Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

When I did my first 50, all of three years ago, I was riding gaited, as 
we are now. I trained 450 miles between Jan 1 and the ride  which was in 
late may  of that year.
I trained in terrain at least as difficult  if not more difficult  than 
the ride.  I kept a calender of the training  rides.  I did mostly  long 
slow distance , then  hill repeats and
some speed work.  We also did some tempo rides  at  the same pace I was 
planning on  doing at the ride.
 Every ride was on Gps. I sometimes used heart rate, but not very 
often. Now we almost always use heart rate.
Because the horse is a mft , he did not trot. I  varied his gait from a 
walk, to running walk, rack and canter.  Somewhere along the way he 
discovered he knew how to foxtrot.
At the ride we varied pace and gait. He did great.
It was the only ride I did with him his first year.
This is the most mileage I have gone into a first  ride of the season 
with. One of the advantages that you Arabian riders have is that it does 
not take as many miles to leg up your horses, so I am not suggesting 
that anyone else needs to ride this much.
I wanted to make sure he was ready, and he was.
 We have since learned that a gaited horse can be ready for an Ld, even 
a competitive Ld (if the horse is ready for that considering his 
age,maturity and ability ) with 150 miles of training pre first ride of  
the season.
Keith
http://www.shawneesunrisefarm.net/

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