I don't know how many of you follow the "Best of" on Eventing Nation but Sally Cousins posted an "ideal" schedule for getting your horse fit at the lower levels.
Click here to read the whole thing, its good!
It works on a 5+ day a week riding schedule which is great if you can do that. I can only get 3-4 days per week with my work schedule and I feel like I am constantly flying around all over the place to get there!
My weekly schedule varies considerably, but I at our training stage, I try to get three separate days although sometimes it does end up being three days in a row. The first day's first half hour is usually going over what we already know and staying quiet while getting back into "work mode". The second half is adding in something new and working on that then cooling out on a little trail ride around the farm. I try to introduce him to new stuff on our rides, whether its a kayak down by the pond/lake, or maybe walking across the dam or near the tractor or something. I like to get him exposed to as much as possible in a calm way. The second day's ride is a warm up, a more brief review of what we already know, and then more work on our "new" thing. We usually jump this day as well as long as things are going quietly and well. We end on a good note and cool out the same way. Usually the third day I just do a hack out and try to keep it a relaxing experience without doing anything new or stressful. I agree with what Sally says about getting a OTTB a bit too excited with doing galloping sets and not going past the point where they are physically still fine, but mentally tired. That is definitely a factor for Lego. It never really was for Chick or Connor except maybe a few times in all those years.
Lego tries so hard to figure out what I want and how he can do it, but usually he just wants to do it faster :o)
What is your schedule like?
Any comments, questions, or suggestions are welcome!!
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