Re: [RC] Yet another "newbie" question - Chris Paus
"J. Reynolds" <jackereynolds@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Can someone link me to the "rules" for an LD ride? I have a few questions too.
1) On a 25 mile LD (first ride for horse and rider) what is the pace mph expected to finish in time. Or does it depend on the individual ride? Just wanting to know the speed to pace my horse for training purposes. At the walk we average just over 4 mph now, at the trot she matches most horses canter, but her trot is very tiring to ride over the long haul. One of those big old park horse show ring trots...We can do it, but I have to break it up in segments. Walk awhile, trot awhile.
**You need to speed it up a little. You need to do 4.79 mph, nealry 5 mph, to finish. How fast you have to go will depend on how long your
hold time is. Most LDs now use a 45 mn hold time.
**The entire time allotted for a 25 mile LD is 6 hours. Deducting your hold time of 45 min, you have 5:15 of actual ride time available.
**As for the gait you ride at, I break it up a lot for me because of my bad knee. I just can't sustain a posting trot for long. We will walk, trot or canter depending on the terrain.
2) Are the riders at an LD grouped together and competing against the other riders in the group, or are they only competing for completion? Do all the riders just get a completion or are the ranked by placing?
**Yes, they all have the same amount of time. The clock starts ticking when the RM says the trail is open. You can hold your horse back and not start with the big group, which is what I do. But then you lose those minutes of available ride time. Everyone is sent out at
once. It can be quite a traffic jam if you get up with the "hot shoes," the people who are running up front. I would seriously suggest you not get caught up with the front runners. they'll run the legs off your horse and finish 25 in about 2 hours. Your horse is not seasoned enough for that. Your horse will want to do what the other horses are doing. so it's best to buddy up with a rider who goes at the pace that is comfortable for you and your horse.
**Some RMs just do completions for LD. Others do rank in order, give a top 10 award. Everyone 11 and beyond; just gets completion.
3) Any tips on getting the horse to relax when being checked over by the vets? My mare has some trust issues with strangers. She lets me handle her fine, but not sure how she will be with having her head handled by the vet...ideas? Of course she is a lot more calm after ten miles or so.
**Start handling her head a lot. Look in her mouth, her eyes. Press her gums. Have a friend do it also.
4) Puddin' has done 35 miles per week + since May. Last week she did almost 50 miles...would you consider she has enough of a conditioning base on her to go to a three day per week conditioning schedule (vs. the five day I have been doing ) now? I was thinking a couple of fast eight mile rides weekday evenings, and a long slow ride every weekend from now until October? Don't want to use her up, and she is barefoot so as the long ride mileage increases want to assure I have hoof to keep pace.
**I think your training schedule is fine. Yes, you might want to speed up some shorter distances. Endurance vets will suggest you train every other day and mix it up.. some days fast, flat work. Some days slower technical work. The reason for every other day is the same
reason that people at the gym work out different body parts every other day. Every time you are working, muscle fibers are sustaining little tears, the lungs expand a little more, the heart beats a little harder. You need a day of recovery time for that to rebuilt. That's what remodels muscle and bone.. the little micro tears that rebuild.
Old Puddin' did her first 20 mile training ride yesterday. All seemed to go well. All you 50/100 mile riders have my serious respect. I've worked hard since spring conditioning this old broodmare who is starting to turn into a trail horse (when the lions and bears aren't waiting to pounce on her in the woods) *LOL*
Thanks for the input and encouragement.
**Good luck.
Jacke
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