Re: RC: riding just before a competition

[Tivers@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/11/99 9:29:56 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
casbeer@molalla.net writes:

<< Hi all, I'm fairly new at all this, it's my first year doing 50's.  
 My mentors (riding buddies with years of experience) do not ride 
 their horses for a week before a competition, but do warm them up 
 before the ride.  Then I see about half the competitors riding on 
 Friday night, some of them for quite a while.
 I normally lead my horse around for about 1/2 hour to stretch her 
 legs, eat grass, etc.  We travel about 3 hours to get to most rides, 
 and she has a 20x20 pen to move around in all night.  
 Pro's, con's, advice on this would be great!
 
 Brenda >>

Not riding at all for a week before a ride is not a good idea, for a half 
dozen reasons; the possibility of encouraging tying up is one of them. 
Tapering the workload IS a good idea, allowing the horse to top off his gas 
tank and hormonal systems. The beneficial effects of a warmup last for about 
4 hours. Warming up the night before probably has little event-specific 
benefit, other than as a continuing regimen of "stay loose" exercise.  As far 
as shipping, get there as early as possible--on the day of competitio, you 
want the horse as relaxed and professional as possible--you don't want her 
squirreling around a pen all night trying to work off the stressors of the 
trip.

ti


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