>
> Did you say you lived in the northwest and were conditioning 52 miles
> a week? In my opinion, 52 miles a week is quite a bit in the cold
> weather and bad footing. With the competition season more than 2
> months down the road, you run the risk of "over conditioning" your
> horse. The rule of thumb that I was taught was approximately 30 miles
> a week (admittedly not all miles are equal) even during the
> competition season. My suggestion would be to start with fewer miles
> per week in the winter and work up to 30 or 40 when you want to start
> competition.
Hi all,
I'm the one that originated this thread. I have a couple things to add
to this, and a couple more questions to ask.
First of all, the '52 miles in 1 week' that I posted was high. I agree
with that. It was off a little because it includes a 20 mile sunday
ride, and 20 miles the following saturday, with 2 small rides mid week.
But I have a question or two about this. Those of you who only put in 30
miles a week, how long are your weekend rides?? Our average loop is 20
miles, and our small mid week loop averages about 10 miles. Therefore,
in just 2 rides, I can put in 30 miles.
Secondly I would like to hear more from those of you who condition "high
miles" vs. "low miles". The woman who's been helping me, and I've been
riding with averages about 50 miles a week (more or less). She does this
all the time. Her horses are in good condition, and she places well in
50 mile rides. The jump in miles that I made was too much for Special, I
know that now (hindsight is 20/20). But I would like to point out that
her attitude was consistently good, her heart rates were excellent, and
at the end of our 20 mile weekend rides she still had LOTS of go. She
-was- built up to this, this is our 3rd year of conditioning. I just went
too far--too fast--too soon.
I intend to keep doing 20 mile weekend training rides, I will just take
them slower. And I will do fewer miles during the week, and slower. As
I've said before, my main goal is to -finish healthy-. I'm not out to
place well (although that would be a nice side-effect). I just want to
make sure that she's trained well enough to do well in a 50, and not be
pulled.
Thanks for all your well wishes everybody!! Special's appetite -is-
improving, and she's now eating the oil too. I wormed her and there's no
evidence of worms, and she's seeing the vet friday morning.
@-',--- MARISA ---',-@ **********************
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purpl2@teleport.com ** Sucks! **
Portland, Oregon **********************