In many equestrian sports, the riders competing with the fittest mount can win the blue ribbon or even an opportunity to stand atop the Olympic medal podium. For this reason, horsemen often look to a technique called "interval training" to help provide a winning edge in equine performance.

Believed to have been developed in ancient times to condition chariot horses, today "interval training" (or IT) is best known in the eventing and endurance worlds where great stamina is required for success. But IT can be tailored to better prepare horses for excellence in almost any sport, including driving, jumping, racing, and western disciplines, since all share the same basic goal: to improve an equine athlete's performance.

"All of the best trainers use some form of interval training," notes renowned FEI veterinarian C. Mike Tomlinson, DVM MBA. "This type of fitness program can be effectively adapted to the niche of the discipline in which they compete, and also to the individual horses that they train."

Keep your horse's heart rate up

The basic premise of IT is to enable the horse to experience more intense work over several short periods of activity than would be possible if the work was carried out in one long duration. A successful IT program produces a faster, fitter, more athletic horse by challenging the cardiovascular system with periods of speed activity, interspaced with slower recovery periods to allow the horse's heart rate to return to slightly above normal before beginning the next active phase.

Depending upon the fitness goals for an equestrian discipline, these alternating speed and rest periods can be as simple as walk/trot/walk/trot combinations, or as strenuous as repeated gallop sets. In time, the horse should be able to travel faster for longer periods, perform event-specific work without the risk of fatigue and resulting injury, and make the sustained effort required in competition.

Perhaps the most important parts of IT training are the "incomplete" recovery periods. While walking or trotting between speed sets and allowing the horse to catch his breath, one should be careful not to allow for a "full recovery" and inadvertent return to resting heart rate. The incomplete recovery method means that subsequent speed bouts become progressively harder, challenging the body to strengthen the heart, lungs, and muscles, helping them adapt to stress and making them better able to cope with exercise the next time it occurs.

As the horse's fitness level improves and he becomes accustomed to the routine, the intensity and number of speed repetitions can be increased, and the length of the partial recoveries shortened. Over time, IT will improve the capacity of the horse's respiratory and circulatory systems, allowing the heart to become stronger and pump more oxygen-rich blood around the body, nourishing working tissues and delaying the onset of the anaerobic phase of exercise when lactic acid accumulates in muscles, resulting in fatigue.

Starting out slowly protects the horse

Before starting an intense IT program with their mounts, horsemen should build a foundation of what is commonly called "long slow distance," which is a gradual introduction to greater amounts of physical exertion. The objective is to work the horse slowly over a gradually increasing period of time, such as during basic ring work or long trail rides. This initial stage of conditioning prepares the horse's body for the future challenges of interval training and competition.

Once the IT phase of conditioning begins, riders must resist the temptation to overtax their mounts as a horse's heart rate can spike dangerously if too much work is asked for too soon. In addition, a horse's skeleton and supporting structures (such as tendons and ligaments) are much slower to adapt to the rigors of training compared to the heart and muscles and may be susceptible to injury.

Read the horse's vital signs

IT can be designed to bring a horse to peak fitness and readiness for competition, but riders must be prepared to devote a greater amount of time to training. In order to be successful, IT is part of a long-term fitness program over many weeks and even months, requiring a significant commitment to time in the saddle, patience, and observation to monitor the horse's health.

One important horsemanship skill can be very helpful in optimizing fitness results: knowing how to take a horse's heart rate. Reading a horse's pulse and noting his length of time for recovery will help judge his fitness level, allowing conditioning adjustments to be made as necessary. As a mount becomes fitter, his heart rate will remain lower during stress and recover more quickly during rest periods. To optimize tracking of results, many riders incorporate heart rate monitors to better evaluate their horse's fitness progress.

Keep your equine partner happy

Mental preparation of your equine partner for the demands of interval training is just as important as physical fitness, and the mood or attitude of your horse can be an effective gauge to how he is handling the demands of his workouts. Behavioral changes such as pinning of ears, wringing of tail, or reluctance to perform can be some of the indicators of physical discomfort, soreness, or too much stress.

Interval training is part of a winning combination of horsemanship combined with science to produce competitive success. But since every horse is an individual who reacts differently to the pressures of work and competition, horsemen must be sensitive to their mounts and design workouts to best suit different levels of physical capabilities and personalities. While the challenges of interval training can effectively prepare an equine athlete to excel, only horses who are strong in both body and mind will be able to perform to the best of their abilities.

Dig deeper

Learn more about using a heart rate monitor to condition your horse in How to Measure Your Horse's Fitness with a Heart Rate Monitor.