Glad to see that you were happy with your ride at Foxcatcher. The weather sure turned out to be better than forecasted. I noticed that you were took it easy with Legs on this ride. What is the reason that you don't always compete for a fast time? I pushed Oreo at Sand Hills and I pushed him again at Foxcatcher. The rides were a month apart so I thought that was OK. Am I wrong? People keep talking to me about over conditioning and now I am starting to worry. Plus I have a problem with this upcoming weekend. I signed up for a pleasure ride, a fund raisier, at Massies Mill. It's a beautiful ride in the mountains. I've done it twice before, but on a different horse. Oreo has never been there. There is a long ride, 25 miles, and a short ride, 15 miles on Saturday and a short ride, 15 miles on Sunday. I am taking Oreo and I had planned to do the 25 mile on Sat and the 15 mile on Sunday. It will be at a slow pace, no cantering and little trotting. I was going to use the ride as a relaxing ride to re-introduce him to mountains this season. Do you think 40 miles is too much this weekend? I am giving him the whole week off, from Foxcatcher to next Saturday. Then I have the OD training ride on May 8th and Turkey Creek trot on May 29th. Nothing much in between. Is it too much? Appreciate your thoughts...................... Thanks................ |
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Hey Debbie,
I took it easy this past weekend because I have Biltmore in 2 weeks which is a super-tight turnaround, and i plan on pushing him to top 10 there. The goal was just to get a completion towards the National Championships and finish with plenty of horse left so I don't wear him out. You were fine to push Oreo this weekend, a month apart is good space for that.
Other reasons you would take it easy is if you had a young horse or a horse who is just starting to get into the sport. This is just as hard on their bodies as it is ours (if not harder), so you definitely want to ease them into the whole thing. I've had rides where it took me 8.5 hours to complete (Foxcatcher being one of them)! Also, many riders who just want the completion miles or certifications for FEI will go extra extra slow to ensure they complete and don't get a pull on their record.
I definitely would take it easy this weekend. I know he did great last weekend, but Foxcatcher was a really tough ride between the rock, mud, and hills and you don't want to exhaust him. If I weren't doing Biltmore, I would probably only take Legs on an easy walk-trot trail ride, less than 10 miles. As is, this weekend we're just going to be playing with the trailer, maybe do a little riding in the arena so he's not a total nutjob when I get on at the ride. Oreo is conditioned, he doesn't need to be doing 40-50 miles every weekend. Remember, the more riding you do the more risk to your horse as far as injury or over-training goes. Plus, he may just get burnt out on the whole thing.
You're good for the OD training and Turkey Creek, those are spaced fine. For OD, make sure you have good shoes, and if he has sensitive feet you'll want pads too. It's all rock and gravel road. Since you're doing both of those rides, I would only do light training in-between (10 miles, easy). He won't need much more than that since he's already fit, and like I said earlier, you don't want to burn him out!
Hope that helps!
~Sarah
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