Hot Laps

Terrain: Easy

Distance: 6.25 miles

Avg Speed: 5mph

On Saturday, I had planned to trailer out for a good long ride. We had many people coming over for a barbecue, and I wanted to get the nutso boys (aka the big dogs) worn out so that they would be less inclined to misbehave. Well, my son called, needing to borrow the horse trailer to help a friend move. What could I say? Of course I let him use it.

So that meant I had to ride at home. I got my saddle and other gear out of the trailer tack room, and rode what I call hot laps. . Unfortunately I forgot to get my stethoscope out of the trailer, so I don't have heart rate data for Hoss for this ride. There's about two and half miles of dirt road in a "lap" just out from our ranch. Once again I hoped to go faster than I ended up going. Darned dogs can't seem to keep up in this heat! They are black, so I suppose I can't blame them, and since the ride was for "their" benefit (or my guests' depending on how you view it), it really wasn't a big deal.

Hot laps at home can be very fast. It's all dirt roads, nice and wide, and nothing technical. The only thing we have to worry about is the occasional car or truck or dirt bike. Hoss has gotten pretty accustomed to these "obstacles," so we generally do pretty well. The dirt bikes he's not as good about. While we were riding, a fellow on a dirt bike came hotting along, saw us, and decided to turn around to get out of our way. In the process of doing so, he cut a small track in the road, at which Hoss looked suspiciously on his way by in both directions.

Hoss always seems to finish these home rides with a high heart rate and respiration. At home, he goes much faster than he does when we ride elsewhere. It's an interesting phenomenon. At home, he can walk a good 4.5 to 5 mph. On other trails, I have to work to keep him up at 3 mph! I've ridden rent string horses that walked faster! The only time I don't have to go to the extra effort to keep his walk speed up is when we are riding with another horse. Then he'll keep his speed up! He doesn't want to get left behind. Of course, if he gets in the lead, he slows right back down. He also has a nice 7.5mph trot that I'd like to get him doing consistently. But, when he's alone (in the sense that there are no other horses on the trail), he wants to slow down to 6.5mph or less. Just like walking, if he gets in the lead, he slows down, as well. Now, I know he can keep up a fast trot. At Git-R-Done, he was consistently trotting 8 to 10 mph, particularly on the first, 22 mile loop. Even on the last, 8 mile loop, riding by ourselves, he kept up a good rate of speed, going consistently 7.5 to 8.5 mph. So the challenge is getting him to be consistent in training. This is probably the biggest problem faced by endurance riders. Horses like to be in groups. Riding alone is a little boring. Also, many horses will drop to what they consider a "comfortable" pace when not motivated. This is not avoidance of work, just a lack of motivation.

The truth is that I don't have to condition him at high speeds in order to get him fit to go at those speeds at endurance rides. I've known horses that competed in endurance rides that were ridden at a strict walk during all conditioning. This sort of seems like walking to get ready for a marathon, which we know doesn't work for people. Horses, though, get very fit easily and hold that fitness much better than humans do. I could let my retired endurance horse sit for 6 months, take him out of the pasture, and ride him in a 25 mile ride with no concerns that he would be unable to finish. My concern would be for my safety after having him stand for 6 months and letting him get nuts! Hoss could do that, too. Indeed, most horses could be hauled out of the pasture and finish a careful 25 mile ride, even if they've been standing at pasture for a year or more. Kept in a 24x24 corral, however, this really isn't true. A horse at pasture will move quite a bit on his own accord, and therefore stay fitter than a horse in a corral will.

All in all, not a bad ride despite being slower than I'd like. Hopefully it'll cool off and these durned dogs will start being able to keep up again!