Re: RC: minimum maximum mileage

[Teresa Van Hove <tvanhove@uswest.net>]

Angie,

Rides 2 Far wrote:
>>>>I got Kaboot in March just before he turned
5.  He did his first 50 in late September.  We did our first
100 in
1998 four years later.  He got fast after that.

So you took 5-6 months to work up to enough training
distance to
ride a 1st 50 - sounds like good planning to me.  And having 
actually read many of Tom's conditioning posts he never says
a horse can dive right into a conditioning schedule for 100
mile world class events.  Perhaps in this day of folks
looking
for short cuts he needs to put a disclaimer when he posts 
advice that is directed towards horses that already have a
2-3 year LSD base and whose riders now want to become
competitive.
I worry about beginners who think if they buy an arab they
can
"condition the 1st half  and ride the 2nd half" of an event.
My arab cant do that- if I don't follow my 40/20 rule he
gets
tired on a 50 and a tired horse is more likely to step wrong
and lame themselves, as well as having much increased risk
of metabolic problems.  Honestly I don't think one has any
business riding  50 miles in a competition if they cant
be bothered to ride as much as 20 miles in 1 ride at home.
and ride 2 or 3 times a week to get 40 miles total.  Thats
not
a 40 hour commitment - more like 10 with tacking up and a
very
conservative pace. 

Teresa