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Fitness and trail hunting: How to keep fit for the season

Ensuring hounds and horses are appropriately fit for the work they are doing, both on and off-season, has always been a priority but it is equally important to take our own fitness seriously too. So, what about those who follow hounds, on horses or on foot? Being fit not just for the hunting day itself but for everything that surrounds a day out helps prevent injuries and makes for a more enjoyable time.

Although walking out hounds, mucking out, exercising horses and all day-to-day work with horses and hounds is good for overall strength, what perhaps many lack is the cross training that contributes to better all-round fitness. Off-horse fitness training will help to build stamina, endurance, muscle memory and flexibility, all of which contribute to giving you a better experience whether following hounds on horse or on foot.

A day’s trail hunting involves many aspects of our own fitness including stamina, balance, flexibility and a high level of overall awareness about where your body parts are in relation to your body movement, also known as proprioception.

Katie Parry-Evans runs an online coaching platform called GYMPONY as well as offering one-to-one coaching from Cattlestrength, which is an old dairy farm in Lampeter, South Wales, that has been converted to accommodate fitness training. She has over 25 years’ experience in riding and competing at top level showing, alongside trail hunting. Her background fitness is CrossFit, HIIT and strength-based fitness.

Katie talks about riding fitness for a trail hunt rider:

“Cardio is important for trail hunting, core and leg strength and fuelling your body correctly. Endurance fitness as opposed to quick fire bursts all contribute to a better type of fitness for a day’s trail hunting.”

But it’s not just about the fitness we need during the season we also need to treat our bodies in the same way we treat our horses in the summer months. Katie continues:

“We wouldn’t take a horse out for a full day’s trail hunting without gradually building them up to it. As riders we should be working out at least three days a week, upping to four times pre-hunting. This process involves upping weight-based reps, using a strength-based plan which in turn creates strong muscles that protect our bones.”

Whether you are hunting once, twice or three times a week, it is recommended that you should be retaining your fitness levels, keeping the days in between basic by working in a minimal work zone, for example low level weights and low-level cardio.

Katie Parry at GYMPONY_ CREDIT JEDZMEDIA_FullSize_pxImage credit: JEDZMEDIA

With already busy lives, adding in extra time for fitness training might not always be feasible, but there are other steps which can be taken to help our own physical well-being. One area which isn’t always prioritised when considering the energy exertion on a hunting day is how to fuel yourself properly. We have all been there, grabbing a chocolate bar and takeaway coffee from the petrol station on the way to the meet or thinking that a couple of sausage rolls washed down by a small glass of port is sufficient to keeping us going all day. It may well work on some days, but it’s harder to sustain in the long run.

As dull at it sounds to those of us who like tasty sweets and snacks that produce an instant high, we really should be reaching for something like a protein snack bar which consists of complex carbs that are slow release and take longer to digest in order to give us more energy over a longer period of time. Katie referred to those who follow hounds as being like mountaineers and suggests “eating slow-release carbs with high protein to start the day, for example eggs on toast.”

Bethan Warren started Cottesloe Physio in Buckinghamshire, which is also a converted dairy farm. She specialises in pilates, which focusses on all muscle groups that are important for our riding fitness, offering mat and reformer-based machines. Reformer machines use rudimentary materials such as a bed of springs to help add a level of resistance to exercises and offer greater flexibility and strength.

Bethan explained:

“We often over-egg the importance of the core in riding, riders normally have pretty strong cores, so really in our strength and mobility we need to focus on the other larger muscle groups such as the glutes and quads, hamstrings and upper arms.” Bethan goes on to talk about how reformer machines can replicate riding: “You have different variables, such as the moving mat and springs which you have to learn to control using your different muscle groups, similar to riding a horse.”

Here we have put together some top tips for fitness for long days following hounds…

  1. Fuel your body correctly from the beginning – where possible have a high protein breakfast and drink plenty of water to remain hydrated.
  2. Prepare your body for the season gradually, especially as you get older your body needs more time to adjust to endurance work.
  3. Stretch! Pilates and yoga are both great ways of stretching, before, during and after a day’s trail hunting.
  4. Use strength-based exercises to increase your muscle density which in turn protects your bones and hopefully will reduce the risk of breakages if you fall or overexert.
  5. Just like our horses or hounds we are not machines, look after your body correctly and your days trail hunting will likely continue well into older age.

Gail Taylor, from the Countryside Alliance reflected:

“Focusing on our fitness and fuelling can only have positive effects and add to a fun day’s trail hunting. Keeping our bodies flexible and mobile will help all parts of longevity whether that’s being able to stay out longer on a day’s trail hunting or being able to trail hunt later in life because you have had the foresight to keep your body fit and healthy.”

Lead image: AllPeople Photography

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