What to do with your endurance horse in the off season!

We are very fortunate here in the Midwest.  From April through October, I can attend a ride almost every weekend, if my truck, trailer, family, and checkbook will allow!  The downside to this luxury is we have almost 5 months of cruddy weather, by cruddy, I mean - snow, mud, freezing rain, mud, ice, mud, snow, mud, mud, mud...  Get the idea? :)
In the past, I have boarded several of my horses at a facility that had the luxury of an indoor.  This is a wonderful way to keep condition on your endurance horses during the off season.  It may be boring, but those endless laps in an indoor do put conditioning on your endurance horse.  You just have to grit your teeth and do it!
Okay, for those of us less fortunate that don't have the luxury of an indoor - what are we to do?  I have a couple of suggestions that have been working very well for me this winter.
First of all, I made up a wish list of everything I wish my horse(s) were better at.  You know what I'm talking about, those little things that bug you during ride season, but during ride season,  you are just too busy riding to address.  Winter is a perfect time to work on those behaviors.

For example, Fizz, a 10 year old Arab gelding that I took in last summer, has had very little training done.  He has been saddled and ridden without much success.  I decided to start all over with him from the ground up.  Obviously this picture was taken in fall, but here is Mr. Fizz calmly wearing his riding tack.  I like to teach horses to stand quietly while being tacked in an open environment.  You never know when you might not have the luxury of a hitching rail, cross ties, etc...

Here's a shot of another rescue, Beau, calmly wearing his first 'raincoat'.  :)  I'd much rather find out that my horse is a little plastic phobic without me on his back! :)

Here's my checklist for this winter :

• Tying to a stationary object.  Including the ability to remain tied whilst your horse friends leave. ;)
• Sacking out with plastic, ropes, tack, water jugs, beer cans, soda bottles and anything else I can think of that my horse might encounter on the trail.
• Crossing plastic tarps, water, logs, etc...  
• Tacking/untacking without the use of cross-ties or ties or any sort.
• Mounting from a mounting block/stump from both sides.
• Dragging logs, tarps, bleach bottles.
• Crossing bridges.
• Riding along roads, dealing with traffic and scary mailboxes, dogs, etc....

I'm sure most of you can come up with lots more items that are on your 'wish list' of behaviors to improve.  Pick an item and let's get started.

I decided to start with riding along roads, dealing with traffic and scary mailboxes, dogs, etc....  You might be thinking - "Is she nuts? That's one of the toughest ones!"  Not so fast, we are going to chip away at this deal.
I start out walking my horses down my country road with a traffic safe buddy.  You might think it would be more difficult to take 2 horses versus 1, I haven't found that to be the case.  The 'newbie' horse draws confidence from 'ol Bert' who's been around the block a time or two.

In Bert's case, he's closing in on 3,000 competition miles and there isn't too much that fazes him anymore.

Here's a pic of El and Fizzy ready for their morning walk.  I love projects that are a '2fer.'  2fer means I get to accomplish 2 things at once.  In this case, I get my green horses more accustomed to road traffic, Bert gets some walking conditioning and I get a nice winter walk in!  Wait a minute - that's a '3fer'!

I happen to live in a pretty rural area, which has both benefits and liabilities for road walking with horses.  The benefits turn out to be liabilities as is too often the case!

Benefit/liability 1:  My road sees very little traffic, which is really nice when taking initial rides on a green horse, however, when there is traffic, it is usually cruising around 60 mph straight at me!

Benefit/liability 2:  Rural roads are the favorite shortcuts for grain trucks, hay wagons, snowplows! and assorted other odd bits of farm machinery which can't make the speed on the main roads.  After a few days of walking with those beasties buzzing by your green horse, there ain't much that's gonna bother him on a normal ride route!

You might say, "Jos, I'm never going to have ride close to that kind of traffic at a ride."  Not so fast, one of my favorite rides in Michigan: Shore to Shore, has a day when you ride alongside a major highway within arms reach of you and your horse.  To top things off, you cross said highway, ride through a town, next to the county fair, through a subdivision, complete with wind chimes and ferocious dogs and out of town.  The first year I rode that little trip, I was EXTREMELY glad that 'ol Bert' had been to town and back several times!!

So, get out those rope halters, grab a horse and go for a winter walk!!!  You and your horse will appreciate it during the ride season.
                             

Interested in Endurance Riding?

Last year, I began competing a young (6 years) Arabian in the sport of endurance riding.  Here in the midwest, we have the opportunity to compete in any of the following divisions -
Endurance - Rides of 50 miles or more, to be completed in under 12 hours.  Winner determined by first horse across the line.
Limited Distance - Rides of 25 - 35 miles, to be completed in 6 hours (for a 25 mile event).  Winner determined by the first horse that crosses finish line and reaches pulse criteria.
Competitive - Rides of 25 - 100 miles, averaging 5.5 to 7 miles per hour.  Competitive rides are not managed as a race, but rather as a test of a horse's fitness.  Winners are determined by a scoring system that penalizes heart and respiration scores above a norm.

In the Midwest, conventional wisdom dictates that one should be begin competing a horse in the competitive division. Looking at the divisions listed above, that seems to make sense, doesn't it?  Competitive riding theoretically takes away the 'racing' aspect of our sport.  The rides should be emphasizing the physical fitness of our equine companions.  After riding El in the comp division in 2010, I have some serious mis-givings about offering that advice to new riders. 
Some things to consider when beginning a competitive career for your horse:

• What are your ultimate goals for yourself and your horse?  Do you aspire to ride longer distances? Multi-days? Decade performer?
• How old is your equine partner?  Although UMECRA allows 4 year old horses in the competitive division and AERC allows 5 year olds to compete; I would not recommend begin to compete a horse until they are at least 6 years old.  Dr. Deb Bennett has written an excellent article on the maturation of the equine species. 
• Are you and your equine partner comfortable riding alone, in a group?
• Would you like to be able to get off your horse and 'school' through a difficult obstacle? (Competitive rules in UMECRA) do not allow forward progress unless mounted.)
• Would you like to be able to put water on your horse to aid in cooling? (Again, competitive rules - UMECRA) do not allow the use of water, except for natural water.

Don't get me wrong - this is not an article bashing competitive trail riding.  I think comp riding has a real place in our sport.  I also think the Limited Distance division has a legitimate place in our sport.  In fact, Bert excels in the Limited Distance events.  He is currently in 9th place in lifetime AERC mileage for Limited Distance horses.

So, what's my beef? :)  I don't think competitive trail or limited distance events teach a horse to take care of himself.  I also don't think the restricted mileage events teach riders to take care of their mounts.  I can hear the protests already - please take a moment listen to my reasoning.

Conventional wisdom dictates that the average backyard horse that is being ridden on a regular basis should be able to comfortably complete an endurance/competitive event of 25 miles.  While this may be true, is completing this event in the best interests of the horse?  In fact, I would argue that the horse that gets comfortably through 25 mile events may never learn to 'take care of himself.'  I would also argue that the rider that only rides 25 mile distances never learns to truly take care of their mount.

I believe it is only when the horse and rider are faced with longer distances that the horse and rider form a team that has to work together to get through the distance. I always remember the quote from Matthew McKay Smith, "Never hurry, never tarry."  I view every endurance event as a test of my horse and myself against the trail.  The other riders out there are just obstacles on our way to the finish line.  :)

Events of 50 miles or more teach a rider to watch for the subtleties in their horse.  Is he eating, drinking, peeing and pooping as normal?  And while the rider is learning, the horse has even bigger lessons to learn - drink at every water source, eat at every opportunity.

Horses are incredibly adept learners.

The mud puddle they used to step delicately around, now presents an opportunity to stop and drink.  They quickly figure that they can walk and sometimes even trot down the trail and grab snatches of grass.  I have a rule for my horses - as long as they maintain forward motion, they can eat at will.  While this may be frowned upon by trail riders, it is essential that my horses learn to eat while being ridden.

Dr. Barney Fleming has written an excellent article on his views of limited distance events.  

Here's another very interesting article by Stagg Newman regarding Endurance Riding vs. Endurance Racing. 

I would encourage everyone to read as much as possible about endurance riding before attempting your first ride.