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[RC] re: How soon for first 50 - Teresa Van HoveCrysta wrote>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I purchased a 5 year old pinto-cross gelding about a month ago with the intention of completing (note I said completing for now) endurance rides. Both he and I are new to the sport. Before I bought him, he was being ridden for about an hour every day, basic training work rather than conditioning. More focus on steering and transitions than actual distance or speed. This was for about a month, I have no idea what type of conditioning/training he received before that time.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Will this horse be 60 months by derby ditch? AERC rules is 60 months, you dont get to say 5 on jan 1, for the age rule, like in many other horse sports. your post somewhat paraphrased Since I've had him, I've been riding , usually Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Due to work and daylight constraints, I ride for about an hour on Tues and Thurs. Usually one day of arena work and the other day (3-5 miles) out on the trail at an average of about 5 mph. mostly gentle rolling hills and light sand footing on T,TH. On Saturday, we've been doing longer rides, up to 12 - 15 miles, usually taking about 3 hours or so. Good energy but slightly tired upon return. Variety of terrain, bigger hills on weekends, some hard-packed roads. We walk the big ups and downs and take it easy on the hard-pack. We are doing our first LD (30 miles) this weekend at the Rides of March . cool! - hope you have a blast! I'm very interested in doing the Derby Ditch 50 in two weeks but am concerned that I may be asking too much too soon. I know there are people who ride a slow 50 early in the horses career and they feel as long as they are only going 4.5 to 5 mph pace, that this is just an extra long LSD ride. Many of them seem to go on and have a decent lifetime career on the horses too. But I'd not advise it in your case of just starting out and it doesn't sound like you can even point to 'he grew up in a big, hilly pasture, so he has been legging himself up for years' - sounds like you don't know the horse's history past a few months ago when he was given a month of basic training before you started riding him. I like the following rules of thumb for 50's and moving up in ride distance. 1. You should be doing 34-40 miles a week for at least 3-4 weeks before the horses first 50 of the season. 2. Doing 50% of the ride distance should be routine to the horse before its first ride at a longer distance (ie conditioning rides of about 25 miles or LD's are 'just routine' for the horse before a 50; completing 50's should be routine before a horses first 100. With your statements that you've been training about 18-25 miles a week, and the longer rides are 12-15 miles, I think that doing a 50 in 2 weeks time, with one 30 mile LD, and perhaps one 25 mile conditioning ride before that 50 would indeed be pushing things. You also asked about HRM tips - the thing is that even with a slow pace on the 50 the biggest concern I'd have would be that the horse is not 'legged up' in terms of tendon and bone to handle it yet. If he's tired he's more likely to injure a leg, but I'd not count on seeing anything obvious on a HRM, more likely that the horse would just get leg weary and start stumbling a bit - (with a stumble possibly doing a bit of tearing to a tendon) I peeked at the W region schedule and saw that the derby ditch was a 50 only, but also saw that there are NV rides every 2-3 weeks after that all summer; so I'd really encourage you to ask the RM if you could perhaps ride drag on the last loop for derby ditch; or maybe you could volunteer as a vet scribe (an excellent learning experience) or for some other job at that ride; and maybe help pull ribbons the day after the ride and plan on starting 50's only after this horse has a few more months of conditioning under his saddle. my .02 cents. Teresa Van Hove, and Grey Moun, and Shade =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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