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[RC] Overtraining - April


What constitutes over-training?  I assume you mean over-conditioning.

Here is an example.

Tanna did a 55 then a 25 a week later, then got 3 weeks off. Back to work for a 
week, then off for two weeks due to a mild injury unrelated to conditioning or 
competition, hopefully back to work tomorrow. My weekly conditioning regime is 
as follows:

Sunday 15-25 mile ride.
1-2 other rides during the week 12-15 miles each. (depends on the length of the 
Sunday ride)
Total mileage for the week 35-50 miles. Average speed 5-7 mph (excluding 
warm-up, cool down, mini simulated vet checks/holds).

He gets 1 week rest before a competition with a short 3-5 mile ride the day 
before competition. 2 weeks rest after a 50. All rest is pasture rest. He is 
never stalled.

Is this over/under/or just-right conditioning? For more background, this is our 
second season, taking it slow, back of the pack. Planning 8 rides total for the 
season. Tanna is 10 with a very good LSD base on him as he has been used for 
long distance riding (not competition) for 6 years or so. His brain was way 
behind his body, so we didn't get started in competition until he was 9.

FWIW, I feel comfortable with this conditioning schedule for Tanna. I am giving 
a real-world example to hopefully start a dialog. I find these discussions on 
conditioning and rest very enlightening.

Thanks,
April
Nashville, TN

On Sat, 5 Jun 2004 00:11:41 -0700 (PDT), Judy Houle wrote:

I agree with the quote from ridecamp about how
training and conditioning is one of our best tools to
prevent crashes, but overtrained horses are, IMO just
as, and maybe more susceptible to crashing than
undertrained ones. ?They say you are more likely to
finish on an undertrained horse than an overtrained
one, that has certainly been my experience.

<snip>

===========================================================If people would just 
think of the hoof as the foundation for the horse like
a house foundation.  when your horse plants his foot down in the ground and
pushes forward if the foot isn't 100% balanced your chances of injury go
up.
~  Paula Blair

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