Re: keeping weight on

[Barbara Madill <madill@teleplex.net>]

I apologize if someone has already come up with the following thought on
keeping weight on a horse during training -- I've been trying to catch up
with the Digests and have skimmed the later ones since last Thursday, (5 Mar
1998).

Is it possible that you're over training?  Or that you need a varied
conditioning program?  I've found that the "lively and energetic" horses
don't usually need as much physical conditioning as they do mental
conditioning.  If the horse does a decent job of keeping himself physically
fit, then you have more time to keep a back up horse fit, (I need that
second horse in training just to keep ME fit), etc.

Granted, "my" sport is "only" three day 100's averaging 6 MPH or
thereabouts, but I found long ago (1976) that if I concentrated on "roads
and tracks" (Trail), I had trouble with weight, attitude and lamenesses.
When I cross trained and did token competitions in other sports (schooling
dressage shows, driving competitions, etc.) my horses did well in my target
sport of long distance.  They also maintained weight more easily.

I've never seen anyone in Ridecamp comment on whether the aerobic training
principles for humans (30 minute increments at "training" heart rates)
applies to horses.

Barbara Madill (and Larca --"C'mon, don't you take the credit -- let's face
it I'd gain weight in training with "ti")