Training

[Sandman@voeding.tno.nl]

My horse (a very young Dutch KWPN warmblood gelding), has finished its
very first 25 km ride and he really enjoyed it. Me too!
For this reason I had the intention to prepare him for the longer
distances, only for riding and finishing, not for winning!

On the first ride however I discovered, that the 'contest-roads' are
very different of those I use for training. The horse is tall (1.80 m)
and not yet fully developed so it is sometimes very clumsy with its long
legs so I was afraid to overburden the sinews (correct word?) on the
often swampy and root filled track.
Although Holland is a country with an agricultural origin, the 'slow'
horses are not really tolerated on the overloaded roads, filled with
hasty motorists full of incomprehension for the 'one horse-power'. 
So I have to do the training in always the same woody surrounding
without any variety of road-type and I fear that for this reason I have
almost no possibility to harden the legs for 'heavy work'.
I read several articles about training endurance horses, but found no
articles how to handle my questions satisfying.

Maybe there is no reason to be worried, but because the presence and the
health of my horse is more important than anything else, I'm doubting of
continuing or increasing its endurance training.

My questions:
- Is there a reason to be worried during the training
- Is there a way to harden my horses legs on woody tracks
- In what other manner I can harden or protect its legs during long(er)
rides
- Is this item discussed in any book?

Waiting for answers,

Hugo Sandman
sandman@voeding.tno.nl