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Re: [RC] Training to 'top ten' - Shannon ChastainQuestion here on the moving out going down hill. My horse loves to go fast down the hills and he is good at it. But, I was at a ride last month and Jim Baldwin was one of the vets he told us Newbies (I have done 4 LD's but always stay for the first time riders lecture from the vets) to go slow and walk the down the hills or we would be looking as some serious injuries. So I guess my question is can you condition your horse to go fast down then hills and reduce the possibilities of the injuries Jim was talking about? This has been a issue for me since I started I competiting. My main riding buddy walks down all hills when conditioning and at comptitions. Then I was riding with a different friend at a ride and she told me to go fast down the hills, I was confused, still am??? Shannon and Drinks R Served Missouri On Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:12:39 -0700, Joe Long wrote rides2far@xxxxxxxx wrote:'To top ten - you train at top ten speeds'I totally disagree. For my horses to top 10 I trained consistantly but conservatively most of the time, then added high heart rates on hills. I've never ridden with anyone who trained "top 10 speeds" consistantly. If I did it my horses would all be lame before I ever got to a ride. I've had a win & BC on one horse, and a win/high vet score on another, on both I was very careful to find somewhere with good footing for our speed work and we did do some, but never headed out on a 12 mile trail with tricky footing and let it rip. That's a chance I'd only take on race day. AngieSorry, Angie, but I believe "To Top ten, you train at Top Ten speeds" is good advice. My bedrock principle of training is, never ask your horse to do on a ride what you have not done in training. Now, training for Top Ten or First Place is only done after the horse has a solid foundation, including a couple of years of endurance rides at mid-pack or slower pace. But once at that level, I condition at speeds at least as fast, or faster, as the speed at which I expect to compete. That includes difficult terrain and downhill. IMO horses are more likely to be lamed by being competed at higher speeds than the speed they trained at, than by proper conditioning. If you gradually increase your speed over hard or rocky terrain at home, then the horse will be able to handle it on the ride. There have been times I've been out riding with another endurance rider (training ride) and come to a downhill, and they've said "I'm going to walk down the hill, I'm saving his legs for the rides." And I've said "I'm sorry, but I need to condition for downhill, so I have to go on" and I've moved on ahead at competition speed. BTW, I've never had a career-ending lameness (or any career-ending injury) with any horse that I've brought along in endurance. -- Joe Long jlong@xxxxxxxxxxxxx =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -- Open WebMail Project (http://openwebmail.org) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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