Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Fw: Conditoning .. all hills

> I seriously find that I am the weakest link, not the horse.  I need
> to walk, if only for a minute, than the horses do.  I find that the
> single track forest trails actually easier on me than the flat rides.
> I get far more fatigued on flat, trot only type rides.  Where the
> trail makes you walk, if only for a few steps lets some muscle groups
> relax for a few.  Then off we go again.

Actually, Becky, this is true for green horses as well.  It's been my
experience, both as a rider and as a vet, that we don't see as many fatigued
horses on the "tough" rides that have technical trails and hills.  The green
horse stays mentally fresher, doesn't fret as much about being left in the
dirt by everybody when you ask him to slow down (they are out of sight, out
of mind), and he uses different muscle groups for short times instead of
fatiguing one group over and over and over.  I never like to take horses to
the so-called "easy" rides until they are second or third season horses for
this very reason, even when I DID have flatter areas to condition.  (I'm now
in the situation where I only have one "flat" spot--and that's the old back
road that parallels the highway....  Everything else is MAJOR up and
down....)

Heidi


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