Re: endurance & young horses

["Linda Van Ceylon" <equine_athletes@hotmail.com>]

>Date: Thu, 08 Jan 1998 07:22:01 -0700
>From: Jim and Jo <JandKJ@netcom.ca>
>To: ridecamp@endurance.net
>Subject: endurance & young horses
>
>Hi,
>
>How much training do you think should go into a 3.5 year old Arab? He
>was started in ground work 2 months ago and in riding 1 month ago. We
>have just started a bit of trotting during our rides as well.
>
>Would you train a 3.5 year old to do 25 mile endurance races (not to
>race them, just to compete) or is that too much as well? Any opinions
>would be appreciated!
>
>Thanks,
>Jo

Hi Jo,

Horses under the age of 48 months are not allowed to participate in 
Limited Distance (25 milers are not considered an "endurance race").  
However, as long as the you train you horse slowly and put plenty of 
long slow conditioning on him, he should be ready to go do a 25 miler 
when he reaches 4 years old.  You should add more trotting in little 
increments.  There are plenty of posts on "how to condition a young 
horse" in the ride camp archives.

Remember, the first two years of competition should be used to put your 
foundation on your horse.  This means you won't "race" (i prefer to call 
them rides) for at least two years.  That does not mean you will poke 
along either, but your plan should be to finish a ride with a horse that 
has lots of energy left and who is willing to go on.  The reason for 
this is that the harder tissues, tendon, ligament, bone, take much 
longer to condition than muscle.  The average Arabian can go out and 
"win" a 25 or 50 mile "race" with very little conditioning.  However, 
they will NOT stay sound, year after year, using that technique.  Not to 
mention you've trained their brain to "race", not listen to the rider.  
The brain is a very difficult organ to retrain.

You should use your competions to build up the horse through progressive 
loading, not to tear him down.  This is done by pre-planning the speed 
you plan to ride the course, given the length of the ride and the 
difficulty of the terrain.  This technique should be working for you on 
the training trails too.

MNTBHO     

Lindavan, Buhni, Sunny, Fiddler, Rabbit & Rain Maker
Equine Athletes <equine_athletes@hotmail.com>
2921 Moore Lane, Fort Collins, CO  80526
970-226-1099


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