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Re: [RC] Hill training vs. flat - Sisu West Ranch"....I suppose that if a horse was not used to it at all there would be some risk. But I would expect that if a horse had a good base that risk would be minimal..." There used to be only one ride in the MN WI area that had a fair amount of deep sand. The RM's (I was one) used to carefully warn the participants that they should go slowly through the sand. There were always lots of slight lamenesses and a few tendon bows. My takeaway is that the lack of bounce (??) really puts strain on legs that they are not used to it. I know that Valerie K. carefully trained Cash with sand and hard going before her win in Holland (half sand, half hard roads). On the other hand, I did ride the Big Horn 50 with 6 other riders from the Midwest. We were out to have a good time, didn't push and found that our flatlander horses did the hills fine. I know my current horses benefit from the hill work we do. Some is unavoidable here. My most flat training loop has probably 1000 ft of up and down in the 7 miles. When I want to do hill work, I can go from 3500 to 6070 ft in 8 miles up the mountain. That surely gets the hearts pumping and the back end a workout. We usually charge up the hills, and go relatively more slowly down. The idea is to not put tremendous strain on the front legs. Seems to work for us. Ed Ed & Wendy Hauser 2994 Mittower Road Victor, MT 59875 (406) 642-9640 ranch(at)sisuwest(dot)us =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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