> I've been reading the conditioning advice from Wendy. It makes great =
> sense to me. I have some questions though. My endurance mount is a 16.2 TB
> mare. =
>She has a resting pulse rate of 32 (taken at vet check in) and a good =
>racing=20
>condition resting pulse rate of 25. She also recovers very quickly when =
>in condition. But I remenber reading the 15-15-15 rule. My mare can do =
>that the 1st day of riding after 6 months off. If I step up my pace at =
>this point, what harm
>can I do to possibly unready tendons and ligaments? Or are they ready?
>How do you tell when they are ready? Doesn't the cardiovascular system, =
>condition faster? If we condition by heart rate, could we possibly be =
>hurting muscles,ligaments and tendons?
There are a couple of things to consider here.
Mare is a TB.
Resting heart rate is 32, or 25 in good condition.
You didn't mention the age, but will go with a horse that isn't too
young or old:-)
Because the heart rate is low to begin with, you need to modify just
about all the numbers. Your horse is starting with a rate of 8 which
is low low low for an unconditioned horse. And she moves down to below
7 almost 6 when conditioned.
I would guess if you put a heart rate monitor on this horse that you would
find she doesn't get as high as other horses. This means you must also
watch carefull those limits that people will tell you - aerobic goes to
a certain number, then anaerobic kicks in - slow down if you get above
a certain number, etc. For your horse, you'll have to work out the
numbers for yourself.
15/15/15 - this is a rate of 15 in 15 seconds after a 15 minute cool
down, or stop. For most horses this is fine. It is conservative as
well. A conditioned horse will be able to reach the 15 mark in a couple
of minutes.
Percentages. If a horse's heart rate is 10 at rest, then the 15 rate
is 50% above normal. Your horse has a rate of 8, at 12 it is 50% above
normal. I would use this rate instead of the 15.
Heart rate indicates several things: how hard is the horse's heart
working at pumping the blood, and how stressed the horse is. Think
about yourself. You are going into a very important meeting that will
determin your future. What's your heart rate like? Or, you are in
pain from a broken leg. Now where's your heart rate? In most cases
the rate will be high. The same goes for a horse. When the horse's
heart is running efficiently, it will beat at 8-12 beats per 15 second.
Now put that horse into a stressful situation - the start of a ride -
and the heart rate will go very high. Also, if the horse is in pain,
the heart rate will go up. Unfortunately for us, by the time we
notice that the heart rate is high, we are too late to prevent damage
that caused the rate to go high. But it is an indication that you
should be aware of.
How can you be sure that the body of the horse is ready for more work?
Without lots of technical equipment, you probably can't be sure.
Instead, look at the horse the day after a long ride. Is the horse
willing to continue to work? Is the horse moving freely and without
noticable pain? Are the legs free of swelling? If you do a day of
ring work the day after, can you get good carriage, pushing from the
back end, lateral movements, free and easy swinging gaits? And do you
get all this consistently, week in and week out?
Some things you can not push regardless of what the heart rate says.
It always takes 5 years for the bones to get density. It always takes
2 years for the tendons and ligaments to get their strength. But,
by carefully stressing the bones and ligaments a little at a time,
we can guide our horses to the maximum potential. You can get a
horse ready for a limited distance ride in 4 to 6 months. You'll
have to do the ride conservatively. If you are going for 100 mile
rides, you'll need many years to work your horse up to that level.
For a horse with a low heart rate, I'd work more on the LSD than
anything else. Many more miles rather than faster miles. And don't
forget doing ring work in not too deep sand or soft footing.
To push the limits, ride just a little more, a little further, a little
faster than you did last week. How much is a little is highly variable
with the horse.
-- Wendy\|/ /\ -O- /**\ /|\ /****\ /\ / \ /**\ Here there be dragons / /\ / \ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\/\/\ /\ / / \ / \ / \/\/ \/ \ /\/ \/\ /\ /\/ / / \/ \ / / \/ /\ \ / \ \ / \/ / / \/ \/ \ / \ \ / / \/ \/\ \ / \ / / \ __/__/_______/___/__\___\__________________________________________________
Wendy Milner HPDesk: wendy_milner@hp4000 Hewlett-Packard Company e-mail: wendy@fc.hp.com Mail Stop A2 Telnet: 229-2182 3404 E. Harmony Rd. AT&T: (970) 229-2182 Fort Collins, CO, 80525 FAX: (970) 229-2038