RE: [RC] [RC] Conditioning Miles - What Counts? - Christina Schiro - DRG1
Hi,
I am following the conditioning program of Dr Loving’s
Book. I use a heart rate monitor & a GPS.
I am starting conditioning a Missouri Foxtrotter for
Competitive trail (CTR). I just started 2 weeks ago from scratch (today is
8/22/04).
I ride 5 miles a day 3-4 times a week for a goal of 15-20 miles
a week.
In fact, I believe getting the “5 mi/ exercise day”
at a heart rate of 100-140 is the
most important thing – it doesn’t matter how long it takes you to
do that 5 miles, just as long as its in the training heart rate of 100 to 140
BPM.
I believe doing 20 miles is best done over a period of days,
not in 1 15-20 mile trail ride in 1 weekend day (because of less bone stress –
its averaged out over several days not all in 1 day – don’t want to
make your horse the “Weekend Warrior” hurtin puppy! Even if its not
obvious soreness – it accumulates, just like smoking cigarettes. If you
hate cigarettes – you should hate doing that too, same thing).
I use a heart rate monitor with training heart rate goal
range of 100-140 beats per minute (more important than MPH – although if
you want to use MPH as another variable, go for a goal of 4.5 MPH during your
training).
I have the Polar s610 so it has software to analyze where
she starts tiring etc (ie: heart rate goes up 3-4 BPM over the same distance
& speed she just did 10 min ago). But you only need a GPS (for mileage
& MPH mainly), & a heart rate monitor that gives the AVERAGE heart rate
over your exercise time.
Lunging your horse is OK I think for mileage purposes, but
if you can, attach a GPS to the lunging circingle for mileage accuracy
(personally, I think lunging – circling - is going to be bad on their legs
eventually at these mileages so minimize it as much as possible).
Do this for 12 weeks, then go for advanced conditioning.
