Sets

Today I talked my hubby into making, not one, but two coops for me!!! Wow, am I lucky! I had one large peice of plywood. One coop is 2'2" and the other is like 18". Now, they aren't pretty, but they will serve the purpose. I wanted to go out and try them as soon as I got them out there, but decided against it since Olly has jumped two days in a row. And yesterday wasn't that easy for him. He worked really hard and I wanted to reward him by just hacking out and relaxing. So, on that note, instead of the kimberwicke, I grabbed his loose ring and instead of the AP saddle, I grabbed my dressage saddle. I was a bit nervous about the loose ring. I know that is what I have used in the past, but we were doing so good with the kimberwicke and I don't think he likes it. So this, too, was a reward. Today is warmer, so I had on my hoodie, with a few shirts on underneath, of course and forewent the hat under the helmet. BIG MISTAKE! See we are back in the woods, if it feels warm here it will be cold in the field. you would think I would know this by now....
I started my GPS and we were down the road. We sarted at a walk, just to kinda warm up, about 15 minutes. Then we started with the sets. 5 minutes of trotting (which we encountered the huges puddle I have seen in along time. Olly was not so thrilled. He tried in EVERY way to go around, but what do you do when it is all wooded and there is nowhere to go but IN!? He isn't afraid of the water, I mean he will go in and trot and even canter, I just don't think he likes it. If there is a way around then he will find it. We worked on being steady in our pace and not having a high head. Most of the time when he settles into his gait his head will stop being in giraffe mode. The kimberwicke has helped with this alot. Next we walked, mainly to recover. It took us 10 minutes, not to recover, I usually only allow 5 minutes at the most for this, it was because I had nowhere to canter and it took me that long to get to the next field. I hit the Lap button again 5 minutes for the canter. I started thinking to myself, "man we are gonna cover some ground in 5 minutes with his canter," but to my surprise he settled in quickly and we were down the road. No pulling, two-point, or seat shifting. He has a VERY nice canter, the one I know from the hunter ring (not an actualy hunter canter, but Olly's "hunter" canter, which is like a gallop for normal hunters lol). Then we walked for 3 minutes. I only did three minutes because he didn't seem to need a full 5, let alone the 10. Back to a trot. 5 minutes again. Instead og giving he a waslk to recover from the 5 minutes of trotting I gave him a 3 minute canter. Then we walked the rest ofthe way home. It totalled like 4.6 miles. I have the GPS download of all the STATS that I will list at the end of the blog. Oh, and my heart rate monitor is not on my dressage girth so I do not have the HR stats, and even if I were using my AP girth, I am not sure that the GPS would pick up the HR through the wolly mammoth. I have thought about clipping a spot, but I haven't acted on it.
After our sets I looked down and Olly was sweating. Hmmmmmm...I think we need to do more of this type of work. We were only out for an hour and he was spent. Boy is out of shape!!! Time to cross train. We trail ride alot, but not with monitored sets. Walking on a trail is good, but not for the type of riding we want to do. Eventing required alot of different skills. And to just jump 5 days a week is not the way to go. And from what I am seeing walking and trotting occasionaly on a trail isn't doing it either. I run and try to keep myself fit as much as I can, and I should do the same for him. I will be coming up with a schedule that will be applied IMMEDIATELY! Woohoo! More to write about. You just wait, this spring and summer we will be ready for the show ring!!
As always, we went back to the stall to get a good grooming and some love. He ALWAYS has to have the area where his brilde was brushed and scratched.



Garmin Forerunner 305 (with HR Monitor)
Trotting Lap 1 0.58 miles 4m59s average speed 7.0mph
Walking Lap 2 0.66 miles 11m21s average speed 3.5mph
Cantering Lap 3 0.75 miles 3m38s average speed 12.4mph
Walking Lap 4 0.27 miles 5m03s average speed 3.2mph
Trotting Lap 5 0.72 miles 4m55s average speed 8.8mph
Cantering Lap 6 0.29 miles 1m29s average speed 11.8mph
Walking Lap 7 0.67 miles 11m59s average speed 3.4mph

TOTAL
4.61 miles
58m29s
Avg Pace 12.41min/mile
Avg Speed 4.7mph
Max Speed 15.3mph
Total Caloried Burned 2898