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Hi all,

I am in the process in getting my gelding, Shahtahr, fit again after 1 
1/2 years off from any kind of competition (I moved to FL from CA). 
I've continued riding him during this time off, but mostly on shorter 
pleasure rides with friends - anywhere from 5 to 10 miles, one to three 
times a week (depending on how HOT and humid it was here in FL).  Over 
the last six weeks, I've started conditioning again....we're up to 
trotting and cantering about 12-15 miles now, with no problem.

I am new to Florida, and am used to having plenty of mountains to train 
in, in the Sunland area of CA.   With all those hills, it was never a 
problem to get Shahtahr's heart rate up, and keep it there, and then see 
how fast he came down.  I would try to keep him between 130 and 150 
while trotting along in the hills, with a few uphill sprints here and 
there to get his HR up to around 200 for a few minutes.  This seemed to 
work great at keeping him fit.

Here, all I have is flat land.  No matter how long we trot on these flat 
trails, even some that are sandy....his HR is always somewhere around 
115 to 120....if I move up to a canter it will get up a little 
higher...but nothing near how we trained in CA.   Is this enough??  He 
comes right back down to the low 60's as soon as we slow to a walk, but 
it's not like his HR ever really got super high.

How do you folks train, that have only flat trails to use?  What's your 
strategy?   Do I need to do a lot more training miles, because I have no 
hills?  I'm going to do a 27-mile ride on Nov 11.....it's got some sandy 
areas and a few "gentle hills" from the description ..... I'm assuming 
he'll do this ride just fine with what we've been doing, but I'm a 
little concerned that I'm not getting enough out of the conditioning 
we're doing to progress much beyond some CTRs and LDs - I will be 
training longer as he gets more fit....but I'm not sure about the HR 
range we're getting....is 115 to 120 good enough to build his stamina?

I sure miss the mountains!

Jennifer


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