[drivingpairs] Re: Question

Some thoughts from my personnel experience on condition horses. 

I have found that not working a horses for a period of time before an event 
may be actually better for the horses. That is based on our keeping our horses 
out 24 hours a day.  When I was doing CDE's I  would let the horses off a 
couple of weeks before an event. They went better and generally had some of the 
best PRs on the cross country.

A had an extreme example of that many years ago when preparing for the 25th 
100 mile Tevis Ride. The horse I was preparing got a bad stone bruise and was 
out just a week before the Tevis. The person who had help me prepare my horse 
had also prepared one for herself. She was concerned about starting in the dark 
& etc. So I pulled, Sonny,  a steeplechase / hunt horse out of pasture that 
had not been ridden for two months but had been in excellent condition before 
that. The plan was to ride only the first 15 miles and drop out and allow the 
other rider to go on. 

Sonny not only finished that Tevis, but had excellent PRs and the next day 
was sound, not sore and ready to go again. The head vet for that years Tevis, 
Jim Steere had encouraged me to start, and said that the horse on the next day 
was one of the horses that was in the best condition following the ride. WE did 
take it easy.

I am now agree with Doc Jim Steere and believe in general that we tend to 
over train the horses. Now, before any major coaching event, my horses will get 
two weeks off.

PS: Doc Steere celebrated his 80th birth year last year by finishing both The 
Ride and Tie and the Tevis! I bow to his knowledge on conditioning horses and 
humans.

Doug Kemmerer
Middleburg, VA


In a message dated 2/25/2006 11:01:20 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
TRoss24@xxxxxxx writes:
Just trying to make a decision here and need some advice before doing so. My 
husband and I were planning to compete at the Georgia CDE. I got a call from 
my son asking me to fly to the midwest to babysit while he and his wife go to 
Hawaii on a business trip. I could'nt turn them down. This means however that I 
would return home and then have to leave the following day or day after to go 
to the CDE. To make a long story short, my horse would be out of training, up 
to 2 weeks before competing. It may be possible to have someone jog him for 
30 min or so every other day but no real training will be going on. So now I am 
wondering if I should even try to go to the CDE or maybe just go as a 
volunteer. Any advice would certainly be appreciated. 

Thanks,
margaret

Other related posts: