In a message dated 11/20/2003 9:26:30 AM Mountain Standard Time, jsalas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
One of the best tools we as riders have is our training schedule. It can tell you so much before you ever get to a ride. How long does it take for your horse to recover after galloping 15 miles? If it is taking more than 10 minutes, maybe your horse isn't ready to do that. You should know that from training. Is it normal for your horse to go 15 miles without drinking? How much stress can you place on horse? How much rest after a workout? Does your horse go off feed after a long ride? Weather, terrain, other horses, how all this effects your ride, you should be able to tell in training. Maybe more emphasis should be placed on what happens before the ride, not at the ride itself.
This paragraph is so very important, in my opinion.
I know MY limits when I run, when I bike...then, I train to them. I find ways to improve them. I determine how what I put in my mouth affects them.
It is very rare that I EVER push myself to those limits or beyond...I just can't recover from that sort of self-abuse anymore.
BUT, I will approach those limits and see if if it is, in fact, a fluid ceiling and, often discover, that it is a fluidceiling, relative to my preparation, my nutrition, my rest and recovery and my desire to explore my own limitations...and then, I always factor in the cost to me.
Lisa is so very right, if you don't know your horse's particular capacity for all of this, you ought'a....and there is a time and a safe method to determine that....at home, BEFORE you do it at an endurance ride.
