Tom Noll, as always, thoughtful answer and good points made. I think the issue is whether or not someone wants to put in that volume of miles at home training vs. in a competition and whether if you did those kind of home training miles on a regular basis before a big ride....could you be leaving your horse's best miles on trails at home vs. in a competition. I agree with you that multiday rides are one of, if not the best, conditioning for a 100. However, I'd probably "try" to have them three weeks to a month apart and I wouldn't be doing any conditioning at home with that kind of schedule other than an occasional 5 mile limbering type ride. For those of you who were not involved in the sport in the 70s and early 80s, you probably are not aware of how much over-conditioning was a problem back then and how that impacts some of these reactions. Many people left their horse's best performance on the conditioning trail. We've learned alot since then about conditioning and about horses needing rest and a little bit of fat left on their bodies. The other thing is that we wouldn't want to scare away someone from attempting a 100 because their life style doesn't lend itself to that kind of high conditioning miles. You are correct that overall the article was excellent and I really think the 90 mile week was the only concern...and, you know how we can beat an idea to death on RC :)
