Boyd Martin understands preparing horses for the Olympics requires skilled conditioning and training techniques. The goal is to strengthen their physical abilities while preventing them from getting jaded or soured by their work.

“Conditioning is a huge part of preparing horses for high-level sport,” says Boyd Martin, an elite international eventing rider based in Cochranville, Pennsylvania. He represents Team USA for the fourth time in the Olympic Games, this year at Paris 2024 in Versailles, France. 

“But you can’t just pound away at test work every single day,” Martin says. “You’ve got to keep it interesting for your horse.”

Building Fitness Levels in Horses Over Years 

Elite sport horses enter the Olympics after years of gradually building up their fitness levels through conditioning programs based on generations of top-level experience, Martin says. It involves practicing the technical difficulties of their discipline—like half-passes in dressage, oxers in show jumping, and Trakehner fences in cross-country. But it also means strengthening exercises such as long trot sequences, full gallops, in-water exercises, and hill work. For Martin, such fitness work should occur every other day of training, he says.

“These horses are unbelievably fit when they reached the top of the sport,” he tells The Horse. “In our program here at Windurra , even the 4-year-olds are doing long trot sets and cantering up the hill once or twice a week as we try to build these horses’ bodies and minds to be pure athletes. So, we’re not just banking on the last three months of conditioning work before a championship. We’ve got a base foundation already built into our animal.”

The Importance of Cross Training

Cross-training—meaning varying training with regard to effort, environment, and footing—is particularly important for these high-level athletes, he says. It not only works different muscle groups but also adds the variety that horses need for their mental health. Cross-training also allows riders to alternate high-intensity and low-intensity days. 

“We try to mix it up the hard work with an easier flatwork day or a rest day, or a hacking day. Or even just turnout, so the horse’s body gets time to freshen up and recover,” Martin says. “And mentally, I feel like the horses are happier.”

Tapering Off Before the Olympics

The months leading up to the Olympics require a significant increase in training intensity. “Often we’re galloping them every fourth or fifth day.” The idea is never to work hard up to the last minute, he says. On the contrary, it’s best to leave about a 10-day window prior to the Games to allow the horses to free up their minds and build the drive to perform.

“Sometimes this is very hard to do, because you’re just so obsessed and eager to get that last point out of them for the dressage. Or you convince yourself that they just need one more jump school,” Martin says. “I try to have them ready to compete about two weeks before the competition and then try to taper off the work. The horse actually freshens up and rejuvenates and reenergizes and arrives at the competition fresh and excited. So, you spend the last few days before the competition trying to bring the horses down rather than arriving at the competition stiff and sour.”

Monitoring Conditioning Levels in Horses

Martin constantly monitors his horses for their conditioning level, he says. Horses that are under-conditioned have difficulty finishing a course and show signs of fatigue. Those that have had too much conditioning act sour and tend to lose weight. He used to use high-tech equipment such as heart rate monitors to check his horses’ fitness levels. He now prefers the “old-school” method of “just having a system and a plan of slow progression and buildup in their training,” he says.

FEI Regulations on Training and Fitness

The governing body for international equestrian sports—including the Olympic Games—is the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), based in Lausanne, Switzerland. The FEI’s rules address training methods. Horses “must only undergo training that matches their physical capabilities and level of maturity for their respective disciplines.” The rules also state that horses “must not be subjected to methods which are abusive or cause fear.”

The FEI stipulates participation in competitions must be restricted to horses and riders that are fit and have “proven competence.” In addition, they must have “suitable” rest periods between training and competitions and between travel and competition.