Ensuring your horse is fit enough for the job you are asking it to do is so important to avoid them becoming injured during training or competition. You wouldn’t be very impressed to be asked to run around a cross-country course if you weren’t fit enough, and the likelihood is you’d strain something (if not collapse in a heap!). Using all-weather gallops is an excellent way to improve and monitor your horse’s fitness whatever breed they are. Of course, most gallops around the country are used by racehorses, but we also welcome people with sports horses and riding horses competing at all levels. From eventers getting horses fit for cross-country to cobs and hunters doing fast work in advance of the season and dressage horses or ponies having a change of scenery, we see all shapes and sizes enjoying a lung opener at Thorpe Farm. Here are three reasons why our customers love to come and use our gallops:
- Our gallops have a premium quality Andrews Bowen surface which always provides a stable, shock absorbing surface to work your horse on, whereas your local bridleways probably vary between being hard in the summer and muddy in the winter, with a sweet spot of just a few weeks in between!
- The gallops are checked and graded daily, so you can do fast work knowing that the footing is always good. The fear of rabbit holes, stones and rubbish being on a bridleway is always at the back of our minds when we ride on them.
- You can use the fixed length of our gallops to measure improvements in fitness and speed in your horse by using a stopwatch. If you’re working on rhythm and balance in collected, medium and extended canter, the gallops give you the chance to work on this without the confines of the school interrupting the flow.
If you’re using the gallops to do fast work with your horse, it’s essential to warm up and cool down properly. Taking the time to warm up and cool off your horse will help avoid injury and stress on their body and gives you a chance to monitor their recovery time. The fitter your horse is, the more quickly they will return to their resting heart and respiration rate. Here’s how we warm up and cool down resident horses.
Warm up
- Walk for 10-15 minutes depending on the intensity of work being done.
- Then begin mixing in trot work and walk, trot canter transitions for another 10 minutes.
- Start faster work with a controlled canter – collected or medium hack canter, again depending on fitness levels – for 5 minutes before starting fast canter and gallop work.
Cool down
- When you pull up from gallop, never just stand still – even if you’re talking to another rider or coach. Always at least walk your horse around.
- That walking should be for at least 10 minutes to ensure your horse has recovered and to help move lactate out of the muscles. This might be longer than you think, so use a stopwatch for timing your warmup and cool down.
- Note how long it takes the horse to stop blowing and compare as the horse gets fitter.
- After they have been untacked, offer them water but don’t allow them to drink too deeply straight away, and then wash them off with cool water in summer and warm water in winter. Scrape excess water in winter and use coolers and sheets to stop them getting a chill.
If you would like to learn more about hiring our gallops and our other services, just get in touch with the team! Visit our contact page here or drop us a message on social media.