RC: [Fwd: RC: Re: Uphill and Down.. in simple terms]

[wsabg@t-online.de (Wolfgang Schwingenheuer)]

CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com writes:

> The difference, Wolfgang, is that the horses that are "sore" in the rear
> simply have tired muscles from overdoing if they do too much and too fast,
> whereas the horses that are "sore" from braking with the front legs are more
> apt to have tendon or ligament injuries that are slow to heal and may be
> career threateniing.  Big difference, in my opinion....
>
> Heidi

Heidi,

I guess I misunderstood the term "sore".
As you say now, being sore in rear means that the muscles are tired (short-time)
wheras the sore in the front means a real injury which is long-time. So the key
is to distribute the force either back or front so that the horse can manage it
without short- or longtime "sore". The front injuries are caused by "blasting
downhill" with a horse not trained to do, while the rear sores are caused by
overdoing. So let's go downhill as smooth as possible with the best speed
available.
BTW, Heidi, I still don't believe in a leveled back of a horse going downhill,
but will take a look on my training-rides and have my camera with me ;-) (have
tried to find a photo in my archives, but there is no one.).
But there are horses able to blast downhill and getting a tendon injury on a
flat 100-mile-race... This happens to Ninja in October 1996 in Belgium (sorry
Leo!) and it took one year to recover. Now he's back (being 4th in 1998 on the
German Champs), but having some bad luck in 1999. We try to qualify for this
years WEC in Compiegne (also flat). Hope to meet some RC's there.

Greetings from Germany,

Wolfgang + Ninja 11 (preparing for 75 miles in Northern Germany - Silberstern
Ranch March, 25th)
Germany





=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=