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Re: [RC] How many miles a week? - heidiJust curious how many miles a week you guys ride in order to condition your horse for 25/50/100 miler. On another list I belong to (not endurance-related), someone said that their vet recommended riding the same number of miles per week as you want to compete (so, if you wanted to do 50 mile rides, you would ride 50 miles per week). On average, I ride about 25 miles per week, split into two short rides and one longer ride. That is PLENTY for most horses to get ready for 50s, IMO. I don't alter that for 100s--instead, we just start doing longer competitions. (Have not worked my way up to a 100 in my "second" incarnation as a rider, but did several on that same formula in my "first" incarnation. AM up to 75 again, though--and I don't alter my program.) I know there are other considerations besides milage to consider: speed, weather, terrain, etc. I'm just trying to get a handle on how much time it takes if you want to condition for 50 milers or even 100 milers, and if it is plausible to be able to do it when you have a demanding full time job and don't have direct access to trails (have to trailer out to trails). I've been lucky to have good trail access most of the time, but did campaign very hard one year (including several 100s and a total season mileage of well over 1000) while working about 60 hours a week in veterinary practice--the general schedule was a 5-7 mile ride every Tuesday and Thursday (as I was riding a mare who NEEDED a regular schedule--not all of them do!) and a somewhat longer ride on Saturdays. On ride weekends, obviously the competition itself became the "longer" ride on Saturdays... Also, once you actually start the competitive season, how much riding do you do to maintain your horse's fitness? Depends on the horse. The above mare NEEDED a regular schedule. My stallion Abu Ben Surrabu did 1000+ miles in just under 6 months, and was better off to just be turned out to be a horse in between rides when he was competing that frequently. He stayed active, and did better with the time off than with excessive drilling down the trails. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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