Conditioning Ride 12-24-2011

HR: 36

HRR: 50

Distance: 7.9 miles

Avg Spd: 5.1 mph

Time: 1 hr, 40 min

I really wanted to get in a ride, despite knowing I would have to go in to town and brave the stores on Christmas Eve. I finally decided to get the ride in before getting everything else done. My other obligation for the day was the Candlelight Service at church. I had to be at church at 7:15pm.

I got Hoss and the boys loaded and we headed down to Hollenbeck Canyon for a good ride. I had originally wanted to get in 12 miles, but decided to just do the normal 8 mile trail. I had a lot to get done and not a whole lot of time to do it.

This time while setting up the HRM, I tried wetting Hoss's back and side with Gatorade to improve the odds I'd get a reading before we started working. At first it didn't seem to help, but by the time I had taken his heart rate with the stethoscope, the HRM had started reading. So it worked, but I found later his back was kinda sticky from the sugar in the Gatorade.

I decided to just go barefoot rather than deal with the boots. Hoss's feet were just long enough to deal with it, and knowing I'd have to trim him before we left for the ride, I figured this was a good way to get some of that excess hoof off without having to do it myself. It also meant I wouldn't have to clean his boots, and I already knew I'd have to soak and clean his Gloves before the ride.

Hoss was not particularly slowed by being barefoot. He was much more careful over the rocks. I wasn't going for any kind of speed, so this was okay. Besides, it was more about wearing down the dogs before we leave than anything else.

We made our way to the hill, and had a nice canter up the hill. I managed to keep him cantering over the berm he likes to use as an excuse to slow down. Once we reached the top, I dropped him back to a trot, and we kept trotting until we hit the cowboy gate.

After the cowboy gate, it's downhill for a bit before we could pick up the trot again for a while. Then it was back to the walk for the rest of the downhill, and then a little more trot before turning at the olive grove and heading downhill again.

At the bottom, Hoss wanted to keep walking where he'd usually want to trot. Probably a sign his feet were just a little sore. As soon as we got to the softer flat trail, however, he was more than happy to get his canter on.

I got him to keep up a good canter all the way around the hairpin turn back toward the meadow and the trailer.

Once we topped the rise after the hairpin turn, I let Hoss slow to a walk, and we picked up the trot on the gentle downhill toward the meadow. We turned at the icky water trough – which the dogs love but Hoss won't have anything to do with – and we'd usually stop to let the dogs get a drink, but Hoss wasn't having it. He wanted to keep going. It wasn't really a warm enough day the dogs needed a cooling off, anyway.

Since it was Christmas Eve and I had errands to run, I did not take the time to collect all the data I usually would. Besides, he walked in with a heart rate of 50. At that point, how far he dropped at 10 minutes was really unimportant!