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Re: [RC] Building a base - Competition schedule - Stagg_Newman
Maureen,
You wrote: "Do you have any suggestions for pacing on hills?" See below.
First, sounds like your plan with your mare is a good one!
Virginia City 100 would be a tough first 100 but probably doable if you
paced carefully.
However you may want to start with an easier first 100.
BTW the Virginia City 100 is one of my all time favorites because of the
memories.
Drubin and I did the 25 annivesary ride in 1992. And yes I remember the 3
SOBs!
(So w/ apologies for talking so much about my "Pony"), here are some of my
other memories.
Falling in a face down sprawl early in the ride when I stumbled running
down a steep hill beside the horse. Scraped myself off the ground and
scrambled back on horse to keep up with the others I was riding with.
Darla Westlake on her Hall of Fame horse Muffy (most wins and BCs in
AERC history), myself on Drubin and another rider were galloping along
in the early morning light with about a dozen WILD HORSES leading us
down the trail! Awesone!!!
Darla in the saddle holding out an tube of electrolytes for Muffy after
each time he drank on trail. Muffy would turn his head and she would
shoot the electrolytes in his mouth without ever dismounting. Darla is
one cool horsewoman.
Doing last 50 miles alone after Darla was pulled. Drubin felt great and
just kept cruising.
And the rocks. That's the only ride where the pads were torn to shreds
by the end. Old Dominion has more rocks, but the Nevada rocks are
sharper.
Around 90 miles in the beautiful early evening light Drubin and I were
trotting along when we saw a bright red wild horse on our right. The
wild horse charged across the trail in front of us and then whirled
around facing us. Behind him were 3 other horses. I am sure that he
was the stallion and thought Drubin was going to get between him and his
band of mares. Drubin just kep trotting down the trail. TRULY AWESOME!
(should not admit the following but this is ridecamp so what the hell)
As Drubin trotted strongly up the last hill into the finish line we
passed a group of riders going into the 75 mile check point. They broke
into applause. Among them was the head of the selection committe for
the Pacific team for the North American Championship the prior year.
Drubin had not been picked for that team (and admittedly he was just
starting to show he was a good horse that year) but I must admit I
thought to myself that this was one way to show her I did have a good
horse after all.
Drubin won in a bit over 11 hours, set the course record (which I
believe still stands), and won the BC the next morning. And the BC
award is really special. An artist took pictures of Drubin after the
ride and then did a porcelain of his head that really captures his
spirit.
Beautiful but stark mountainous desert scenery!
Connie Creech and the rest of the Nevada Trail Riders Association and
Dr. Susan McCartey and her vet team who together really put a great ride
together.
And now to answer your question on how to pace hills. That was the key to
my win that day. What I did and still do is
keep the horse at a steady trot until the horse reaches what I think is too
high a pulse rate. For Drubin (who on the flat
will work between 110 and 120 typically at a moving trot after he is well
into a ride), this is 160. Then I will walk until the pulse falls to a
certain
level. For Drubin that day it was about 135. Then I will go back to
trotting until I reach the higher limit, etc. If the time
it takes to reach the higher limit gets too short, then I will do more
walking to give the horse more time to recover. I
used this techique on the long climbs that day between 50 and 75 miles and
opened up a 30 minute lead on the field.
You will need to practice this in training to get to know your horse.
Basically you want to minimize the amount of anaerobic work your horse does
during a 100 so this is one
way to try to achieve that while still working close to your horse's
potential. BTW if you know your horse's
expected working pulse at a particular gait over flat terrain and you see
that rate go up 5 beats or more
that can be an indication the horse is starting to reach his limit. If you
then back-off the pace and give
the horse a chance to recover he can do well. If not you may well pay at
the next Vet Check. In the '92 VC
ride I was doing an easy hand gallop with Drubin at about 94 miles when I
noticed his pulse go from
about 118 to 127 or so. I immediately slowed down to a steady trot and we
finished in good shape.
It did still take him a bit longer than I liked to recover at the finish.
My guess is that was the combination
of the altitude, the fact that he was reaching his aerobic limit at 94
miles, and the fact that I trotted the last hill strongly.
Hope this helps. Best of luck with your mare!
Stagg
"Maureen A.
Fager" To: Stagg_Newman@xxxxxxxxxxxx
<trottin27@h cc: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
otmail.com> Subject: Re: Building a base -
Competition schedule
01/25/2003
11:06 AM
Hello Stagg,
Thanks for your reply. I have a coming six year old mare that I am riding.
We did one 50 last April, took us 7:17. A good ride for a young horse,
not
to hilly or rocky. Two weeks later she had a pasture injury, soft tissue
in
the right knee and was out for the rest of the season. Slow work this
winter, hill work at a walk and ring work (w/t) Her shoes were pulled for
winter and will be replaced soon, although she was able to do one LD Jan 1.
I am planning on four or five 50's for her starting in April with once a
month LD's prior to April. A late 100 here would be the VC100 and am
apprehensive to take a young horse on this ride because of the big, big
hills. (routes of rides change, don't know how much of the trail is same
when you rode this ride, did you do the SOB's and Mt. Davidson?) At any
rate, I want to work on two things with my mare, pacing and excitement.
She
gets pretty excited at rides and needs to learn to relax. I agree about
steady pacing, here in Nevada, I have found challenges to this (IMO) rocks,
big hills and did I mention rocks? >g< Do you have any suggestions for
pacing on hills? I appreicate your input!
Best,
Maureen
Reno, NV
From: Stagg_Newman@xxxxxxxxxxxx To: trottin27@xxxxxxxxxxx, ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Building a base - Competition schedule Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2003 00:57:23 -0500 Maureen, You asked about competition schedule for a young horse. My competition schedule for young horses is somewhat based on what is convenient since I am concentrating on training and conditioning. Here is what I would ideally do. As a late 4 or early 5 year old I may do a 25 if convenient. The main purpose of this if for training, i.e. getting the horse used to lots of commotion, other horses, vet checks, etc. This will be a slow back of the pack type of ride. Then in August or September ideally I would do a slow 50. I really like to do the Western North Carolina 3-day 100 Competitive Trail Ride with our 5 year old. Great for both physical and mentally conditioning and training. As a 6 year old, ideally I would do a couple of slow 50s. If the horse is doing well and looking really solid, I may do a slow 100 late in that year. For example Jayel Super did 3 'back of the pack' 50s as well the WNC 100 as a 5 and 6 year old. He also did a bit of CTR. Then he did the Carolina Classic as his first 100 in Nov as a 6 year old. At that ride he and Drubin were the last two horses to leave the 50 mile check point. However they finished around 13th out of about 40 starters as I remember because we just kept going the same pace. (That's one of the beauties of 100s - steady pays off!). As a 7 year old he did another relatively slow 50 for training. Then he finished around 12th in the Biltmore 100. The head vet told me he thought the horse was ready to do more. His next ride was his first win at the Old Dominion. On the other hand the current horse we are starting, Cam, is not the natural athlete that Super is so we are bringing him along more slowly. He turns 7 this year, has done a few slow 50s and the WNC 3-day 100 twice. We currently plan to take him in a slow 100 this May at Biltmore. Key for young horse is to think of the competitions as just part of your training and conditioning program. And a great place to get vets to assess how your horse is coming along. +---------------------------------------------------------+ This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose or take any action based on this message or any information herein. If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message. Thank you for your cooperation. +---------------------------------------------------------+ _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail +---------------------------------------------------------+ This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose or take any action based on this message or any information herein. If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message. Thank you for your cooperation. +---------------------------------------------------------+ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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