having it all

[Chelle Sherman <cms@fluent.com>]

Hello out there! Who among you manages to condition and compete while
juggling a full time job and young kids? I'm an aspiring endurance rider
and I'm trying like hell to get my horse in condition so I can do some
LDs this year and maybe a couple of 50's and multi-day LDs next year. I
really want to do this, but I'm having a heck of a time getting a good
base on my mare. She is 7 and last year was her first year competing,
although she had a bit of a conditioning base from previous race
training. She is turned out 24/7 and does LOTS of moving around in the
pasture. We built enough base to do some 30 mile CTRs last year, then
she had a couple of months off, a Winter of groundwork and dressage
indoors, and now I'm trying to start up with trail conditioning again.
My questions are these:

- what schedule do you follow to bring a horse up to the level where it
can do LDs comfortably? I'm looking for specifics here (feel free to
mail me privately if you like) - how many miles, what speeds, how many
times a week? When do you fit your rides in?

- any gems of wisdom on handling the job/family/riding juggling act?
What works for you? Do you ride in the dark? Get up at 4 a.m.? Only do
long rides on the weekends?

Should I just give it up until my kids are teenagers? (that's ten years
away)

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Chelle



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