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Re: [RC] Is this horse ready for an LD? - superpat

Go for it. Promise yourself that no matter how fresh or how strong he seems,
that you will ride a moderate paced ride. You also need to train his mind.
Make ihis first few rides low key and steady and you will be building for
the future. His body is ready. Now work on his mind.
Have fun and good luck.
Pat
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jennifer Thompson" <jlthompson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Ridecamp" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2003 4:01 PM
Subject: [RC] Is this horse ready for an LD?


Okay, this may seem silly to some, since I'm only asking
about a 25 miler, but I don't want to hurt my horse....

I bought a new gelding in November.  He's 9 yrs old, was
evented last summer, then turned out for a few months on 80
acres.  His life prior to that was that of a pleasure trail
horse, and also did some ranch duties up in Oregon.

I bought him in late November , and discovered that while he
could go quite a while on the flat no problem, he could not
handle hill work at all.  Acted like he wanted to die.  :)

The month of December consisted of a lot of walk/trot and
slow hillwork, about 60-90 minutes, three times a week.  By
the end of the month, his wind had improved greatly, so I
think what I experienced with him at first was just a
temporary lack of fitness due to a few months off.  He was
in great shape prior to that, as he was 3-day eventing that
summer, like I said.

Jan, Feb, and first part of March, I upped the distance and
intensity, doing 5-6 miles twice a week, with *lots* of hill
work at both trot and canter.  Then, one ride on the
weekends of about 11-12 miles, walk/trot/canter, but on
level ground.  He handled all of this just fine and was
recovering quickly even from our uphill sprints.

Well, since about mid-March, due to travel, weather,
chiropractic visits (no riding for several days after!) and
you-name-it, I've only managed to get about two or three
short rides in per week - I haven't been able to do any of
our 12 mile rides at all, let alone 20-25 mile "practice"
rides!

Each ride is 5-6 miles, but still a lot of hills.  We
typically walk out for 1/2 mile, then begin a 2-mile ascent
up a long, fairly steep fire road.  We do the two-mile
stretch at a fast trot, with some canter thrown in, if not
an all-out gallop up to the top.  He is panting quite a bit
at the top, but recovers quickly and is ready to go again
after walking just a few minutes.  We then loop a different
way around, to come back down, which consists of short very
steep uphills, downhills, and some flat spots.  We
trot/canter the flat and uphills, walk the downhills.  This
loop we make is about 5.5 miles, maybe a little more if I
take different side trails, etc.

This routine has continued for the last six weeks, and I'm
scheduled for our very first ride ever, on May 3rd - the
Lakeside Classic in Bradley, CA.

I have about two weeks left to condition.  :(    Does it
sound like we've done enough to do a 25?  Should I plan on
just walking it, with just a little trotting here and
there?  Or does the fact that he can handle a lot of hills
at a fast pace for 5-6 miles mean he can handle an easy 25
just fine?

Thanks for any advice.
Jennifer



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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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[RC] Is this horse ready for an LD?, Jennifer Thompson