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Agree on concussion. I use lime rock roads for that some. The only place 
I have found sand training lacking - not down hill but in mud. Both the 
horses I rode for long term were great downhill horses because the were 
naturally balanced and downhill is not big deal. The one condition an it 
was actually with only one of them was mud. The first time the Jbird hit 
bad mud we - pulled because he was struggling. The next year when he hit 
it again - no problem he actually was top 10 and handled it quite well. 
So it seemed more of getting introduced to it than having to spend a lot 
of time with it. The mare never had a problem with mud from day one.

As far as rocky trails - I've never had a problem. I've taken my sand 
horses out west and ridden with the natives. Some of them are tripping 
over rocks and need to walk as my horses trotted on through. The one 
thing sand has is exposed roots and some hidden roots. It also tends to 
have ruts and areas were it is looser than others. It really teaches 
them to watch their feet. Then when they hit rocks they already know how 
to watch where they are putting their feet.

I'd have to say that after riding in just about every condition if I had 
to pick just one training ground moderate to deep sugar sands seems to 
be it.

Truman

k s swigart wrote:
> Truman said:
>
>   
> > Sand is pretty much good training for just about any conditions.
> >     
>
> Sand is not particularly good training for building bone density to
> handle hard going, nor is it very good conditions for teaching a horse
> to be careful about where it is putting its feet.
>
> Personally, I wouldn't take a horse that I had only conditioned in sand
> and do a bunch of trotting down a paved road.  Lots of trotting down a
> paved road is something you have to work up to by doing a little bit of
> trotting down a paved road, and then a little bit more and a little bit
> more.
>
> Same is true for crappy, holey, rocky and uneven footing.
>
> Sand is good for building muscle, a pretty good cardiovascular workout,
> and if done judiciously, good for strengthening ligaments and tendons in
> their normal range of motion (i.e. not laterally).
>
> Additionally, working in flat sand does not do anything for building the
> ability to do lots of trotting down hill, no matter what the footing,
> but especially if the footing is hard.  The only way to train for
> trotting down hill is to trot down hill.  Trotting down hill is an
> isometric exercise, and there is no way to simulate it, you have to do
> it.
>
> Downhill work in the sand will do it though.
>
> kat
> Orange County, Calif.
> :)
>
> "Le meilleur que je sais les hommes le plus que j'aime mon
> cheval."--Catherine the Great
>
>
>
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“It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how 
smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong” Richard 
Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics


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