Let the pre-season training commence

I’m starting off with a 4x a week schedule; Monday, Wednesday, Friday and one weekend day. The first 6 week block will consist of:

Monday: 45mins in-hand hill walks or in-hand pole work

Wednesday: 30minute water treadmill session

Friday: Longer hack (10-20km) or Schooling

Weekend: Short hack (5-10km) or faster surface work

I don’t have many options from the yard where my horses are, we have two 5km loops, two 10km options, and one 16km option, all of which are 90% road, but I do have lots of access to facilities if I trailer out. Due to being on clay using gallop surfaces is one of our best winter options, even if we just walk and trot on it. But my hope is that we’ll get out to Cannock chase as much as possible because it has nice hard ground that’s accessible year round and it’s free!!

For our first training block the main focus is on strength with the majority of our training at walk. Last year 50% of all our training was walk work so that’s the baseline we’re aiming to get to over the next 6 weeks. Once we’ve got back to our baseline I can then start thinking about increasing the trot and introducing some canter.