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Re: [RC] Building a base - Competition schedule - Stagg_Newman


Maurenn,

Thanks muchly for the post and for letting folks know Michale Tistram's
name.
I wanted to add her name but was doing the post from my house and the
sculpture is in a place of honor in my office.

If you see Michael, please let her know that I have it proudly displayed in
my office.
It is the best  award among all of the awards my horses have earned!

And yes satrk mountainous desert scenery was definitely meant as a
compliment.

BTW I also really love the mountains of Western North Carolina where we
currently live.
Particularly beautiful with fall colors.

Best of luck using the heart monitor.  It is a great tool.  But of course
no substitute for
also listening to your horse.

Cheers and great trail riding.

Stagg



                                                                               
                                   
                    "Maureen A.                                                
                                   
                    Fager"              To:     Stagg_Newman@xxxxxxxxxxxx      
                                   
                    <trottin27@h        cc:     ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx         
                                   
                    otmail.com>         Subject:     Re: Building a base - 
Competition schedule                    
                    01/26/2003                                                 
                                   
                    11:46 AM                                                   
                                   
                                                                               
                                   
                                                                               
                                   




Hi Stagg,
Thanks for the great detail in your answer and also the great story.  The
artist who made your BC award is Michale Tistram, who is still sculpting
the
BC award for this ride.  She also is an endurance rider.  You said
"Beautiful but stark mountainous desert scenery!" I take that as a
compliment, as in my opinion, the starkness of Nevada is one of it's
charms!
At any rate, have been using my HR monitor, but am still learning and am
not
yet to the stage of being able to accurately monitor the horse's HR.  Your
explaination however, was very clear and can be put into practice once the
HR  monitor is figured out.  Very educational to hear how a HR monitor is
used to help pace a race. Plenty of hills to practice on.
Thanks again for your time!
Best,
Maureen



From: Stagg_Newman@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To: "Maureen A. Fager" <trottin27@xxxxxxxxxxx>
CC: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Building a base - Competition schedule
Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2003 21:27:36 -0500


Maureen,

You wrote:  "Do you have any suggestions for pacing on hills?"  See below.

First, sounds like your plan with your mare is a good one!

Virginia City 100 would be a tough first 100 but probably doable if you
paced carefully.
However you may want to start with an easier first 100.

BTW the Virginia City 100 is one of my all time favorites because of the
memories.
Drubin and I did the 25 annivesary ride in 1992.  And yes I remember the 3
SOBs!
(So w/ apologies for talking so much about my "Pony"), here are some of my
other memories.
   Falling in a face down sprawl early in the ride when I stumbled
running
   down a steep hill beside the horse.  Scraped myself off the ground and
   scrambled back on horse to keep up with the others I was riding with.
   Darla Westlake on her Hall of Fame horse Muffy (most wins and BCs in
   AERC history), myself on Drubin and another rider were galloping along
   in the early morning light with about a dozen WILD HORSES  leading us
   down the trail!  Awesone!!!
   Darla in the saddle holding out an tube of electrolytes for Muffy
after
   each time he drank on trail.  Muffy would turn his head and she would
   shoot the electrolytes in his mouth without ever dismounting.  Darla
is
   one cool horsewoman.
   Doing last 50 miles alone after Darla was pulled.  Drubin felt great
and
   just kept cruising.
   And the rocks.  That's the only ride where the pads were torn to
shreds
   by the end.  Old Dominion has more rocks, but the Nevada rocks are
   sharper.
   Around 90 miles in the beautiful early evening light Drubin and I were
   trotting along when we saw a bright red wild horse on our right.  The
   wild horse charged across the trail in front of us and then whirled
   around facing us.  Behind him were 3 other horses.  I am sure that he
   was the stallion and thought Drubin was going to get between him and
his
   band of mares.  Drubin just kep trotting down the trail.  TRULY
AWESOME!
   (should not admit the following but this is ridecamp so what the hell)
   As Drubin trotted strongly up the last hill into the finish line we
   passed a group of riders going into the 75 mile check point.  They
broke
   into applause.  Among them was the head of the selection committe for
   the Pacific team for the North American Championship the prior year.
   Drubin had not been picked for that team (and admittedly he was just
   starting to show he was a good horse that year) but I must admit I
   thought to myself that this was one way to show her I did have a good
   horse after all.
   Drubin won in a bit over 11 hours, set the course record (which I
   believe still stands), and won the BC the next morning.   And the BC
   award is really special.  An artist took pictures of Drubin after the
   ride and then did a porcelain of his head that really captures his
   spirit.
   Beautiful but stark mountainous desert scenery!
   Connie Creech and the rest of the Nevada Trail Riders Association and
   Dr. Susan McCartey and her vet team who together really put a great
ride
   together.

And now to answer your question on how to pace hills.  That was the key to
my win that day.  What I did and still do is
keep the horse at a steady trot until the horse reaches what I think is
too
high a pulse rate.  For Drubin (who on the flat
will work between 110 and 120 typically at a moving trot after he is well
into a ride), this is 160.  Then I will walk until the pulse falls to a
certain
level.  For Drubin that day it was about 135.  Then I will go back to
trotting until I reach the higher limit, etc.  If the time
it takes to reach the higher limit gets too short, then I will do more
walking to give the horse more time to recover.  I
used this techique on the long climbs that day between 50 and 75 miles and
opened up a 30 minute lead on the field.
You will need to practice this in training to get to know your horse.

Basically you want to minimize the amount of anaerobic work your horse
does
during a 100 so this is one
way to try to achieve that while still working close to your horse's
potential.  BTW if you know your horse's
expected working pulse at a particular gait over flat terrain and you see
that rate go up 5 beats or more
that can be an indication the horse is starting to reach his limit.  If
you
then back-off the pace and give
the horse a chance to recover he can do well.  If not you may well pay at
the next Vet Check.  In the '92 VC
ride I was doing an easy hand gallop with Drubin at about 94 miles when I
noticed his pulse go from
about 118 to 127 or so.  I immediately slowed down to a steady trot and we
finished in good shape.
It did still take him a bit longer than I liked to recover at the finish.
My guess is that was the combination
of the altitude, the fact that he was reaching his aerobic limit at 94
miles, and the fact that I trotted the last hill strongly.

Hope this helps.  Best of luck with your mare!

Stagg



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