Conditioning your horse doesn't actually take place while
you are riding...the "conditioning" actually takes place AFTER your ride as the
body heals and repairs itself from the stress and adapts to it. Riding
every day doesn't give allow the horse that opportunity. I always try to
give a day off inbetween hard conditioning rides to allow the body this healing
time. A good book to read that talks about this process is Nancy Loving's
"Go the Distance".
My basic training schedule up to
this point has been 6 -8 miles 5/days/wk. Roughly 1 15 minutes time. I
try to get in a longer ride on the weekends. We have completed 2 25's,
but I am concerned with my horse's ability to pulse down. Seems to hang
in the upper 70's. Last night reading(this is all I read about anymore!)
stated if the horse is having trouble pulsing down, he has been pushed too
fast.
Ummm..... you are training TOO MUCH! Back off on
the # of days you ride..... 5 days per week is not necessary... Go to 3
or 4 days per week at most -- including weekends. Do about 5 miles
most of those days and add a 15-20 mile ride maybe once per
week... After all, he IS only 6 years old and NOT an Arab.
Not to say he needs to be an Arab, but non-Arabs traditionally don't have the
recovery capacity that Arabs have. So slow down a bit and he will last
you a LOT longer!!! :)
