Re: Fun with Fitness!!

[Tivers@aol.com]

Here's an experiment. Let's develop an Efficiency Score on some endurance
horses. Here's how:

On flat terrain, measure out an 8th of a mile.
Do a good warmup, including some lope--for about two miles. Once the heartrate
has settled, clock yourself through the 8th (660 feet).
Then calculate the formula:

Distance in feet (660) divided by heartrate (say 130), divided by time (say 25
seconds) multiplied by 60==Efficiency Score in FeeT per heartBeaT. 

Unfit Thoroughbreds start out at 6.5 ft/bt and become race-ready somewhere
around 14 ft/bt. Standardbreds come race-ready at about 12 ft/bt. 

Let's get some numbers we can play with in endurance horses--this is an
excellent way of measuring aerobic fitness and gait efficiency.

ti