Re: RC: arena conditioning/Building strength/flexibility

[DESERTRYDR1@aol.com]

Frank, thanks for the exercises.  I, too feel that arena work is an important 
part of a well-trained and conditioned horse. When I first got my mare, my 
son was small and riding was very limited in duration, I didn't have a 
trailer or a riding buddy.  The first summer, when I started riding her in 
July, she had been a pasture potato for a year, and was at least 100 lbs 
overweight.  By November 1st, she had lost all the excess weight, and was 
really legged up.  I did several years of arena work three times an week, 
with slow (strictly walking) hour long trail rides, maybe once twice a week.  
My horse was always pretty well muscled and had decent recoveries in terms of 
not blowing after an hour or so of work at (mainly) a trot and (some) canter 
and slick sweat with no lather.  When I started to condition for endurance, 
she was already in good shape.  We just added speed work and distance.  I 
have to admit, she only does LD, but the arena work provided a good base of 
LSD.   

The best thing about arena work is that you can build straightness, 
flexibilty, and obedience and you can teach a horse to carry itself in a more 
rounded frame.  These things really help when you go out on the trail.  
Conditioning the horse's MIND is almost as important as it's body.  I've 
tried for years to get my riding partner to spend more time in the arena.  
Her horses tend to be less obedient and more "follow the crowd" than mine.  
They also have more soundness problems as her conditioning program tends to 
be longer faster miles than mine, without the arena work.  And we are both 
doing the same distances.

jeri