Back to Riding: Tips for Monitoring Your Horse's Fitness
Written by: Dr. Jennie Ivey, PhD
University of Tennessee        

          During the late fall and winter months, many horse owners are not able to ride as often due to weather and shorter daylight hours. During periods of rest or decreased levels of activity horses can lose fitness and conditioning. Keeping track of the horse’s fitness can be an important tool to prevent injury and overwork. Before heading out for long trail rides, hacks, or a competitive show, make sure you and your horse are physically prepared.

Equine Fitness and Training

          Similar to humans, horses have the ability to increase their tolerance to activity through physiologic adaptation. Just as it would be unreasonable to expect a person to complete a half marathon after taking the winter off from physical activity, it is unfair to ask horses to perform intense workloads without easing back into a normal activity level. Fitness spans multiple body systems and encompasses efficient thermoregulation, cardiovascular and respiratory function along with preventing muscle and skeletal fatigue. A good conditioning program will improve the horse’s ability to perform by challenging these systems, or “fitness”, and is specific to the type of activity the horse will perform. A horse may be fit for a draft pulling competition, but they would be ill prepared for an endurance race and vice versa.

          Training varies slightly from conditioning or fitness, and is defined as the horse learning a new skill or activity. Conditioning and training can be done at the same time, but it is important to understand the difference between each of these activities and their role in equine performance. For example, a runner can work on running form while covering many miles in preparation for a long distance race similar to how a rider can aid the horse to travel in the proper frame while trotting along the rail. Both of these would be good examples of conditioning. If the horse was learning to navigate a trail obstacle, the rider is training a new skill for the horse, but not much conditioning or fitness is being completed during this time.

          Both training and conditioning are greatly important for many aspects of equine performance. When developing an exercise program, consider completing activities similar to the environment in which you will expect the horse to compete or perform. For example, horses trained in flat, soft, sandy areas will not be well prepared for hills and hard terrain. If preparing for events requiring bursts of high intensity exercise, such as speed events, cutting, or jumping, be sure to provide the horse time to regain their fitness for these activities as well.

How Much Time is Needed?

          In general, horses will maintain their current fitness level for the first three weeks of inactivity. A good rule to follow is for every day off, a horse will require one day of training to regain the lost fitness. After 8 weeks of inactivity, the horse will have lost a substantial amount of fitness and should be reconditioned with low impact time under saddle, such as hacking or flatwork. It is also important to remember that while muscle responds relatively quickly to a conditioning protocol, bones, ligaments and tendons are slower to adapt and need time to adjust in order to avoid injury.

          “Take the time it takes” is a phrase often used when training horses to learn new skills, but the concept is easily applied to fitness as well. Allow your horse plenty of time to regain appropriate muscling and for other body systems to adapt to the desired level of activity. Rushing through conditioning and other fitness exercises can lead to sub-optimal performance, injury, and a slow progression for future training sessions.

Monitoring Fitness

          The easiest and best way to monitor your horse’s fitness is through heart rate recovery after exercise. Begin by taking your horse’s resting heart rate while the horse is in a calm, quiet state. The easiest place to take the horse’s heart rate is the mandibular artery, just under the jaw. Curl the fingers of your hand in the groove between the horse’s jaw, and pull back towards you. A cord-like structure should be felt, and when slight pressure is applied the pulse can be felt. Time the number of pulses to determine how often your horse’s heart beats per minute. A mature horse’s resting heart rate should range from 28 to 40 beats per minute. If the heart rate is above this range, let the horse relax and try again a few minutes later.

          Next, after completing a ride/workout monitor your horse’s heart rate back to the normal range. Begin by completing a normal ride/workout/activity and immediately after finishing, take the horse’s heart rate. It is important to take this measurement after the peak of exercise intensity, as this will provide the best indicator of the horse’s fitness. For example, if completing a reining pattern, take the horse’s heart rate immediately after completing the pattern, but before walking the horse around or out of the ring.

          If the horse’s heart rate returns to the normal range at or before 15 minutes after exercise has ended, the horse has been worked adequately to maintain fitness considering the current fitness level. This level of activity will allow the horse to maintain its current fitness, but will not increase their overall fitness level. If recovery is achieved within 30 minutes after exercise, the horse has been stressed within an acceptable limit to increase fitness. In the event recovery to the normal heart rate range takes longer than 30 minutes to achieve, the current exercise activity may be too challenging for the horse currently. Consider scaling back the activity/intensity level of exercise and completing conditioning work until the horse has an opportunity to increase fitness level. These tests can be repeated frequently and should be used consistently during any exercise program.

          For more information on assessing your horse’s fitness or developing a training or conditioning program, contact your local County Extension Agent, or visit UTHorse.com.