RE: Re: Re: clipping

["C Eyler" <eyler@mindspring.com>]

> No-one is saying you HAVE to clip your horse.  It largely depends on the
> horse, what sort of work he's doing, and the weather is like.  A fit horse
> should cope quite easily with 20 miles unclipped at the beginning of the
> season when the weather is perhaps not too warm.
>
> However when you start doing interval training early on in the
> year as prep
> for some longer distance race rides, then it makes life easier
> for the horse
> if he is clipped a bit.  Yes, seriously.  Imagine running a 4 minute mile
> with a heavy overcoat on.  If the horse is doing fast work and
> he's clipped
> he has to work less to cool himself down as his sweat evaporates more
> quickly.


Why wouldn't it make sense to keep the 'overcoat' on, as an aid to
conditioning, until close to the race date?

Cindy