Hazelwood Stables is an equine facility built on a property consisting of undulating hills. Hills, and hill training, are an extremely efficient tool in the development of a thoroughbred racehorses’s strength and fitness, both in ridden work and also while the horse is spelling in a hilly paddock.
Spelling a Racehorse with Hills
Horses kept in a paddock with a hill benefit greatly from the resulting daily incidental hill work. Walking, trotting or cantering up a hill is far more beneficial to a horse’s fitness than moving around on flat ground. Hill work exercises the muscles in a horse’s top line and hindquarters, encouraging muscle development. By running around on hills horses learn to balance themselves and to watch the placement of their hooves. This in turn develops them into safer riding horses as they are better balanced and more sure footed, reducing the risk of stumbling and falling on hilly terrain, or even just in general riding.
Pre-Training a Racehorse on Hills
After a spell, a racehorse takes many weeks to build up the required strength and fitness needed to race again. This process is more efficient when hill work is incorporated into a horse’s pre-training. A surface with an incline encourages cardiovascular fitness whilst also improving strength in the hindquarters, which is the powerhouse of the horse and essential to powering the horse during a race. Hill work is beneficial at all gaits, with benefits gained from walk, trot and canter up hills. This means benefits from low intensity work at a walk through to high intensity walk at a canter uphill.
Horizontal hill work back and forth in both directions is also an effective tool in a racehorse’s pre-training as it develops strength in the hind legs. It is especially useful for horses that are asymmetrical as it encourages the weaker limb to work with more flexion when positioned uphill.
The key to strength training is controlling the duration and intensity of the exercise, with the ‘little and often’ approach reducing the risk of muscular strains and any other problems that can occur in training including joint issues. Hills allow great results from low speed, which helps to reduce the risk of injury.
It is common for racehorse training facilities in England and Ireland to include gallop tracks with an uphill incline. Here in Australia they are extremely uncommon, although it is one of the keys to top trainer Darren Weir’s success, as he trains at the Ballarat Turf Club which features a 1400m uphill track.
The undulating hills are Hazelwood Stables’ secret weapon in conditioning racehorses ready to start back at the track. They achieve more in less time.
To discuss your spelling or pre-training needs, or anything else Hazelwood Stables can do for you and your horses, call manager Beau on 0447 773 267.
Hazelwood Stables is a breaking, spelling and pre-training property located in Beechmont on the Gold Coast Hinterland, 45 minutes from the Gold Coast Turf Club (Aquis Park) and an hour and 15 minutes from Brisbane Racing Club (Eagle Farm and Doomben Racecourses).