Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I don't think it should take 2 years to condition a horse for LDs.  Yes, of course your first year on your horse's back should be Long Slow Distance, keep your horse sane types of rides, but it sounds like you are beyond that. I was told by someone that you can pull a horse that is kept in pasture and be able to finish an LD without any conditioning.  Maybe they are just talking about Arabs, I dunno.

 

If your horse is ridden on the trail regularly and is manageable in groups, I don't think it would be a problem to finish the LD.  I finished my 1st LD without much "scientific" thought, and so have several of my friends.  We are just all avid trail riders.  I went on to riding 50's after my 1st LD because he did well and continued to ride 50's until I somewhat retired him several years ago.  We do an occasional LD right now just for fun to ride with people on their first LD's without a whole lot of conditioning.

 

I do like to do a big hill ride two weeks before the ride, especially for 50's.  I think after a month you would be losing some of that condition.

 

K.

 

On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 10:04 AM, Beth Walker <bwalker2@xxxxxxx> wrote:

Sounds like you are pretty much on track.  A couple of things:

       1.  Get a new stethoscope.  It is one of the best ways to tell how she is doing. If she is tired, but her pulse is down, you are probably OK.  If she is tired and her pulse stays elevated (above 56 for more than 15 minutes), she isn't ready, and you are training too hard.  Take it with you and do your own "vet check" ... find a spot 1/2 way through your ride where you can stop.  Take down your time.  Take down the time at which she recovers to 56 bpm.   Do the same thing when you get back from your ride.  She should be down to 56 within 10 minutes.  There are lots of ways to test recovery .. the above assumes you are walking into the vet check, not racing in at the top of a hill.

       2.  This depends on how you do your training rides.  If you put in water stops and "vet checks" ... and you are averaging 5 mph then you are probably OK.  However, what I found for my first LD was that the pace needed for a ride was faster than what I had been conditioning at.  I had been doing 5 mph average, too.   However,  doing an average 5 mph for 10 or 15 miles with a 5 minute break for water does not translate to doing 25 miles with time out for water stops and a 30 minute vet check hold.  Instead, your riding pace has to be nearer 6 mph.

       3.  Now -- this is overkill, however, since it is your first LD, it would give you a better idea of how she would handle the actual ride.  You might try putting in one or two longer rides of 20 miles.  Do one two months before your ride, and another one month before your ride.  Don't do a "long" ride any closer than a month before, and don't do more than one a month.

 One thing -- don't increase training distance AND speed at the same time.  You are already doing 15 miles.  Increase the speed and keep the distance the same, so that she is doing 6 mph average.  When she is good with that, then you can try adding an extra 5 miles if you want to.


Anybody else ... feel free to jump in.  I don't have loads of experience, but I did get my 25 year old through an LD in good shape after a 15 year "layoff" -- I just took 2 years to condition him.