It’s hard to find good going around me that isn’t stony track in winter so the gallops make a great option to actually get some continuous work in. I only start with 10km with a 50/50 split walk/trot and a tiny bit of canter thrown in for fun. I will steadily increase the canter and reduce the walk so that were getting up to 20km but I don’t like to do more than an hour of work on them, as the constant soft surface is pretty hard work on the soft tissue.
Still it’s nice to get out and start to focus more on cardiovascular fitness and stamina as the season approaches. I’m not sure we’ll get the opportunity to do an FEI ride this year with the uncertainty of our UK FEI ride schedule but hopefully we’ll be fit and ready if the opportunity comes our way.
Beth Endurance 