Schooling, conditioning, etc...

["Tina Hicks" <tina@autoairbagcovers.com>]

I have been following this thread with interest and have been glad to 
see it veryifies some of my own opinions about getting a horse 
ready - that is it takes time and many slow rides. 

I do have a question though about starting distances - not for weekly 
conditioning - but in first year's worth of rides keeping in mind the 
overall goal of building a sound, middle of the pack, accumulate-
mileage, endurance horse.

My question is if you feel the horse is ready at the cardio level for a 
slow, easy 50 early (by this I mean in his first year of endurance - 
not early as in necessarily 5 years old) in his career, are you doing 
him any favors by doing a 25 (or any lesser distance) instead for 
some early rides - again at a reasonable pace? Does that do 
more/less for adding to his overall conditioning than taking the same 
horse and safely bringing him through a slow 50(s)? The end goal 
for this hypothetical horse is moderate 50's and 100s for the long 
term.

I guess the same question could apply on up the scale between 
100s/50s though there aren't too many folks around that start their 
horses out on 100s.

Tina