Over training first started to get play in the human sports world in
the mid 90's particularly after Dan O'Brian - the world record holder
in the decathlon could not even manage to make the US Olympic team in
'96 - which meant the best in the world in the event could not even
finish third in the US trials. I actually saw that trials and O'Brian
looked awful. It wasn't a case of bad luck - he was horrible.
It's a fairly complex situation and it is different for each individual
but it results in the athlete not being able to perform anywhere near
his capability - he's simply "too tired." There are some biochemical
indicators from what I remember from the O'Brian incident - but I don't
remember what.
I suspect the same will apply to our horses. There was a good article
in the EN some years back - maybe '97 on this in endurance horses. At
least in humans there is a fine line between being peaked and being
over the peak and in to the condition of over training. When you go
over this peak, you are more prone to injury, your performance suffers
and you are more prone to catch whatever bug is going around.
I also expect predicting the threshold of over training is complex -
depending on age, the base physical condition, etc.
Truman
April wrote:
What constitutes over-training? I assume you mean over-conditioning.
-- "The person of superior integrity does not insist upon his
integrity
"The person of superior integrity does not insist
upon
his integrity.
For this reason, he
has integrity. The person of inferior integrity
never loses sight
of his integrity.For this reason, he
lacks integrity."
