fatality rates to see the very obvious answer. There is no equestrian sport that is as tough on a horse as racing. The toughest would be eventing at the HIGHEST level, and even that wouldn’t be as tough.

Something that people never seem to take into account is that there is really no “lower levels” in racing, at least not in the same way there is in all other equestrian sports. A horse running for a $2k claim tag at a bush meet in Idaho is having his body pounded every bit as hard as his elite brothers running for millions in the Breeders Cup. So, even if one were to concede that the Highest level of eventing was as tough as racing, the number of horses doing that at any one time is maybe a couple of hundred world wide. By comparison there are tens, nay hundreds, of thousands of horses racing in a given year worldwide. Your average run of the mill eventer/showjumper/dressage/showhunter is not working anywhere near as hard as even the slowest racehorse.

[Drvmb1ggl3]

Btw, speed comparisons

CCI* – avg speed = 19mph, (520mpm), 2.5 to 3miles, 32 jumps
CCI**** – avg speed = 21.37 mph (570mpm), 3.5 to 4.5miles, 45 jumps
Grand National – avg speed = 30mph, 4.5miles, 30 fences (4’6" - 5’6" high)
3 mile Steeplechase – aveg speed = 31 mph, 18-21 fences (4’6" - 5’ high)
2 mile hurdle – avg speed = 35mph, 8-10 hurdles (3’6 - 3’9" high)
1m dirt – avg speed =38mph
6f dirt – avg speed = 39mph
Keep in mind the last two are topping out over 40mph in the earlier part of the race.

So, as you can see, to even bring Prelim eventing into the discussion is kind of an insult to racehorses the world over.

[Linny]

Drvm brings up great points.

If you watch races at a track like Finger Lakes, the early fractions at 6 furlongs are not significantly slower than those at the higher level tracks. The difference ebtween a FL horse and a Belmont horse is how they handle the subsequent 1/4 miles within the race.

On all the boards here we see “is this horse suitable for…” threads. Well, the best answer is almost always “At what level?” Probably 80%+ of the horses identified by their owners as “hunters” have never and will never compete beyond 2’9. Whatever the discipline, very few horses are ever asked to truly rise to their utmost performance. These are the horses in the CCI, or the High Jr/AO’s or the Grands Prix or Hunter Derbies. Most people can’t afford them and more of those horses will go undiscovered because their owners will simply never ask them.

Race horses OTOH, are asked for that maximum effort every time they race, be it at Arapahoe Park or at Belmont Park.

[witherbee]

It’s really a combination of things that make racing the tougher sport. You have very young horses who are stalled for about 23 hours a day, eating enormous amounts of grain and hay, and then coming out to gallop 6 days a week and handwalk 1 day a week. The surface may be groomed, but can be deep or hard depending on the track. Some of the training centers have unevenly groomed or inconsistantly groomed surfaces as well which can contribute to injuries. They are handwalked for quite a while after each morning gallop or work as well.

What really made me understand the difference between the daily gallops and a race was when I competed in a track meet. I had practiced for months, but when I ran in my first race (a 440), the adreneline was amazing and I over-extended myself. At the end of the race, I actually “tied up” like horses can do and the pain was excruciating - I could barely walk! I did better my next race, but when you see these horses run flat out, you understand that there is no holding back.

[danceronice]

What’s really telling is the amount racehorses eat vs. turnout time compared to show horses–the racehorses get mountains of food and they burn it off. To me the ‘skinny’ racehorses in some ads look fit while the ‘fit’ show horses look morbidly obese. And they’re getting less high fat, high starch food.

And I do something similar to witherbee’s running with dance–I can do a 45 minute lesson and depending on what we’re working on, I might not even feel especially tired or sore. I do a competition where I’m dancing a maximum 1:45 per heat, and I come off the floor panting and sweating. The adrenaline does amazing things. Explains how a horse can be cool as a cucumber in the morning but turn into a fire-breathing dragon when it’s the real deal.

[Glimmerglass]

Germaine to the topic is this article on trainer Jonathan Sheppard’s steeplechase training sessions to build up and maintain fitness - Steeplechase Times 3-22-12 'Life on the Farm: Sheppard horses work, play hard ’

After recess, they train – hard.

Like all northern-based steeplechasers, Sheppard’s horses jog roads and bridle paths to start, then advance to galloping either on that track surrounding their playground, a straw ring or any of the multitude of turf strips and hills around the Unionville area.

Sheppard’s horses utilize “Hannum’s Hill” for proper workouts. Named after the legendary horsewoman and master of the Cheshire Foxhounds, Nancy Hannum, the gallop is a good 2 miles – Lamborntown Road across Routes 926 and 842 to West Road – from Sheppard’s farm.

The horses jog the distance, which includes roads, bridle paths and trails through the woods and fields. Then they get to work. Hannum’s Hill is a mile long and gets tackled – up, not down – once in a horse’s first work back from a layoff.

“The first part of the hill is pretty steep so we let them bust off, then let them do it how they’re comfortable,” said Brion. “They all do it differently. Nationbuilder tanks up there with me, Lead Us Not Brian (Crowley) has to kick. They’re pretty tired by the time they get to the top.”

Later in their training program, horses will do the hill twice; they power up the first time like normal, walk back to the bottom and do the hill again. Either way, they jog the 2 miles home which makes each set last an hour or more and cover six miles or so.

“You can get them fit a lot of different ways, but this is the way we do it,” said Brion, who said 14 horses did the hill twice March 12. “Everybody is a little bit different, but the goal is the same.”

[Heliodoro]

The horses jog the distance, which includes roads, bridle paths and trails through the woods and fields. Then they get to work. Hannum’s Hill is a mile long and gets tackled – up, not down – once in a horse’s first work back from a layoff.

“The first part of the hill is pretty steep so we let them bust off, then let them do it how they’re comfortable,” said Brion. “They all do it differently. Nationbuilder tanks up there with me, Lead Us Not Brian (Crowley) has to kick. They’re pretty tired by the time they get to the top.”

Later in their training program, horses will do the hill twice; they power up the first time like normal, walk back to the bottom and do the hill again. Either way, they jog the 2 miles home which makes each set last an hour or more and cover six miles or so.

Now I know where my first event trainer, Danny Warrington, got his training program(he worked for Sheppard in his younger years)… We had a massive hill at the facility he was leasing in 2004, the TBs he had in for race training and the UL event horses galloped up the hill 2x when really fit and that was it for the day! Just trotting up the d@mn thing was a beast of a work out…

[vineyridge]

I’ve got a book of US show jumpers from 1971-72 that discusses the background of the horses. Back then most top level US jumpers were OTTBs. One believes that the stresses of racing were no more or less than they are today, while eventing has lost its steeplechase phase–and that wasn’t at top racing speed ever–IIRC, the speed was supposed to be over 800 meters per minute, but I can’t remember how much over 800 it was.

At any rate, y’all will be interested to know that according to this book, many of the top level show jumpers came from the track with injuries or went back to sj after major injury.

One of the horses was an open jumper named Keswick who " ran over hurdles and bowed. He then raced over timber where he won and then bowed. Sent to Frank Chapot, Keswick tried jumping." He ended up with Chapot as a Team horse.

[lifesabreeze]

[QUOTE=ReSomething;6210528]
FWIW breaking from the gate, which they do as practice fairly frequently, is on several orders of magnitude more energy than anything I’ve ever been around in the sport horse world. The amount of stress going from zero to 40MPH+ in a few seconds must be tremendous.[/QUOTE]

Once a horse gets their gate card and begins racing,they are rarely popped out of the gate. Usually only if there is a gate issue that needs correcting or to sharpen a horse if they have not run for a time.

I’m curious as to where you have seen this done “fairly frequently”. I have seen QH trainers do this though. Are you at a QH track? Have I been away so long that this is now common practice? I’m curious.