TRAINING PROGRAM FOR EVENTING TEAM

Training Program for Adolescent Eventing Team



Training Program for Adolescent Eventing Team

Introduction

This paper presents a training plan for both the horses and the riders of the Eventing Team to enable the team to improve on their results from the previous season, and aim for a top three placing at the Championships. As a owner, the all important question you must ask yourself is what event your horse is physically and mentally suited for. Is the horse built to easily breeze his way to the winners circle on the race track or possibly to cover mile upon mile of rugged terrain vying for the top honor of best conditioned distance horse? However, maybe he is better suited to cutting out and handily work a cow in one of the popular cattle events or making a long sliding stop as a reining horse . To answer this question the you must also determine if the top performance of your horse will demand only speed or if it will require a combination of speed and skill to expertly execute the chosen sport? And then, not only must the physical requirements be weighed, so must the mental and emotional aspects of performing the given task be taken into consideration. Once you've settled on which event to pursue with your equine athlete you're now faced with the job of creating an individualized training program. This program, tagged by the professional fitness trainer as progressive loading or precision training, is best known simply as conditioning. In order to build such a program with any real success, you must first have a little understanding of equine physiology. (Reilly, 2000: 69-74)

Training programs are formed around three basic stages, the initial stage, the developmental stage, and the maintenance stage. How long it will take to get the horse in peak condition will, without a doubt, depend on the individual's age, his genetic makeup, and the particular event the horse will be conditioned for.

Training Program for Adolescent Eventing Team

Considered the most important of the three stages of training, every horse, no matter what sport he will eventually be performing in, should begin his training with long slow distance (LSD), for it provides the basic groundwork for all equine events. LSD is the gradual introduction of the horse to increasingly greater distances of physical exertion and over a broad variety of terrain. Here your objective will be to carefully work your horse up to an hour of exercise at a walk and trot at an average speed of 4 to 5 mph and a canter at a moderate speed of 10 to 12 mph. During this phase of conditioning, the horse's cardiovascular system is strengthened, boosting the capacity of the lungs and heart to carry and utilize oxygen. It will also increase the durability and elasticity of the muscoskeletal system. The principal advantage to all this, is that it will groom the athlete for the next stage of training, there by decreasing the chance of ...