RE: Starting Endurance Questions

[Wendy Milner <wendy@wendy.cnd.hp.com>]

PSCHOPony asked lots of new endurance rider quetions.

<< I want to start my 4 yr old QH on endurance.  He is in fairly good shape,
but we never did any series miles yet.  What do I feed my horse and how much?
How do I measure distance, such as miles, since I would be working on trails?
What about hill work?  How do I know when my horse is being asked enough or
too much?  What should I do about cross training, e.g. barrel racing,
jumping.
Thank you.
PSCHO Pony and Spirit >>

First I'll point you to the web page that Steph has set up.  You'll
find lots of information there.  Start at www.aerc.org.

What do you feed and how much?
Keep feeding just the way you are doing, until you see a need to
feed more or less.
Most endurance riders feed lots of grass hay.  They will feed
some grain, but only as much as they horse needs. Some folks
like beet pulp, some like certain suppliments.  There is no
right answer that works for every horse.

How do you measure distance?
If you are on the trails, start with a map and use a string.
If you can get the help of a biker friend, have them mark the miles
for you.
If you can find a measured mile, work the mile at various gaits and
speeds until you can feel how long it takes at what speed to cover
a mile.  Usually this takes a good deal of work, but it is to your
advantage to do so.  On an endurance ride, you have to be able to
do this - for example, a loop may be 10 miles. You have to feel how
your horse is doing, how much you have left, and knowing that you've
just about done 10 miles so the vet check is coming up, should you
speed up to beat the competion, or should you slow down so you come
into the vet check read to P&R.

What about hill work?
What about it? I like hill work.  If you are in an area that has hills,
use them. If you have sand in your area, use it.  Try to train for the
terraine that the endurance ride will cover.

How much is too much?
Watch the horse's heart rate, particularly on recovery.
If you do not have a HRM - ride a conservative ride, jump off,
take the pulse, walk a couple of minutes, take the heart rate
again, it should be almost normal.  Next do a strenuous ride,
jump off, take pulse, walk a couple of minutes, take again.
It should be a bit higher, but you should hear it coming down.
After a 10 minute rest, the heart rate should be near to the
resting rate.  Do this lots of times.  Eventually you'll begin
to learn your horse and what is normal.  If the heart rate stays
high, then you have over worked, and need to let the horse rest
an extra day, then start back a little easier.

Cross training?
I wouldn't do barrel racing for a couple of reasons.
First, barrel racing gets the horse very excited, get out and race
around the barrels, get hyped, sliding stops and all.  On an
endurance ride, you are more interested in a quiet horse that
doesn't go all out, doesn't get that excited at the start of
the ride.  Now this is just my personal opinion.

I like dressage for cross training.  Teaches the horse all the
good things in life:-)  Any ring work where you are teaching the
horse manners, good "posture" or frame, and are working on your
posture and riding.

Overall, long slow miles are the things you need to work on
that are specific to endurance riding.  Breaking up the week with
some other work is good for the minds of both horse and rider.

Welcome to the endurance world.
--
Wendy

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 Wendy Milner                     HPDesk:   wendy_milner@hp4000
 Hewlett-Packard Company          e-mail:   wendy@fc.hp.com
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