Ridecamp: [RC] Confused About Conditioning?

I am a full time university student with a 12 year old Arab x QH gelding that I 
have Evented in the past. I am hoping to ride in my first endurance ride (25) 
in the spring (among other things - dressage and jumping). I was under the 
impression that in order to condition you had to ride LSD a lot of the time. I 
am on a pretty tight schedule with school but I want to spend as much time as 
possible with my horse. I board about 1/2 an hour away from my home and I am 
available to ride about 3-5 days per week for about 1-2 hours at a time. Those 
rides would consist of dressage schooling, gymnastic jumping or long distance 
work. For the time being most of this work will be inside - no trails :o( - as 
winter is coming.

My question is this...is this going to be moving my horse in the right 
direction? What else can I do? Is it possible to condition effectively when 
confined to an indoor arena :o( 

In a recent post some people have been saying that working your horse more than 
3 times a week is too much, yet I was under the impression this was not enough? 
I realize this is an individual thing. My own horse is very laid back and a 
VERY easy keeper. He's pretty lazy in the ring but he does get very forward on 
Roads and Tracks as well as on the cross country course so I think he will have 
some energy for endurance. I would love to hear what you think would be 
beneficial for him.

Thanks again for your expert opinions.

Tam and Magnum the Supersteed

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