Re: mileage debate

["Frank Mechelhoff" <fmechelh@c-s-k.de>]

> In a message dated 12/18/99 5:23:31 PM Pacific Standard Time, Tivers@aol.com
> writes:

> << Our average for Ivers-style-trained racehorses is about 36 miles for every
>  race mile--during the competitive season. More in the off season, of course,
>  when the conditioning  really takes place. Of course, even that is a drop in
>  the bucket compared to human training miles. When we get up to 180 to 240
>  miles a week, we'll be genuinely serious about conditioning horses as
>  athletes. >>

Heidi wrote:

> ...But--horses
> can also overtrain, too, with subsequent breakdown of the autonomic nervous
> system, etc.  Depending on the horse, you can easily keep him fit (yes, even
> for those winners, which I don't see any of us hating, BTW--and I've even
> ridden a few) with something in the range of 50-100 miles per week.  Less for
> some horses.

Hi Tom and Heidi,
There are some suberb seasoned horses who, with a full schedule of competitions,
vitually needs NO training to win or top-ten. If their rider reaches his goal, he
is happy with it, no need to do more work. True. Everyone try to avoid work. But
if it's difficult to win, because more superb horses trained the same way out
there racing to win, or mediocre ones more intensivle trained, this behaviour
will be changed.

At the moment the thousands of conditioning methods used reflects that there is
big room for overall improvement. And if I had the prove that horses will fall
apart when delivering 240 miles per week, Tom's analogy to human marathoners work
protocol seems to be logical to me, as a far away destination of our sport. If we
like it or not.

In fact, every summer holidays I ride 240 miles and more per week for some weeks,
as long as my time allowed it, through this country and found no adversary
effects til now. Of course, a little bit slower than most people ride on
endurance rides, but far apart from beeing "cow-slow". More in a style our old
cavallerists did it. And with the same weight. to be honest, after such a raid
the horses are so fit that they run on an occasional 40-50 miles-event much
faster, with eyes half-closed, on the left half of their butt.

So why do not condition that way the rest of the year?
- Not enough time to ride,
- too young a horse,
- seasoned horse in a hard competition schedule, or with known weaknesses that
set a limit,
- limiting environmental factors like cold, rain, mud, ice and snow,
- horses kept outside and bad weather,
- train only enough to reach my target within a safety limit.
these are typical, and reasonable answers.

Answer is not "fear overtraing". Overtraining can occur at virtually any level of
workload, if something is wrong on the regime. Riding habits, footing, speed,
feeding, equipment, horse-care, to name a few. It will occur, true, faster on a
high level. the more you ride, or the faster you ride, the nastier the effects of
disturbance will be. But cutting the workload alone then will not help much.
Under a certain minimum workload training becomes senseless. Only make sharp
1-hour-rides in training, go to a hot 50-miler, run the speed you have trained,
and have a good chance your horse colick or die due to overheating! Overtraining,
in this sense, has at least one good: it shows the limiting factor on which to
work.

If I had found the solution doing high-intensity workouts safely to a volume of
240 miles per week, then I would either win all rides I attend, or - like Tom -
probably double or triple my salary, paid from some Sheiks in Arabia for
endurance training consultancy. At the very moment, total off-saison, my mares
and me with a half-broken right ankle, doing 30-50 miles per week, half ridden
and half ponying, and enjoy the snow had turned the firm ways to real
race-courses we seldom have the fun to use in this area.


Have fun riding & Marry Christmas to All of You,

Frank Mechelhoff
Schmitten, Germany
- & the Taunus mountain ponies (Ligeira and Nataja) -






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