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RE: [RC] [Guest] Training - Ridecamp Moderator"Catfish Daniels" <CatfishDaniels@xxxxxxxxxxx> Hi Carol: Welcome back to endurance !!!! You probably will get all sorts of responses to your question. Here is my 2 cents. Every horse is soooo different, and there really is no formula. The most important thing is for you to "listen" to your horse. Pay really close attention as to how he's feeling, how his spirits are, how his legs are holding up (tendons, etc). Starting a horse in endurance, as you probably know, you may want to put a lot of "wet saddle blankets" (lots of miles) riding Long, slow distance. Three times per week seems to be a very average and well agreed number of times you may want to commit to. Two short rides (about 8 miles) and one long, slow ride (15-25 miles). Here is what I do. My 8 mile loop is very level, no hills, and the footing is mostly packed, sandy dirt roads in the high desert. I walk the first mile, trot the next four miles, canter two miles and walk the rest. My second ride in the week is a 12 mile loop. It consists of lots of uphills and down-hills, and various terrain. I always take it very easy on the down-hills, ride in a walk wherever the footing is not good (rocky, etc), and do an extended trot on the even stretches. My third ride is usually a 21 mile loop. That is the ride where I take it easy. It's my Long, slow distance ride where my focus is to simply get more mileage on my horse. Sometimes we trot, we hardly canter, and do lots of walking. The loop that I ride takes me over very hilly terrain and I ride it slowly not to risk injury. So as you see, I have my long ride to get the mileage on the tendons, and I have my shorter ride to keep up his flexibility in his stride and work on a strong, consistent pace and heart rate. Heather Reynolds who won Tevis this year rides her horse three times per week. Two eight mile loops, and one 15-20 mile loop. You may want to start off less than that. Even if you cut these distances in half, I think the most important thing is consistency. Good luck, I wish you all the best and lots of fun on the trails :-) Catfish DBL Realtors =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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