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I?ve read Ivers for many years and he does answer some these questions by 
establishing parameters that can be measured.  For instance, in this 
sentence for one of his earlier posts about resting heart rates:   Over the 
very long term, years rather than months, yes, but not real useful, say, 
over a period of 6 months. On the other hand, RHR can be very usefull in 
picking up the signs of exercise intolerance, injury, disease or 
overtraining (insufficient  recovery/nutritional support between hard 
exercises).

His idea of measuring overtraining can be done two ways, one is above 
mentioned of tracking RHR, another would be tracking the weight of the 
horse.  Why?  The idea (as I understand) it is this: during training the 
horse is developing muscle, and should either gain weight or maintain 
weight.  Building muscle is described as anabolic.  If the horse is losing 
weight, it could mean that the horse has become catabolic, ie, breaking down 
muscle instead of building muscle.  Tom defines overtraining as 
?insufficient  recovery/nutritional support between hard exercise.?  The 
horse is not getting adequate nutrition to support the needs of athletic 
training.  This is measured by tracking the animal?s weight.

How do you know the animal?s diet is right?  By having the feed analyzed and 
balanced.  It is not enough to say, a feed manufacturer said my diet is 
good.   How good is it?  What is the total protein percentage, what is the 
total fat percentage, what is the total carbhydrate percentage, what are the 
mineral ratios, what nutrients are missing?  By having the diet analyzed and 
balanced you know instead of having to guess.

By having the feet x-rayed you know if your horse?s bony columns line up 
right, you don?t have to guess.

As for reading books of human athletic training applying to horses let me 
offer this small example.  I didn?t really understand the concepts and use 
of using a HRM until I read a book called ?Sally Edwards' Heart Zone 
Training: Exercise Smart, Stay Fit and Live Longer.?  This book helped to 
understand the concepts of HRM training, so as to be able to apply them to 
my horse. Books can also explain theories like periodization and tapering.

Ivers just doesn?t want people to use ?scientific? methods to train, he 
emphasizes that without ways to measure the progress, one is training in the 
?dark? and can?t really know if the training is effective.  Thus, the use of 
daily training logs, feed analyses and other record keeping.

Last but not least, I feet that Tom respects good horsemanship, ie, the 
subjective part of training horses, but wants the science to go hand in hand 
with it.   Athletic horses need both, and I agree.

Applying this knowledge has been the challenge for me, it?s not easy and can 
be expensive.  So one must do the best they can and continue to work forward 
one small step at a time.

Cheers,
Maureen



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