A fitness plan is an important part of taking care of a horse, because when they are fit they not only perform better, but they are more likely to enjoy it, stay sound and have a longer and more active life.For any horse to perform well, whether competing, hacking out or riding at home, they have to be physically capable of doing the task youre asking. Different breeds and types are more suited to either sprint or endurance-type sports, depending on their conformation and inherited muscle fibre composition.Benefits of a horse fitness planA well-designed and carefully planned conditioning fitness plan will help to strengthen a horses ligaments, tendons, bones, joints and muscles. This will help to help to avoid injury (although a small risk will always remain), while also developing the horses cardiovascular system.To get a horse fit, you gradually increase the physical stress on their body so that their response to it improves. How fit they need to be depends on what youre planning to do, says former five-star event rider Marie Ryan, whose horse Penny Royal II finished best mare at Badminton for two consecutive years.A basic level of fitness should enable a horse to compete happily in low-level dressage, showjumping and one-day events as well as hacking and schooling. Anything more demanding will require a higher level of fitness.Fitness timescaleThe time it takes to achieve a basic fitness level varies according to your horses age, type or breeding, and how fit they have been in the recent past.A young horse whos been backed and ridden on for a year, but is now ready to be got properly fit for the first time, will need longer than an older horse who has been kept ticking over during the winter and is now being prepared for a competitive spring season, explains Marie.As a general rule, cold-blooded horses such as cobs and those with a higher percentage of draught blood often take longer to get fit than the hot-blooded Thoroughbred and Arab types. Warmbloods take less time than cold bloods, but slightly more than hot-blooded horses.Creating a fitness planTo create a fitness plan for a fit and strong horse youll need to combine schooling and jumping with hacking. Plus, youll need to allow time for them to recover between sessions. Different types of training can be categorised as:Cardiovascular trainingCardiovascular training uses trot, canter or gallop for periods of at least 20 minutes, depending on your horses fitness.Skills trainingSkills training means riding lateral work or doing pole work, for example.Strength trainingStrength training is jumping, hill work and exercises which require your horse to work in collection, such as piaffe.Your horses muscles are most at risk during strength training. So, to help prevent injury, you need to gradually increase the intensity of this type of work.The plan below is a rough guide from Marie explaining what to do with your horse and when. As a general rule, allow at least two days between strength training sessions to give your horses muscles time to repair.Remember, you know your horse best, so listen and focus on how theyre feeling. Dont do too much too soon.Fitness plan: preparing the horseMarie stresses the importance of it being the riders job to ensure the horse is fully prepared for what we are asking them to do. She uses the following schedule when training her horses:1 Health checkBefore starting any work, give your horse a full health MOT.Check their teeth are not causing any discomfort and Id also advise getting their back and saddle checked by someone qualified, advises Marie.2 Begin the LSDThis is long, slow, distance work and it is usually done out hacking.Depending on your horses starting fitness point, you ideally need to spend two to four weeks in walk, gradually building up the time, says Marie. Start off doing half an hour, building up to one to 1.5 hours per day.3 Quality, not quantityAim for quality work over quantity. Your horses walk should be active and rhythmical. Even if they arent truly on the bit, at least have them working towards it, with a pliable contact for them to work into so that they begin to build the correct muscles.4 Start schoolingOver the next four weeks, introduce arena work, riding large figures such as figures of eights, 20m circles, three-loop serpentines, changes of diagonal, advises Marie.Leg-yield and shoulder-in adds variety and builds suppleness.5 Go steadyRemember to start slowly. A schooling session is usually more strenuous than a steady hack in a straight line. Start with 15 minutes of schooling and gradually build up to 30 minutes and 45 minutes.Start small periods of trot, both out hacking and in the school, suggests Marie. It should be an easy, rhythmical working trot, starting with short bursts and slowly increasing.6 Hill workFind some hills and introduce gentle hill work (read more about this below). If you live in a flat area, introduce interval training to compensate for the lack of hills.7 LungingLunging a horse counts towards fitness too.Keep the circles large at first, starting with five minute sessions and building up to 10, states Marie. Using a lunging aid, improvements can be made to self-carriage, obedience to the voice and engagement.Lunging is also particularly useful if youre short on time.8 Introduce canterIf all is going well, introduce short bursts of canter on good ground.Ensure the canter is balanced and rhythmical so your horse is working correctly and building the right muscles, adds Marie. Work in straight lines to start with and dont forget transitions.9 Get your entries inAfter three or four weeks of canter, most horses will be ready for a dressage competition or perhaps a fun ride. Factor in the travelling, warming up and time waiting around it all requires energy.10 Increase the effortThe final stage, according to Marie, is to increase the duration of work and how much effort the horse has to put in.Schooling sessions (three to four per week) become more frequent and demanding. Hacks become longer with longer bursts of trot and canter. Polework and jumping can also be introduced.Horse fitness plan: variety is keyWhen getting her event horses fit, two-time Badminton CCI5* winner Pippa Funnell believes in spending as much time out of the school as possible and varying their fitness programme.I do lots of hacking and am fortunate to have access to some lovely fields with testing terrain which is wonderful, she says.I love riding on different surfaces and cambers because eventing is about that. One minute youre on sand, the next in mud its not just about being on pristine gallops.Double Olympic eventing champion Mark Todd is fortunate to have plenty of safe hacking near his Marlborough base. Hes retired from eventing now, but it came in useful when getting myriad horses fit.I did roadwork to build up fitness before going into the school, but I know roads can be tricky if youre in a busy area, says Mark. Be creative and see what you have available; you dont need an arena, you can do fitness work in a field.Walking is really good for your horses heart and lungs. It doesnt have to be dull. Even if youre hacking, use the time doing light suppling exercises such as shoulder-in. You can also work on riding transitions from medium walk to free walk on a long rein and back to medium walk.If youre doing walk work in an arena, do lots of stretch work, ride lots of big circles and plenty of changes of rein. Use this time to get your horse soft and swinging through his back.RoadworkAccording to Dr David Marlin, roadwork subjects a horses hoof to forces 20 times greater than a good grass or arena surface. He also states that trotting on the road doesnt harden or strengthen tendons.Roadwork does increase bone strength, but you only need a few minutes of trot to achieve this.Walking is fine and shouldnt be limited. Trotting should be limited to no more than five minutes a day, he advises. The best advice for keeping horses sound is to work them on varying surfaces, including good grass, arenas and roads.Read more from Dr David Marlin here.HillworkHill work is an important element of every horses fitness plan, because it means you can train with low impact and high intensity.Walking uphill engages your horses hindquarters. The steeper the hill, the harder they have to work. Done correctly, it can be just as valuable as fast work as your horse has to concentrate on their balance.Increasing the gradient increases your horses energy output, but bear in mind that the more impulsion you create as you go uphill, the more stress there is through the hind limbs.Hill work will also develop your horses hindquarters and shoulder muscles, and can improve their topline.Hillwork is something that you can build up gradually, explains event rider Ibby Macpherson. I like to incorporate it into my hacks and also after some schooling.For example, if Im looking to improve my horses fitness, I might school for a bit and then canter up a hill. Start gradually and work your way up. Once your horse is feeling fitter, you can always increase the number of times you canter up the hill.How to utilise hillsYour horse must be suitably warmed up before tackling steep climbs or upping the pace, in the same way a human athlete shouldnt run straight out of their house and up a steep hill.To begin with, use your common sense and be guided by your horse. Ifthey are panting hard, youve done too much, too soon.Bear in mind that walking uphill, in balance, is as valuable as doing fast work up hills.Slow work also lessens the likelihood of injury to your horses tendons and ligaments.When riding uphill in trot, its a good idea to occasionally allow your horse to stretch forward and reach into their stride as they work through from behind.Ride in a light, balanced seat going uphill to help your horse use their back.Introduce transitions as youre going up and down hill, as these will help to improve your horses balance.As your horse becomes fitter and you feel they are ready, try trotting up and down the hill, and then progress eventually to canter. Including different transitions will flex your horses brain, as well as their muscles!Horse fitness plan: interval trainingIncorporating interval training into your horses exercise regime can be beneficial for building their fitness, as well as maintaining it. Interval training also offers variety in a horse fitness plan, as it is fun and interesting to do.Interval trainings about varying the pace which you can do in a field or in a small area, like a 20x40m arena, explains Pippa Funnell.Shorten your stirrups, get out of the saddle and imagine youre going cross-country down the long side, then sit up and collect the horse down the short side.Remember to change the rein. Building little jumps into interval training helps fitness too.Pippa recommends learning to ride by feel when interval training, rather than looking at a stopwatch.Dont only look at your watch when interval training; get into the habit of feeling how the horse is going and how quick his recovery is. Go on the soft side and slowly build up, she says.Sample interval planInterval training is a great way to build up your horses heart rate. Use Set 1, below, for one or two weeks in the earlier stages of your fitness plan before your horse is ready for some more intense work. Then move on to Set 2.Interval training: set 1Ride in a brisk trot, on good ground in three intervals of six minutes with a walk break in-between.As your horses fitness and consequent recovery rate improves, up your intervals to four minutes.Make sure your horse is working in a good, forward rhythm and that hes straight.Change the diagonal every so often too.Interval training: set 2When your horse is ready to work that little bit harder, try using this second set as part of your fitness plan, maintaining a good rhythm in each pace:20 minutes: Walk10 minutes: Brisk trot5 minutes: Walk2 sets of 3 minutes (3 minutes of walk in-between): Forward canterSome horses respond better to sprint work that opens their pipes rather than long intervals of strong and steady canter. On these horses, ride short bursts of fast canter instead.Things to watch forWhile getting a horse fit, its vital to keep an eye on their overall health and soundness at every stage.Make sure you:Check shoes daily for any risen clenches, lost of twisted shoes, and abnormal wear.Examine your horses legs every day so that you build an awareness of whats normal for them and whats not. Youre more likely to detect any heat or swelling early.Check for any rubs or sores around the horses mouth, girth area, on the legs, and where the saddle and bridle sits.Regularly check the fit of your saddle. As horses get fitter, their shape often changes.Take care to ride at an appropriate speed for the ground conditions youre riding on. Inconsistency in the ground soft to hard, hard to soft, for example can cause strains and other injuries.Monitor your horses recovery rate after work and whether theyre feeling suitably energised for the work required of them.Dont over-exercise the day before a competition. Fitness needs to be built up in the weeks and months beforehand.If possible, its better to exercise the day before for two short periods rather than taking a horse for a fast, two-hour hack, which may leave the horse sore, advises Marie Ryan.Feeding for fitnessRemember, how and what you fuel your horse with is a key part of a good fitness plan too. As your horses workload increases, they may need additional energy from their diet.Speak to a nutritionist who will be able to advise you on your individual horses requirements. Any adjustment or introduction to feed should be done gradually over a number of days.Here are some key feeding rules to help you keep your horse fit from the inside out:Pick the right feed for your horses job.Only feed for the work your horse does and dont increase feed unnecessarily.Always introduce new feeds gradually.Consider supplements, such as electrolytes, when your horses is working hard and competing.Speak to an equine nutritionist if youre in doubt about your horses diet.Related contentHow to ride leg yieldInterval training for horses (and why you should do it)Lunging a horse: how to make sure theyre working correctlyHow to check the fit of your saddle *VIDEO*What correct horse diet looks like in practiceThe post Fitness plan for a healthy horse appeared first on Your Horse.