riding just before a competition

[Roberta Jo Lieberman <fineprint@erols.com>]

<<<Hi all, I'm fairly new at all this, it's my first year doing 50's.  
My mentors (riding buddies with years of experience) do not ride 
their horses for a week before a competition, but do warm them up 
before the ride.  Then I see about half the competitors riding on 
Friday night, some of them for quite a while.
I normally lead my horse around for about 1/2 hour to stretch her 
legs, eat grass, etc.  We travel about 3 hours to get to most rides, 
and she has a 20x20 pen to move around in all night.  
Pro's, con's, advice on this would be great!>>>>

Hi Brenda,
There are many good reasons to tack up your horse and ride a bit the day
before a ride: You can see the start and finish of the ride and see how
the trail is marked. Your horse can get a feel for the footing. Riding
will help both you and your horse relax, and you can troubleshoot any
last-minute tack adjustments. And after the trailer ride, the exercise
will help stretch your horse.

Many competitors taper their horses' conditioning schedules as the
competition approaches. I like my horse's last significant work to come
two weeks before a 100 or ten days before a 50. The weekend before a
ride I try to do a couple of hours at a reasonable pace on kinder
footing. Although in theory I'd like to ride lightly a couple of times
during the week leading up to the ride, a combination of work and
preparation most often preclude that luxury. These last few rides are
not for conditioning but just to keep the wheels turning.

What works for you will depend on many variables: how big your pastures
are, how far you have to trailer, how fast you plan to ride, your
horse's disposition. 
If you are trailering more than a couple of hours, the long grazing
walks are essential to let the horse stretch out....this past weekend I
made the mistake of doing too much during our Friday warmup ride/trail
exploration at Biltmore. Recent rains had left the trails muddy. My
horse was full of energy from not being ridden all week and I decided to
let her move out. Big mistake: I didn't warm her up properly before we
started darting up and down those little hills that crisscross the
country above the river. She was off, left front, at vet-in which
resulted from tightness in her right-hind adductor muscle (near where
the thigh meets the gaskin). Funny part was, she was off in the soft
sand of the vet-in arena and sound on the circle on firmer ground
outside. She improved significantly after Joyce Anderson did 5 minutes
of TTouch, and thermography then confirmed what Joyce's fingers felt. We
decided not to go out the next day although she was sound by nightfall.
Didn't want to risk further tearing of the muscle in that area on the
slippy-slidy hills.

So....warm up your horse, not only in-hand and under saddle, but with
gentle leg stretches and toe circles. And don't neglect warmup the
morning of the ride. Be in the saddle if you can at least 30 minutes
before the start, especially if you are planning to move out. 

These are just a few ideas. Keep observing and learning as you go and
don't be afraid to do what seems right for you and your horse. Good
luck!
Bobbie and Fine Print in Maryland


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