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Re: [RC] "conditioning" - Dabney Finch

Although I haven't had a lot of wins, I've had many top 5s and lots of BC awards over the years using this same system, so I do think you can be competitive if that fits your definition (as it does mine) of "competitive."

Plus I think horses are more likely to stay sound if we can condition them as little as possible while still enough so they're not taxed on race day.

(Of course that Fine Line is not easy to hit with a formula, since each horse holds their conditioning differently.)


----- Original Message ----- From: "Jerry & Susan Milam" <milamj@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "'Ridecamp Guest'" <guest-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2005 4:12 PM
Subject: RE: [RC] "conditioning"


When I used to do 50's once my horse got in condition to finish well in the
50's, really didn't need to condition between 1- 50 mile ride per month if
we didn't want to. A lot depends on your goals for your horse and how
competitive you plan to be. They get burned out just like we do. Too much of
anything is bad.... even if it's good???

Anyway, once you're in condition and your heart rate drops quickly, one long
ride a week generally is enough for most of us schmucks who aren't trying to
finish first or second.

Remember this is supposed to be fun:)

Susan

-----Original Message-----
From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ridecamp Guest
Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2005 9:35 AM
To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [RC] "conditioning"

Please Reply to: ti tivers@xxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
==========================================

So.............after the interval training & the long rides when is enough,
enough? When do I stop "conditioning" my mare and let her rest? What do
people who ride 50 miles fairly regularly do? I KNOW my mare needs a break
as she is not as excited about going out as she used to ( though has awesome
hr's :-)) but I am wondering how long? And for the future, how often should
she have a big break? At this point we are riding 80 km's ( 50 miles) a
week( over 3 or 4 days) - with 3 or 4 days off, then we start again. We
have done lots of CTR'S and our first 50 in July, we are now looking at
doing two more 50's before the season is over, my gut instinct is to ride
her lots this wknd ( being a long wknd and everything:-)) and then pretty
much give her the next two weeks off before our next 50. Am I making
sense??:-) Thanks for any and all help!
Chrystal :-) :-) >

Your gut instinct is off the mark. You're at the beginning of a long
progressively loaded conditioning process. And conditioning of the athlete
never stops. Still, you never upgrade stressors (distance, speed, more
complex terrain, etc.) more than just a little more than the horse
accomplished last week.

A suddenly hard work today, or this weekend,followed by two weeks off, is
the perfect setup for tying up and colic--and poor performance. If your
horse shows ANY signs of exercise intolerance, including what you're
observing as "needs a rest", you're trying to do too much, too soon.

While it appears that you are doing enough work to accommodate a 50
competition, it also appears that this workload is implemented arbitrarily.
Competitions can be integrated into the overall conditioning process, but
not if they require special preparation due to the fact that the horse is
already showing signs of exercise intolerance. Any horse that needs two
weeks off actually needs to start all over again.

On the other hand, it appears that you're not monitoring what you're doing
closely enough to make an intelligent decision about changes in daily
workload. At least, the details of what you are doing and what you are
seeing are completely missing from your post No one can offer useful advice
based on the facts given.

Here are some questions that require answers in order to make such
decisions: What does the horse weigh today and what is its body weight
history? What is the daily feed intake, in lbs and components? How far, how
fast, and at what heartrates is your horse working right now--for example,
what exercise has the horse accomplished, day to day, for the past month? Do
you have a training log? What lameness/medical conditions are being
addressed? At what speeds and over what terrain will the upcoming
competitions be taken?

ti


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Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
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Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

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Replies
RE: [RC] "conditioning", Jerry & Susan Milam