A hot humid day. One rider. One horse. Both are exercising at a moderate level. Who is more likely to overheat? It might surprise you to learn that your horse gets hotter much faster than you and is more susceptible to the negative effects of heat stress. Prof. Michael Lindinger, an animal and exercise physiologist at the University of Guelph, explains: “It only takes 17 minutes of moderate intensity exercise in hot, humid weather to raise a horse’s temperature to dangerous levels. That’s three to ten times faster than in humans. Horses feel the heat much worse than we do.”

I’ve been watching horses for years, first wistfully as a horse-crazy girl from the spectator seating at the Royal Winter Fair, and later making my living watching horses as a horse trainer, riding coach, and judge. As a trainer, I’ve studied horses circling around me on the end of a lunge line, recognizing signs of tension, relaxation, or hints of gait irregularities.

Define your goals to develop a training plan - While hill training is widely accepted as important for building strength, its actual benefits rely on answering the question: What is the goal for this individual horse?

Where Should You Start? By Jec A. Ballou. When spring finally arrives, the sunny riding season ahead can greet riders with both excitement and anxiety. Where do I start, you might wonder as you calculate how unfit your horse has become from a winter of being off work. How long will it take to ease him back to fitness? What sorts of exercises and timelines should I use? In this article, I’ll answer these questions plus offer a simple schedule in addition to some rules you never want to break.