Re: LSD Training, Stupid Questions

Tivers@aol.com
Wed, 20 Nov 1996 20:16:50 -0500

In a message dated 96-11-20 19:53:21 EST, you write:
Karen:
<< Try as I might, no matter how long or how steep or how fast we go up a
hill,
I can't get one of my horses HR to get up to 200. Maybe it does, and the
monitor doesn't catch it, and by then it drops again? Anyway, we cruise up
a pretty long steep hill, sorry I can't give length, altitude, grade, etc.
It takes is a full 10-12 minutes at a nice crusing trot (my other horse
would have to canter to keep up), and even when I push him hard up the
steepest part when we get to the top and keep going he stays at a maximum
steady rate of 186. Is it important for me to push him harder? Carry more
weight? >>

No! Now we're into another facet of heartrates--some horses have lower
maximal heartrates than others. this is why recovery heartrates can be much
more important than "at work" heartrates. Your horse may be maxing out at
186. When training thoroughbreds, we like to see high revs in our horses--or
at least the ability to run that engine up at maximal effort. But if those
high revs are accompanied by high recoveries, we know we have a lot of
conditioning to do. High revs generally translate to speed on the
racetrack--low recoveries to staying power.

ti