The Road to the Tevis Cup, Post #6: Week 8 Training Update

On Sunday August 9th it had been seven weeks since I brought Fantazia home. We’re now into our eighth week of conditioning, so I figure it’s time for a training update.

Our training schedule includes hill days (on the trail), road work days (trotting along the relatively flat road), arena work days, and rest days. Fantazia gets at least one full rest day (no riding) after each important increase in workload. I am gradually increasing the distance in the hills and along the road. In the arena, we reinforce basic training (leg yielding, rhythm, cue) and gradually add more cantering time.

Rest days

Rest days involve no riding at all immediately after a tough workout, and light riding the second day. On no-riding days, I hand walk a bit (half a mile or so) and let her graze in green grass. On light riding days, I ride without a saddle (using a foam pad–I cut one of these up– covered with fabric and held on with an overgirth), mainly at a walk.

Hill Days

On hill days, we ride in the surrounding cattle ranches. (You can get an idea of the hills in my post on How to Calculate the Grade of Hills.) Our first hill day was four weeks after I brought Fantazia home. We rode 6.5 miles in two hours and 20 minutes, but the last 2 miles were on the flat (down the driveway and road). We rode up the first steep hill described in the blog post linked previously (and here); I got off and led her down.

We’ve done four more hill days since then. The last was last Thursday, and Fantazia was noticeably fitter. We did 7.34 miles in two hours, 54 minutes, climbing a total of nearly 2000 feet. This included at least 5.5 miles going up or down steep hills, 10%-28% grade, another mile transversing hills, and the rest riding up and down the driveway. She felt good enough at the end to snort and flag her tail at strange sounds in the training barn.

Road Work Days

The driveway alone is over 1/4 of a mile, and then we’ve got about 1.75 miles of straight country road to ride along. At the end of the road, there is a dirt road that winds into orange groves. I’m not sure whether it qualifies as private property (probably just an easement), but it does not say “No trespassing” or “Keep out” so I go ahead and trot through. The irrigation ditch flows through, so I can let Fantazia drink there.

The road also goes up, straight for another 1/4 of a mile, and then curvy with little shoulder, so we haven’t gone all the way up (it’s another 2.25 one way, I know from running). We’ve done three road workouts, and in this last one, we went all the way to the blind curve, and then down. That was two days ago: 7 miles total, 4.5 at a trot. She felt good at the end, got very excited at the sight of other horses on the road for the first time.

Arena work

On arena work days, we warm up with variations of the training exercise I describe in a prior blog post. Then we usually do 15-20 minutes of trotting, striving for a slow, rhythmic trot. I want her to maintain a steady tempo while changing from long to shorter frames (described in the Cowboy Dressage book I wrote with Eitan Beth-Halachmy). After standing, backing, and walking for 5-10 minutes, we do five minutes or so of canter on a long rein.

Teaching Fantazia to relax enough to canter slowly on a long rein is an ongoing process. Some days she is too excited to settle down into the gait, and we do a lot of spooking and accelerating at the least little sound. When my boyfriend rides with me, she pins her ears and slashes her head at his horses (at all gaits).

I also use the arena days to enforce leg yielding, backing, halting (and standing for 1-5 minutes), turns on haunches and forehand, and side pass. On the days when we don’t do long rhythmic trotting and cantering, we focus on transitions. This happens less because Fantazia doesn’t need incentive to anticipate cues and move off quickly.

Edit September 2021

Fantazia has made great progress in a year. We have now added spirals (see Five Spiral exercises to do at a walk), serpentines, and a clover-leaf pattern (See my Clover-leaf exercise for a round arena) to our arena work.

What’s next?

Fantazia is definitely getting fitter. I need to steadily increase her time on hills and trotting. Unfortunately it’s going to be very hot for the next several weeks, so we won’t be doing too much. That’s all right, my current goal is a 50-mile ride in October. If it’s not cancelled due to COVID-19.

Previous Road to Tevis posts:

Introducing Fantazia

Fantazia’s first three weeks

When I met Fantazia

How to calculate the grade of hills

The manure fork incident

Next post:

The Road to the Tevis Cup, Post #7: Why the Tevis Cup?