[RC] Conditioning Ride Learning Experience - Val NicosonLearned this past weekend that I had been conditioning my mare at a harder pace than is proper for her. Have been riding with some other endurance people and the pace has usually been some decently fast riding...but I thought this was normal and didn't think much about it. Past conditioning rides resulted in my horse not really eating too well once we were done...and she didn't eat too well along the trail either when an oppotunity was presented. She'd eat her BP mash but not always finish it, nibbling at her hay and of course eating grass was never an issue. Drinking is still something she needs to get better at though. This past weekend we had other riders with us that wanted to go more slowly. So we split up and I opted to go with the slower group since my horse was a bit tenderfooted from her latest trim. We stopped occasionally along the trail and my horse ate and even pee'd. Later she willingly stopped along the trail on her own and ate grasses...I certainly wasn't going to stop her right away. She did eventually drink about the 10 mile point but refused prior to that. Back at the trailer she really surprised me...she ate all her BP, worked well on her hay...not just nibbling, and of course ate grass. Hooray! So if you're a newbie like I am...or not...I am hoping this will help others out there in RideCamp land. Slow down and see if your horse improves in the way it takes care of itself...and use that as your basic guideline initially to determine how fast you ought to be going on your horse. I am guessing that as I get more of a base on my horse that eventually we will be able to pick up the base. But I'm not too worried about that at this point. Val + Sania (Looking at doing our first LD ride at Ft Campbell KY if nothing happens between now and then) __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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