Hey there, Tamara here from The Sweaty Equestrian, where we explore optimal performance for endurance riders.

The endurance off-season is when many of us reflect back on how last year went and think forward to how next year might go. I think it’s safe to say that all of us – whether we’re struggling or looking to keep a strong streak going – can benefit from checking back in with the basics. 

So today, today we’re diving into 6 building blocks of endurance riding success. 

Let’s start with something important: I’m defining success as completing rides with a sound, healthy horse – not winning. While it’s super impressive to get both high mileage and a bunch of top tens, its super not-impressive to override your horse to finish first. 

So, if we want to share many trail miles with our equine partners, here are 6, big contributing factors:

Number One: Commit to Consistency

This is the foundation everything else builds upon. Successful endurance riders understand that you have to put in the time whether you feel like it or not. This means making time for at least three conditioning rides per week, per horse, plus prioritizing the supporting activities like hoof care and bodywork.

Here’s the tough reality: being consistent is going to cost you something. There’s an opportunity cost to being able to do what you have to do, to succeed in endurance riding. Maybe it’s giving up other kinds of travel. Maybe it’s giving up other types of events that you’d like to attend, but there’s only so much time. There’s only so much money. There’s only so much your family will tolerate. You have to make the choice to get serious about having a good year, and then you have to be consistent on what it takes to get there.

A few years ago, I just couldn’t seem to get in many endurance miles. I was riding, but I was also doing a lot of other things. None of it was bad – it was international travel, family stuff – all good things, but all together it kept me from stringing together enough conditioning rides to prepare my horse for 50s.

Finally, I decided that I wanted to place a higher value on the sport. I had a heart-to-heart with Mr. Sweaty, and we agreed to make endurance a priority. And here’s the important part: we agreed on the sacrifices that priority would require. 

So number one is to acknowledge the costs and commit to consistency.

Number Two: Train the Brain

You know as well as I do that endurance riders notoriously get their horses started to where they can go more-or-less safely down the trail, then neglect more advanced training. Many of us tend to keep our horses in what the rest of the equestrian world would consider a perpetually green state, because frankly, we can get away with it.

But the successful riders I respect most don’t do that. Instead, they continue to educate their horses beyond the level that is strictly required for trotting down the trail.

Partly, this is a safety issue. It’s not fun for you or others around you if you’re aboard a crazy-fit horse who is also crazy-out-of-control. Also, there are times when you need to be able to move your horse laterally or back him around a corner to get out of a sticky situation.

Beyond that, a horse with more advanced training will be able to use his body more effectively, so he can drive with his hindquarters and travel more lightly on the forehand. He’s also less likely to sour because he has more variety in his work. He’s prepared to pursue other goals with you if endurance doesn’t work out for a while. And, if you ever need to sell, he’s more marketable and more likely to land in a good situation.

If you’re new to endurance and wondering about training specifically for endurance, I have an article called 8 Skills to Practice Before Ride Day. I’ll put a link in the show notes.

Beyond those endurance-specific skills, our horses should learn about bending and collecting and picking up leads … all the things you’d need in the various English and Western disciplines. To keep myself accountable, I try to pretend that I’m a professional horse trainer. I’m not, but that doesn’t stop me from behaving like one. What I mean by that is a professional trainer shows up to do the work just about every day, like her livelihood depends on it.

So you can see how #2, Train your horse’s brain, is related to #1: commit to consistency.

Let’s move on to #3: Focus on Your Fitness

Endurance is a team sport. If we’re asking our horses to be athletes who train and cross-train, shouldn’t we hold ourselves to the same standard? Your fitness as a rider directly impacts your horse’s performance, not to mention how comfortable you are after hours in the saddle.

It’s so tempting to say, well, I get my exercise from riding and barn chores. To an extent, that’s true! We certainly do need to ride in order to be fit for riding. So it’s true, but it’s incomplete. 

There are a couple reasons for this:

First, riding – by its very nature – creates imbalances. A common example is tight hip flexors and weak gluteal muscles, resulting in a pelvis that tilts forward. This leads to a horse dumping more weight on his forehand and a rider with a sore lower back. More riding will only make that worse – we need to do specific mobility and strengthening exercises to fix it.

Second, you’ve probably been doing more or less the same riding and barn chores for years. Is your fitness improving? Probably not…for the same reason that people who go for the same walk on their lunch break, month after month, don’t progress. Your body is already accustomed to that level of work! The only way to get it to adapt is to increase or change what you’re asking it to handle.

Serious athletes in any sport cross-train to round out their fitness. Why wouldn’t serious endurance riders do the same?

We already talked about countering muscle imbalances, but what else does strength training do for us? Well, among other things, it is our most important defense against losing muscle with age. Since muscle loss leads to increased injury risk and poor metabolism, counteracting it is critical if we want to keep distance riding into our senior years.

And what about cardio? Most of the time, riding doesn’t place sufficient demand on our cardiovascular systems to improve our fitness. Why do we care? Because the better we can utilize oxygen while distance riding, the longer we can go on less energy expenditure.

Another huge benefit of working on your own fitness is that it enables you to really understand – at a visceral level – what your horse is going through. When you push through your own challenging workout, you gain empathy for what your horse experiences during conditioning.

So, how to go about it? There are lots of free resources available – just google “couch to 5k” for example, or search YouTube for exercises. The trick is sorting out which exercises will actually support your riding. If you don’t feel like you have the time or knowledge to put into that, I do have a 16-week fitness program designed specifically for endurance riders. It’s called Essential Endurance Rider Fitness, and you can check it out at TheSweatyEquestrian.com/fitness. Or, just follow the link the the show notes.

Whatever method you choose, focusing on your own fitness is yet another tieback to #1: Consistency.

What else do successful endurance riders do?

Number Four: Observe and Respond

Successful riders carefully watch the details of their horses’ bodies and behaviors. Is he stocking up after certain rides? Grouchier than usual? Losing a bit of weight? 

I’m not saying we need to be paranoid and panic over every little change, but it does mean we know our horses from tip to tail. We observe changes and – this is key – we’re willing to take action in response.

Just the other day, I noticed that Atlas flinched a bit when I brushed his back. It turned out that his muddy winter coat under the saddle pad was making his skin sore. We changed to a different pad and that seemed to solve the problem, but I’ll be keeping an eye on it for sure.

Observing and responding also includes not putting off tasks that are easy to skip “just for today.” Thinks like deworming on time or keeping his toes rasped, or treating the first hint of thrush. Successful endurance riders notice issues and address them promptly.

Number Five helps us do a good job of number four: Seek Knowledge Before You Need It

When I was a horse-crazy kid, I didn’t have my own horse, but I read everything about horses that I could get my hands on. Old 4-H manuals, library books, the classifieds…everything. When I was 12, I was working at an Arabian breeding stable when a mare colicked. I was there alone…this was before cell phones…and I’d never seen a colic before. But I’ll tell you what: I recognized immediately what was going on and knew what to until help arrived. Why? Because I acquired the knowledge before I needed it.

The best endurance riders stay curious. They’re constantly reading articles, attending clinics and webinars, and seeking out new information from other riders. It’s helpful that the endurance community is, on the whole, a generous lot. And there’s a lot to learn beyond endurance persay – everything from equine nutrition to training philosophies to gait evaluation. 

Incidentally, do you see the opportunity cost here? Spending time learning means not spending it on something easier, like watching Netflix or scrolling through Instagram. But it’s so worth it! The more tools you have in your toolkit, the better.

So what do we have?

#1 Commit to consistency

#2 Train Your Horse’s Brain

#3 Focus on your Fitness

#4 Observe and Respond

#5 Seek Knowledge Before You Need It

#6, I think, affects how we do all of those things. Let’s call it Embracing the Journey.

Trite, I know, but here’s the thing: Even successful endurance riders aren’t successful all the time. They have rough days and disappointing pulls. They lose horses to freak accidents. They have seasons where, despite doing everything right, it just doesn’t come together as they had hoped.

You know what makes them successful, despite all that? They keep trying. They continue putting the work on themselves and their horses. They stay curious, build others up, and take the bad with the good. 

They understand that success isn’t about being the best every time. It’s about always trying your best, whatever that looks like today.

It reminds me of a quote: I can accept failure, but I cannot accept not trying. You know who said that? Michael Jordan. If he can’t be defined successful in his sport, who can? 

So if this matters to you – if you want to optimize your endurance riding – keep on keeping on. Keep showing up – for yourself and your horse.