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RE: [RC] Time between 100 mile rides - Joe Long - heidiKim, although I agree with Joe, you do bring up some good points. I realize that I do not have the 100 mile experience that Joe Long has, but I would never agree that many horses can do 100s two weeks apart. There may be that "one in a million" special endurance horse (like Joe's horse) that can do 100's every two weeks or even do two 100s back to back. What was "one in a million" about Joe's horse (and some of the other real "greats" in the sport) was the ability to do repeated 100s AT SPEED and with a high quality of competitiveness. THAT is rare! But just completing? Well, "many" horses HAVE done close and frequent 100s at less-than-maximal pace, and have done just fine, so they can't be all THAT rare. Perhaps they are not in the majority (given the overall decline in riding quality seen due to modern breeding practices, not just in the Arabian but in virtually all breeds), but they are far from "rare." But I'll grant you, not ALL horses can do that, and the horse MUST be well-prepared, and be wisely and well ridden, as well as having some innate capability. I really don't feel that giving a horse a month between 100s is overly conservative. In fact, in mostcases, I feel it is the minimum time a horse should have between 100 mile events.Sometimes, the cumulative effect of conditioning and competition (stress) doesn't show up immediately after a competition. For one thing, when horses are competing that frequently, the stress of "conditioning" is not a part of the equation--they are already in condition, and riding between events consists primarily of what I call "warm-up-cool-down" rides that do not involve any degree of "conditioning." The two horses that I cited in my post with their "busy season" records had vastly different management needs between rides--one was a stallion and was quite active on his own. He got NO riding between rides when competing that frequently. He just needed the rest time, and kept himself moving sufficiently to ward off problems. The mare, on the other hand, was prone to tying up if not exercised regularly, even though she was turned out. She had to be faithfully ridden very 2-3 days, but when on that schedule, those rides were never more than five miles (and often less), and consisted of a mile or so warm-up at a walk, a couple of miles of just jogging along at a pleasant medium trot, and then a mile or so of walking to cool back down. Hardly "con ditioning"--and pretty low-impact... She, too, needed the rest, so we weren't out doing any more riding than necessary to "keep things moving." Again, that is part of knowing your horse--and knowing when to back off. Just because a horse doesn't look stressed doesn't mean that the body doesn't need time to rest and recover. Sometimes this stress will show up in the next competition very subtly such as the horse being dull or sometimes it may show up more dramatically as a metabolic or physical distress. There are a lot of things to look for--subtle changes in appetite, lack of enthusiam on arriving home from a ride, etc. And yes, at each ride on that kind of a schedule, you are always tuned in to pick up any hints of cumulative problems. But when the horse comes home from a 100-miler on Sunday and goes bucking and twisting up the hill to go tell his/her buddies all about it, and then, after racing a few times around the pasture to show off, heads straight for the feed bunk, your odds are pretty good that things are fine. Doesn't mean you quit observing--but those are the sorts of things that I monitor pretty closely. Sometimes ill effects from choices early in a ride season are cumlative and begin showing towards the end of the year. I feel that rest and recovery is a necessary part of successful competition. Sure, to both statements. Whether you ride 2 rides in a season or 20, you should be constantly alert to cumulative damage. And yes, rest is key to any program--see my above comments. I think most endurance riders would agree and the 100 mile completion statistics definitely support that 100 mile rides, even when ridden conservatively, are not something that the average endurance horse can do without proper preparation. In my opinion, part of that preparation is adequate rest and recovery between competitions. Certainly. No one is suggesting this kind of schedule on an unprepared horse. And once again, see above regarding rest. But "how much" rest is necessary (or even ideal!) varies considerably from horse to horse. Just because a horse "can" do back to back 100s doesn't mean it is in his best interest for competition he is doing now or for his future as a competition horse. Sometimes not. But for horses that thrive on "trail, trail and more trail," and who come back time and time again, where's the harm? Again, back to knowing your horse, and being realistic about when enough is enough, instead of trying to apply some generalization across the board to horses of varying capability, ridden by riders with varying capability, and with varying degrees of preparation. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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