Re: [RC] Speed Kills...so how fast is too fast? - DVeritas
Hi Sylvia (Happy Holidays!),
I think your question is certainly an interesting one.
"How Fast Is Too Fast?" is a question, I feel is easily answered...your horse will tell you. I am of the opinion that your horse will ALWAYS tell you when 'fast is too fast'. Each of our horses will let us know that in different ways. With your experience, I am sure you are in tune with how your new horse "speaks" to you. Just listen to 'im.
"How Fast is Too Fast...For A New Fifty Mile Prospect?" is, in my opinion, just a tiny bit different, but not greatly different.
I am one of those riders who conditions at X mph, X terrain and concussion, X ambient weather condtions, etc. I stay pretty well aware of those, and other, things when I condition, then with a horse with less than two years of actual attendance at endurance rides, I factor the same things into the ride at the ride site and then ride about one to one and a half miles an hour more slowly than my conditioning rides for about three hundred miles of competition, and then, as the horse gets more fit, I actually will increase the duration in trot (without nudging up to "extended" trot), and adding a slow canter here and there. My concerns with a new endurance horse is like the Hippocratic Oathe..."...first, do no harm"....then, I feel, the horse can start to grow, harden and become an endurance horse.
The analogy I use is...I know about how much air to blow into a balloon before it will pop and I usually blow it up with that in mind and then I release just a touch of air to help ensure if something untoward happens, the balloon won't blow up in my face.
Good Luck, Sylvia...the nights are getting shorter as we speak!
As for "experienced riders" or "vets" being able to ride 5 year-olds fast (10 mph for a fifty) during their first endurance rides......ain't right. I don't care who the rider or vet might be....the horse REMAINS a five year-old. Ain't about who's on top....it's whose feet are doin' the work. (for me, anyway.)
