Re: RC: Conditioning Tips/Schedules for The Full Time Worker

[Irene M Burnett <renieburnett@juno.com>]

Hi Kim!   40 minutes of arena work can easily equal 2 hrs. on the trail! 
work on suppling exercises, sidepasses, figure 8's, transitions--at the
walk, trot, and canter.  Set up cones and ride serpintines and straight
lines.  Do small, medium and large circles.  work on speed control, slow
trot, medium trot, fast trot.  Go into a canter from a stop and then from
a backup.  Practice stops and backing and rollbacks. Your horse will be
better trained and so will you!  This will help you to bond and find
those areas that may become a problem out on the trail if not dealt with
in the "classroom" atmosphere of the arena..
You'd be surprised how much work and conditioning you can get on your
horse with arena work.  Don't just ride around the perimeter thinking
about how boring it is.  A good book is Cherry Hill's 101 arena
exercises.  When you can master all 101, you won't have to worry about
the HI HO SILVER stuff at the start of your first ride!!  Good Luck!