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Re: [RC] It's not the distance... - Heidi SmithI can't stand it anymore... =:-o All this talk about starting out with a year of LD has driven me out of hiding... It's not the distance, people - it's the speed. Well, exactly--it IS the speed. But the point that too many miss is that a horse with a lot of ability gets so bored out of his gourd doing just 25 miles at the slow speed that he NEEDS to be going that it can drive him batty! And the solution to that is to go more MILES instead of going FASTER. However, again, not all horses are created equal. What is a stroll in the park to one is way too fast for another. So again, imposing a rule that states a time does not allow for OPTIMAL time for THAT horse, for THAT course, under THOSE ambient weather conditions. My husband just did a ride on a 12-year-old gelding. But the horse came from another discipline, and so had fitness levels not the same as a green 5-year-old. Now, this was the third ride on the horse. On his first, he took a near tumble in some rocks, came up sound, passed the next VC with flying colors, but started to go off just before the finish. Walked in 5 miles, pulled. His "recovery" was that he came INTO each vet check with a pulse in the 40s, with CRIs even lower. OK, so his 2nd ride, he went out slow, and just ambled along, picked off some riders, passed some more at the vet checks, and still never came into a check with a pulse over 48. Ended up coming in with the 5th place horse, but horse isn't ready to race, so when that rider took off to "race" to the finish, he just kept trotting along behind. So placed 6th. Time still not very fast--small ride, last day of a multiday. Next ride--started 10 minutes late, did slow 4-mile warm-up with me. Then just picked up a tad to go his own speed. Again, passed people on the trail, but passed as many or more at the vet checks. Got going enough finally to be 60 on arrival, with a pulse falling rapidly so that his CRIs were in the 50s-to-40s, still in his recovery curve. People got pulled. People slowed down. Hubby just motored along. Finished 2nd. Told me later, "Gee, I didn't mean to be 2nd, but folks just kept dropping back or getting pulled!" Tough terrain, so speed still wasn't terribly fast. Did the entire last loop alone, and still gained 4 minutes on the leaders, with no attempt made to intentionally do so. This horse is still going SLOW for what he is! He is relaxed, he is having fun. Oh, yeah--in between he went to a horse show and won the sport horse under saddle class. He did not need LDs. A time limit because he is a novice would not be in his best interests. He is so game and has so much raw talent that an unthinking rider probably COULD take him out and wreck him. But going slower than what is optimal for him at this stage of his life and at this stage of his training is not the answer, either. Actually, if this horse needs to do something different before he gets more fit, it will again be to go up in distance if he starts to get bored and wants to speed up. But the point I'm making here is that you have to ride each horse optimally--not to some predetermined "recipe" for how much distance OR speed is appropriate. Bottom line--again, like distance, one size does not fit all with regard to speed. Vet checks and vet parameters are there to make sure that the horse is capable of going on safely. Where we need to turn our attention is not toward regulating the horses to the lowest commonality, but rather improving our skills when it comes to detection of potential problems. We've come a long way--but we still have room to learn. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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