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We recently spent a day out with our sponsored event rider Jemima Howden to capture one of her detailed grid work sessions, now featured in our latest YouTube video. Whether you’re prepping for competition or building a young horse’s confidence, the session offers plenty of insight into structured training and progressive conditioning.
Starting with Fitness & Heart Rate Monitoring
The day began with a focused fitness session for Malv, incorporating structured canter sets and gallop work to build stamina, strength and cardiovascular capacity ahead of the season. Rather than simply increasing speed, the session was carefully planned, alternating between controlled canter work and more forward gallop efforts to develop power while maintaining balance and rhythm.
To monitor his progress, Malv wore a heart rate monitor throughout the session. Tracking peak heart rate during gallops and, importantly, how quickly he recovers afterwards, gives a clear indication of fitness levels. Comparing this data to previous training days allows Jemima to adjust intensity where needed, ensuring Malv is progressing without overtraining.
For this work, Malv was fitted in our Air Velox Single Locking Brushing Boots. Designed for daily training, they’re lightweight enough for fast work yet durable enough to provide reliable protection during gallops. Their streamlined design supports freedom of movement, making them a practical, go-to choice for horses in regular fitness programmes.
Progressive Jumping Grid work with Cruz
As the session shifted into jumping, the focus turned to Cruz, Jemima’s six-year-old rising star. The YouTube video captures Cruz working through a complete grid work routine, beginning with trot poles on a loose rein and progressing through raised canter poles into a full jumping grid.
The purpose of this type of exercise is simple but crucial - improving straightness, balance, engagement and confidence before increasing fence height. Throughout the session, Jemima makes adjustments to suit Cruz’s stride and technique, helping him develop rhythm and power through each element of the grid. It’s a great demonstration of how thoughtful grid work can strengthen a young horse while sharpening trainability for the eventing season ahead.
For Cruz’s session, he wore our Carbon Pro Tendon and Fetlock Boots, engineered for showjumping and dynamic work where protection and flexibility are needed in equal measure. To complement his warm-up routine, he also sported our Vellus Fleece Exercise Sheet - the perfect post-warm-up layer that’s easy to remove once muscles are ready to perform.
Training with Purpose - Join Us This Season
From fitness tracking with Malv to confidence-building grid work with Cruz, this training day showcased how small details - products, progression, and monitoring, contribute to big improvements.
Follow along with Jemima and her horses this season as they progress through their training busy schedule, and be sure to check out the full session on our YouTube channel for a closer look at the techniques, exercises and equipment that help keep them prepared, confident and competition-ready.
