At some point after the horse has developed good strong connective
tissue and bone, the quality of the exercise is more important than the
quantity. A young horse starting out need lots of long slow miles on a
regular basis - preferably every other day. Working up to slowly adding
more distance and more speed ( more trotting and less walking). This is
a slow process and should not be rushed. The time required will depend
on a lot of factors, the age of the horse, experience of the horse,
conformation of the horse, etc.
Personally after the horse has his basic long slow distance training, I
rely on recoveries to monitor the condition, e.g. trot a half an hour
at 120 BPM and see how fast he recovers. Recovers too fast add more
time at the trot, too slow back off, just right keep the time and
speed. Then do the same at 140 bpm.
When I was riding 100's on the mare I never rode more than 30 to 35
miles a week (two five to seven mile gallops, sometimes fast gallops,
during the week and a longer ride on the weekend) and that was the off
weeks when there were not rides within plus/minus a week. When we did
train it was mostly a brisk pace with half mile to mile full out
gallops in deep sand up hill thrown in. If there was a ride within
plus/minus a week the long ride would be an easy ride.
I'd also throw in a "standard exercise test" on a regular basis to see
how she was doing. For example put her at 140 on the HRM for a fixed
distance say 5 miles and see how fast she does it (velocity at 140, or
v140). This is always done on the same stretch of trail. By keeping a
record I knew how she was doing. If the v140 was faster or the same
then she is doing well, if she starts to take longer or v140 is
decreasing then we are probably over training or have some other issue
so more rest is indicated.
Truman
larry Miller wrote:
Christina, a rule of thumb is to
ride the number of miles you want to do every week. ie, 25 miles for a
25 mile ride, 50 miles for a 50 mile ride. There are other things one
can do too if it is impossible to get on the number of miles that one
wants. Sprints being one of the options. But you aren't ready for
sprints yet. LSD(long slow distance) is the name of the game when
starting out. Jeanie
-- "It is necessary to be noble, and yet take humility as a basis
"It
is necessary to be noble, and yet
take humility as a basis.
It is necessary
to be exalted, and yet take modesty as a foundation."
