Before Moving On, A Short Summary

I'm posting these February photos as my reminder of winter 2007, the first one in 15 years and may the next be in 15.

The bottom photo shows the 75 x75 paddock were the horses exercise riderless and where Art works under tack. The outlines of the track can be seen. The track is covered with typical muddy depressions filled with water or ice.


With the pasture frozen solid, the paddock was all we had for day on day. It was passable by the horses, barely.

Since I'm a bit muted working on 3 hrs. sleep today, I'll just post a brief summary of what I've done on the blog before beginning the next topic.

My next topic, and it's incidentally interesting that Ravel was diagnosed today and is off the Derby trail, is to relate injuries to training. How exactly do the injuries happen?


This is all part of where I've been going with the blog. I started by explaining the training of my new then yearling Art. We're doing Preston Burch type training, or trying to.

Anticipating criticism for our training method, I set out to give the whys and wherefore. Identifying conventional training, producing a fair amount of proof that conventional training is non-competitive and horses in those stables get hurt. And then the qualification that some off the top new-old trainers seem to seguaying away from strict conventional training as I'd identified it.

But, it's one thing to observe and record that horses trained by conventional public trainers get hurt, and completely something else to relate the injuries to their cause. If you've read very carefully you'd note that on the blog I have yet to say that conventional training itself "causes" injuries. I'm about to do that, so stay tuned.

Today's Training:
3/19/07 Rest. RR traveling
3/20/07 Day 2 Burch: 6-7 min riderless in the above paddock. and ten min walking under tack.
3/21/07: Day 3 Burch: Significant day. First time I glanced at the horse and he looks like a horse instead of an overgrown weanling. Art has suddenly, seemingly overnight, morphed into a 15'3" "horse". Fairly impressive looking for $2600.00 purchase price, I must say. Still in process of strengthening after the 17 day layoff. Art was put in the Astride Paddock after the older's breezed, and they ran a little more with Art. Art was hardly into it today on the soft ground (rain), but, he did get probably 6-7 full one furlong spurts, I'm estimating at :13-:13.5 speed. This is our version of the two year old sales works. I held back a little and avoided driving. Worried about the detraining and effect on splint, sesamoid and knees. Have to be careful here all the time.