Re: Warm up time on training rides

[rides2far@juno.com (Angela C. McGhee)]

I ALWAYS walk the first 15 minutes.  Then, I trot a hundred yards or so,
then walk a little, then trot a little more, before I really take off. 
I've known too many endurance horses who were never kept in who tied up
at the start of a ride to think this is a good corner to cut.

I was kind of shocked this week when reading Nancy Loving's book when she
suggested that you might just walk the first part of a race rather than
do a full pre-race warm-up .  Yea Right!  I wouldn't recommend that to
anybody.  Anybody ever start a race slower than you planned?  Besides, if
the horse is fighting you and prancing, that's not a walk.  I warm up a
full 30 minutes before any competition.  Even a 100 where we started in
the dark.  Sure enough, we ended up trotting pretty hard right off the
bat.

Angie

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