Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

A seasoned, fit horse will hold onto that conditioning longer than the younger horse. I've been playing by this "home made" rules of mine for years, and it has worked well for me.  But, keep in mind, it does depend on the horse, the level of competition that the horse is doing, the toughness of the rides, etc.  Not all horses can be lumped into this method, but IMHO I think most can.  An exception that I saw this year with my horses:  Cash is a newbie to the sport.  He is 8 years old, and only has 455 endurance miles.  Keep in mind also that I do NOT start my horses in LD...they start in the 50's.   Main reason for that, I am a tightwad and I can(and do) ride 25 miles on the weekends conditioning.  So why pay for it? So they have had base time put in on them at home for months.   Anyway, Cash did a 50 in March after having about 2 months off during the winter.  Then he was laid up for an injury (he had a hoof problem)  for the biggest part of the spring, missing all the spring rides that we planned to use to condition for the OD.  Then, as fate has it, the other horse was out for OD, and Joni had to ride Cash at OD.  So, here he was with about 3 weeks of riding on him before the OD 100.  Took him, and he looked better than my seasoned horse when we finished.  BUT, he was carrying about 100 lbs less and he has incredible talent for this sport.  AND we rode for a completion....not fast.  Speed has a lot to do with how the horse will cope with the layups.

 

So do you have time to get two horses ready???  It depends.  If they are doing longer conditioning rides, 20-25 miles and not showing stress.  Yes, they are ready to do a 50....slow, not the very last person in, but middle to near the back of the pack.  I wouldn't rest them more than 2 days after a long ride on the weekend.  Then ride them 2-3 times max during the week.  Try to make it a ride one day, off one day type of schedule.

  Joe Long told me one time, that a horse doesn't have to be conditioned at a distance more than 25% of the distance to be asked of him.  I think that was what he said, and Joe correct me if I am wrong on remembering.  So, that means, for a 100 you wouldn't have to condition MORE than 25 miles at a time, a 50 would require less.  But, that doesn't mean that you can't use LD's or 50's to condition him up to that distance.

 

Hope this does help you, and good luck.  Each horse is different, but it is not as time consuming as people may think.

 

Jody

sherman <sherman@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

So a horse that?s fit and doing 100s doesn?t lose that fitness over a 2 mo. period?  I?ve heard people worrying that their ?fit for 50s? horse has been off for 2 or 3 weeks, and they think they?ve lost their conditioning and won?t be ready in another 2 or 3 weeks. You give me hope that I actually do have the time to get 2 horses ready.

 

So, how about for a horse that you?re trying to bring around to being ready for a 50? If you do a 25 or 30 one week to test their fitness level, would you think they?d need a week off after that, or would it boost their level of fitness to only wait 2 or 3 days to go out again? I hope ;you don?t mind me picking your brain here, but I have an 8 yr old that I?m just starting to do 10 mile rides on and want to get him ready for 50s.

 

Kathy

 

Jody wrote:

 

Ok, here is what I have done for years in terms of lay off time.

Keep in mind, that I am referring to conditioned horses, not horses that are "getting ready to do a 50".

 

I will give at least a week after a 50, sometimes more if I don't "need" to ride for some particular reason.  But at the same time, I don't have any problem with doing back to back rides.  We go to a good many rides each year, so once we start, we will have at least one a month.  In that case, I don't ride them at ALL in between rides.  They need that time to rest.  After a 100, I will give them anywhere from 1 week to a month.  Again, it just depends.  For instance....after the OD 100, which was on June 10th.  I just now, last week started riding those horses again.  So, they have had about 2 months off...total rest, just standing around eating grass and swishing flies.  Those same horses will go to a ride in one month.  But, these are fit, seasoned horses.  So, they hold their conditioning well, and bounce back well.

I have done a 100 one weekend, and then a 50 the very next...same horse.  No, Rose was not a happy camper about it.  But she did it and it didn't hurt her.  But she was going fast at either ride.  I have done a 100 one weekend, and two weeks later another 100 same horse.  I have even done a 100 one day, rest one day, and then a 50....again same horse.  She won both rides and BC'ed both rides.  It really depends on the horse.  She was super horse.

 

 

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