Gallops

There are three main gallops at Lisaleen, two straights and one circular all of which have been recently refurbished. The two straights are 5 furlongs each, one sand and the other woodchip.

They both have a slight incline of 80 feet, which makes the horses work hard without disheartening them. The horses work to the top of the gallops before cantering back down to the bottom; then they will repeat the process over again ,this is called interval training.

The all weather woodchip gallop is drained properly to allow the horses to work in all bad weather, and in the hot summers too. The woodchip surface never floods, freezes soild or dries up hard like on the turf.

The sand stretch runs parallel to the woodchip gallop. The sand is used when horses come in to training. Horses canter slowly up the sand in groups, building up their fitness without any jarring. It changes any fat into muscle and works the horse until it is ready for his first piece of fast work on the woodchip.

The circular woodchip gallop is 3 furlongs long. Running parallel to the gallops on either side are two lines of steeplechase fences with 3 fences each.

This is used for fit horses that are between races on non gallop days. Again only a slow canter is used, and half of the work will be in one direction, and the other half the opposite way. This means the horses will not become one sided, that is favouring one direction over the other.

The horses are schooled over the fences regularly until we are happy that they are ready for the racecourse.

The hurdles and fences in use are Easyfix Rubber Products and are the hudles that now are being use in racecourses throughout Ireland.