To increase fitness, a rider or trainer must ask the horse to do a bit more work than the horse is accustomed to doing. Astute trainers carefully plan workouts that increase in intensity based on time, distance, or difficulty to bring the horse from its baseline fitness to the level necessary to compete in a chosen discipline.
Each plan will be tailored to the individual horse and continually tweaked based on the response to training. Fitness goals will also vary based on the discipline.
One way to manage this process is to create a set of training protocols in your KER ClockIt Sport app. Once you’ve set up your training protocols, you simply choose the protocol for that session, and the KER ClockIt Sport app will guide you through the workout you have selected. Training protocols can be set up based on time spent or distance covered in each gait. You can choose to update your training protocol each week based on your horse’s current fitness level or set up multiple training protocols in a set progression.
How To Set Up a Training Protocol
- Log in to your KER ClockIt Sport account through the KER ClockIt Sport website.
- Hover over “Profile” in the top navigation menu and select “Manage Training Protocols” from the drop-down list.
- Click on “Create New Training Protocol” in the upper left corner.
- Enter a name and description. Note: training protocols default to time-based transitions. If you would prefer to have your transitions based on distance, check the “Distance based” box here.
- This will return you to your list of training protocols. From here, click on the name of your new training protocol. To set up your first interval, click on “Add Training Protocol Item.”
- Enter the order number (first, second, third interval), length of the interval (time in seconds), and select your gait. (Selecting your gait will add your default gait speed; you can change your default gait speeds in your profile.)
- Click the “Create” button to save your interval and repeat the process until you have completed your training protocol.
- If you have established a connection with your students, you can share your training protocol using the drop-down menu on the right side of the screen.
- To use a training protocol during your ride, simply select it from the list when you start your session.
