Intermission, The Amart Review
Asmussen has injured his Derby prospect. What a surprise! Good intro to my next section on conventional training.
But, before I get to that, thought I'd take a breath and review where we are with little Amart, code named Art, who has grown exactly zero centimeters since his little growth spurt in early November(We're at 15'2"+). Now, I will admit it. You have to use a little imagination to see a Derby prospect here. RR convinces himself in the following manner. We have a talk with his dam, Nipsit who informs us " do you not see some tokens of my sire in the small composition of this boy?" Indeed. An impolite observer might say little Art is a small, dumpy "just a horse sort" similar to Nipsit's sire the D. Wayne Lukas trained (had to get that in there) Deposit Ticket, who may qualify as one of the ugliest successful two year olds of all time. Judging little Art's appearance one could say that Nipsit likely was a chip off the same block.
Now, viewing from another angle and stretching one's mind a bit, you can see a little Private Account-Damascus stuff, particularly the thin legs and the way they attach. A definite route horse here, but, and this will get one all excited, with a Storm Cat rump and strong shoulders. There is also the five finger jaw and superb breathing ability. During sprints we are without any nasal sounds at all from little Art. The slightly long Nijinsky II (3rd damsire) pasterns still cause concern.
The dumpy appearance changes when the horse moves. He's graceful, strong and a decent athlete. There's a little raw talent there, as you might expect from the gene mix. As most decent race horses, he looks bigger under tack, and the under tack stride looks good. He's got a long stride and he's quick. Art shows good energy, and spends the day perstering his buddies by going from one to another nipping at their hocks. Probably got that from his momma, the appropriately named Nipsit.
Where are we in the training? Next week Art will have been on the farm three months, and he's been training since day one. We've been using Preston Burch style training, and, despite bad weather since late November, we have managed some sort of fast work almost every three days. The appearance of the horse is beginning to show the work.
I'd calculate that we have just completed, let's call it, Stage O, and we're ready to enter Stage I. Call Stage O a strenghtening process (the horse arrived very weak), and injury avoidance emphasis. Most of the exercise has been in the nature of play with the little fellow leading the way. When he got tired, which is always way before the older horses, we quit.
I'm thinking the next stage should last to about the first of April, two months. To date, we can safely run the horse riderless (and, he was doing this under 30 lbs Astride before Xmas) 1-2f full speed. By April hopefully we'll be doing the following sort of workout at full speed: 1f, 2f, 3f with rests in between under 50 Lbs Astride, which is equivalent to 100 lbs rider. The plan would be that the horse would also be trotting around the premises under control under tack, and we would be ready to commence gallops and make trips to the race track. We'll continue to give speed work every three days and do what is deemed appropriate in between. Mr. Nob himself is in full training trying to reduce rider weight from 162 lbs to 150. I have to train Nob harder than the horse. I'll post today's training later. I'm hoping to get a fast pasture romp under 20 lbs Astride.
1/18/07 Day 1: Rest. No tack work--weather.
1/19/07 Day 2: 15 min. lope--trot, canter, some walk without stopping under 30 lbs Astride. No tack work--weather
1/20/07: Day 3: One of those days RR just wanted to avoid getting out there. When I did go the ground was hard and crunchy under half inch of snow, and it was snowing pretty hard as we worked. I passed on the Astride due to the weather. We did get a few bursts of speed, so it qualifies as a fast day, but, all in all, the little fellow was failing to self start today, and kept glueing himself to a horse that was hanging back. However, I missed the first heat as I was at bottom of the hill, and Art burst over the hill out of my sight. By the time I got to the top they were three furlongs over with Art still in front, but slow galloping. Unknown how long that one was, but, may have been 2f. 18 min from start to finish, of mostly some running with 3 or 4 90% 1f bursts, and maybe one 2f all out. They probably covered three miles, all in all.
But, before I get to that, thought I'd take a breath and review where we are with little Amart, code named Art, who has grown exactly zero centimeters since his little growth spurt in early November(We're at 15'2"+). Now, I will admit it. You have to use a little imagination to see a Derby prospect here. RR convinces himself in the following manner. We have a talk with his dam, Nipsit who informs us " do you not see some tokens of my sire in the small composition of this boy?" Indeed. An impolite observer might say little Art is a small, dumpy "just a horse sort" similar to Nipsit's sire the D. Wayne Lukas trained (had to get that in there) Deposit Ticket, who may qualify as one of the ugliest successful two year olds of all time. Judging little Art's appearance one could say that Nipsit likely was a chip off the same block.
Now, viewing from another angle and stretching one's mind a bit, you can see a little Private Account-Damascus stuff, particularly the thin legs and the way they attach. A definite route horse here, but, and this will get one all excited, with a Storm Cat rump and strong shoulders. There is also the five finger jaw and superb breathing ability. During sprints we are without any nasal sounds at all from little Art. The slightly long Nijinsky II (3rd damsire) pasterns still cause concern.
The dumpy appearance changes when the horse moves. He's graceful, strong and a decent athlete. There's a little raw talent there, as you might expect from the gene mix. As most decent race horses, he looks bigger under tack, and the under tack stride looks good. He's got a long stride and he's quick. Art shows good energy, and spends the day perstering his buddies by going from one to another nipping at their hocks. Probably got that from his momma, the appropriately named Nipsit.
Where are we in the training? Next week Art will have been on the farm three months, and he's been training since day one. We've been using Preston Burch style training, and, despite bad weather since late November, we have managed some sort of fast work almost every three days. The appearance of the horse is beginning to show the work.
I'd calculate that we have just completed, let's call it, Stage O, and we're ready to enter Stage I. Call Stage O a strenghtening process (the horse arrived very weak), and injury avoidance emphasis. Most of the exercise has been in the nature of play with the little fellow leading the way. When he got tired, which is always way before the older horses, we quit.
I'm thinking the next stage should last to about the first of April, two months. To date, we can safely run the horse riderless (and, he was doing this under 30 lbs Astride before Xmas) 1-2f full speed. By April hopefully we'll be doing the following sort of workout at full speed: 1f, 2f, 3f with rests in between under 50 Lbs Astride, which is equivalent to 100 lbs rider. The plan would be that the horse would also be trotting around the premises under control under tack, and we would be ready to commence gallops and make trips to the race track. We'll continue to give speed work every three days and do what is deemed appropriate in between. Mr. Nob himself is in full training trying to reduce rider weight from 162 lbs to 150. I have to train Nob harder than the horse. I'll post today's training later. I'm hoping to get a fast pasture romp under 20 lbs Astride.
1/18/07 Day 1: Rest. No tack work--weather.
1/19/07 Day 2: 15 min. lope--trot, canter, some walk without stopping under 30 lbs Astride. No tack work--weather
1/20/07: Day 3: One of those days RR just wanted to avoid getting out there. When I did go the ground was hard and crunchy under half inch of snow, and it was snowing pretty hard as we worked. I passed on the Astride due to the weather. We did get a few bursts of speed, so it qualifies as a fast day, but, all in all, the little fellow was failing to self start today, and kept glueing himself to a horse that was hanging back. However, I missed the first heat as I was at bottom of the hill, and Art burst over the hill out of my sight. By the time I got to the top they were three furlongs over with Art still in front, but slow galloping. Unknown how long that one was, but, may have been 2f. 18 min from start to finish, of mostly some running with 3 or 4 90% 1f bursts, and maybe one 2f all out. They probably covered three miles, all in all.
posted by rather rapid at
10:39 PM
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2 Comments:
"50 Lbs Astride, which is equivalent to 100 lbs rider."
????
Hello, KH. agree. really, i'd have the same q before i bought this astride. nice piece of equipment, by the way. You almost have to hold it to see how heavy 30 lbs is. When you see the horse in action it looks as if he's carrying a lot more than that. Burch preferred little jocks (shoemaker) saying dead weight was easier for the horse to carry cause its on the withers, the strongest part of the horse. I like little jocks too, but, unknown that I buy what Burch says. To me a balanced rider distributes his weight all over the horse. And, that's why i think the weight directly on the withers, as in the Astride, has a double effect. I'll know more when i put the 50 lbs on.
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