Re: Conditioning Q's --long

[Tivers@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/29/99 4:30:43 AM Pacific Standard Time,
wood.cameron@acd.net writes:

<< First, she mentioned that during hill training, riders should either walk
 or canter UP hills.  Trotting (according to her) causes too much "torque"
 on the sacroiliac joint and can result in luxations/subluxations.  Anybody
 have this problem with their horse(s)?  Maybe I'm blind but I don't seem to
 see this as a big problem in endurance or CTR horses, and we trot all over
 the place, hillls and all!   It also seems to me that, since we trot our
 horses up hills in competition, shouldn't we train this way too, to prevent
 injury ?>

I think she may be wrong here. We routinely gallop multiples uphill at near
racing speed with no bad effects. One exception: when the surface is to loose
or sloppy, the hind legs will slip and the horse will tend to try to pull
himself forward with the fore legs. This can result in shoulder injuries. 
 
 >The next point that was new to me: during the section on energy systems,
 she mentioned that in AEROBIC metabolism, the horse can use carbohydrates,
 fats OR lactate as a fuel source. Her point was that during anaerobic
 metabolism, the conversion of ATP to energy is wasteful, and the leftover
 toxic by-product Lactic acid still contains some energy which can be used
 during low-intensity aerobic effort for fuel.  I must have been snoozing in
 Biochem.... I don't remember ever hearing this.   If this is the case,
 would it be possible for our endurace horses to go in and out of the
 anaerobic threshold, and actually provide fuel for the "rest" periods (like
 in interval training) with lactic acid once the horse replaces its oxygen
 debt?  Wow. Interesting.  Comments?
  >>

That's exactly the way it works, and there's a hell of a lot of energy stored
away in FT and FTH cells that can be triggered with brief bursts of high
intensity exercise--galloping up a hill for example--that will then cascade
partially-burned glycogen (lactic acid) down to the oxidative cells that can
finish the job. The only real worry is on hot days because anaerobic work
build body heat quickly.

ti