Scheduling Success

Break out your riding boots, we're getting to work!

Zero to Hero:

Many of you have horses that are currently in some type of fitness routine, but what if you're starting from scratch?

A mature horse (not a senior*!) who as once in a state of physical fitness can usually achieve fitness again within 6-8 weeks with no problems.
*It's important to note that the senior horse thrives with constant movement. I generally try to keep them moving (even just a couple light days per week) and I avoid 'on-again-off-again' work.

My best evaluation for the Very Unfit horse (as explained in Lesson #1) is to start walking. Actively walking your horse over different terrain (soft surfaces, hard surfaces, uphill, downhill... over the river and through the woods) will give you great insight into how his body works. Does he shuffle like a crab on uneven terrain? Does he move sideways downhill? Does he track crooked in his body? Do you constantly need to encourage him to pick up his feet and keep moving forward?

Jot it down!

Once you can walk actively for about 20-30 minutes without the world ending (walking is hard) you're ready to begin some exercise sets.

Creating Exercise Sets

Exercise sets are a great way to build cardiovascular, aerobic fitness systematically without taking on too much, too quickly and stressing the body. With a written list of walk/trot/canter/gallop sets it is easy to keep track of your progress and your horse's fitness.

Now, as I first start to bring a horse back into riding work, I generally take on straight lines vs circles and curved lines. Why? Your horse is at a delicate stage fitness-wise, you don't want to over-tax the body with small figures right off the bat; AND straight lines give clearer insight to your horse's weaknesses. Does he move evenly into both reins? Can he track both directions with his neck and body straight? Does he like to fall in with the haunches or push out with the shoulders?
We can address these things on curved lines, however, these weaknesses are easier to evaluate by the less-experienced rider on a straightaway.

Here's an example of a good starting place:

Things to Consider:

The goal is to slowly increase your horse's fitness- you should feel like your horse can complete the timed sets with relative ease. He might feel fresh at the beginning of the week, and a little tired by the end of the week...that's good!

My goal is to feel like the horse could potentially accomplish one additional trot and canter set (which you won't attempt, but theoretically could). If starting out your horse is struggling and you believe your starting times are overly optimistic, there's no shame in backing down! We're looking for consistency, not intensity.

Change it up:

Timed sets can become tedious- but that isn't an excuse to jump back into a full workload just yet! Break up your sets: sometimes I will mix things up by completing half my trot sets, inserting canter, and then finishing trot! Mix and match what sets you insert where to keep your horse interested in the work.

Go outside! Personally I enjoy a change of scenery, and I know my horse does as well. I'll take my sets outside to keep him interested and engaged: however, working in deep footing or on an incline raises up the intensity level- you might have to shorten your sets to accommodate for this!

Other adjustments I will make to keep my horse interested:

Lengthen the gait down the long side, gradually shortening the gait with balanced half-halts for the corner and short sides.
Adding in some quick transitions to keep the horse sharp: trot, balanced downward transition, walk two steps, and then prompt upward transition. Canter, trot, canter. Canter, trot, simple change of lead. The possibilities are endless!
I will also slowly add large figures to my sets: large (20-30 meter) circles and large serpentines- enough to ask for bend, but not enough to compromise overall straightness in the body.

Creating a Schedule:

Let's say your horse is moderately fit, OR you've coming off of trot sets and ready to begin 'real' work. Where do you start?

First, how many days can you afford to ride? Your horse should be working at least 3 days per week to maintain any fitness baseline. If you need to, spread your days out. Every other day is better than a couple hard days back to back! Working your horse really hard, disappearing from the barn for 4 days, and then another really hard day is only creating soreness post-exercise because the muscles aren't acclimating to fitness, and your horse might become get sour under saddle.

Speaking of sore: let's recall our dive into lactic acid- if possible I will schedule active recovery days, where my horse can stretch under saddle and/or hack/tack walk to keep his muscles limber and assist in flushing any lactic build-up.

Along similar lines- if I focus on strength training one day, I will select completely different exercises the following day to ensure I have 'fresh' muscles with the capacity to function. I'm not going to drill the same thing day after day, as his muscles will not have enough time to repair and adapt to the training. Ex: riding extremely collected canter everyday "because he just won't listen to my half halts and we have to make it better!"

There's three things I think about when I make my schedule, and conveniently they all start with the letter S: Strength, Suppling, Schooling. We are going to dive into these in detail: complete with exercises and how often you should incorporate each into your week, but here's a brief overview:

Strength: building both aerobic and anaerobic capacity, and building muscle
Suppling: addressing stiffness, tightness, and asymmetries in the body
Schooling: educational training (for horse AND rider) where we learn and train exercises/movements for our discipline of choice

Here's an actual training week I jotted down from earlier in the month:

Don't Marry Your Schedule

I strongly encourage you to thoughtfully plan out what your week will look like: riding by the seat of your pants may get the job done, but will not be as effective as thorough planning- where you are systematically increasing the workload, and aren't as likely to pile on too much work too quickly.

However, we're only human. Some days we show up to the barn, and we just aren't feeling it. Go on a trail ride, groom your horse for an hour, or maybe go into the arena to play at liberty (without being a nuisance to other people trying to work). It's good for you and your horse's mental health! Remember, we ride for fun and because we love it. Don't let riding become a chore.

Similarly, there will be days where you get on your horse with a game plan and exercises prepared... and he feels like flaming garbage. Scrap the plan! It's a-ok to say "he feels exhausted, we're going to stretch and go for a walk". You likely know your horse better than anyone else because you deal with him on a daily basis- be his advocate when he waves the white flag.

Write it Down:

Over the course of my career it has been advised to me to keep a record of what I do with the horses... but I somehow came up with every excuse under the sun not to do so- ya girl doesn't have the time!

After finally caving in, I want to smack myself up the head for not starting this earlier. KEEP A DANG JOURNAL, OK?

It's so incredibly easy to get down on yourself because you've been trotting the same 20m circles for the last four months, or to say "eh, I think we're ready for this" with no real thought. Keeping a journal handy:

Keeps you in tune with what exercises work well for your horse (and what doesn't)
Keeps you in tune with how your horse is progressing, even if it feels like they aren't
Gives you the ability to describe and put words to your 'feel'
Creates a space to reflect on your ride: what you did right, wrong, and could do better next time
MAKES YOUR TRAINER HAPPY! Writing down your instructor's corrections subconsciously imprints them to your mind. This gives you time to reflect on your instruction, process any new exercises/theories that were introduced, and even make a list of questions that you didn't think about during the ride. Oh, AND IT WILL MAKE YOUR TRAINER HAPPY.
^ Along the same lines, this gives you the opportunity to assess your trainer: is your riding/your horse improving? Does your trainer seem to be stuck in a rut? Are you getting any new/helpful exercises or pointers? If you have any concerns, write them down and have an honest conversation with your trainer.

As a bonus: I strongly encourage anyone with a young or quirky horse to have a small monthly calendar alongside their journal. When I ride a horse that make me want to pull my hair out, maybe because they're opinionated adolescents, I will put a dot down everyday I ride: green for good, yellow for ok, and red for bad. There was once a point where I did this religiously with all my young horses, and not only was it wildly entertaining to reflect on- it helped mentally to see that not everyday is bad... even the goofy horses have rockstar days, and this is a super way to track progress and celebrate more and more green days as they come.

Ok friends, that's it for today!

Next time we are diving into one of our 3 S's, so be prepared for some good riding exercises to add to your routine!

For anyone new just tuning in, make sure you've checked out lessons 1-3 which are linked in your welcome email.