Detraining

I've noted several times the Kieran McGlaughlin theory of training with regards to the question "how often" do we send our horses to the track, as expressed by the "noted" trainer when he was still an assistant with D.W. Lukas:

"Why gallop 6 days a week when 4 will do...why breeze 6f when 4f is just as good?" or something to that effect. I've forgotten the exact quote.

Only a confirmed couch potato as McGlaughlin would have such a conception of training athletes, but, it's a legitimate question that we should deal with. Why do more than the minimum that you can absolutely get away with, particularly in light of how much trouble it really is for each horse to spend that 10 minutes on the track--and I make that statement having just spent from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. exercising two horses. This included shoeing one hoof, but, still, a lot of time. Why?

To answer the question it helps to draw out a few concepts from human exercise physiology. In this post I'll deal with "detraining" or "deconditioning" as it's sometimes called. I'm unable to say it any better than this from an unknown source:

"Hi Alice,

Why does it take me about six months to get really fit, then only about two weeks for my fitness level to decline? I would have thought it'd take the same amount of time to lose fitness as gain it.

Thanks,
Fitness Freak

Dear Fitness Freak:

Fitness industry professionals call the phenomenon you are describing DETRAINING. Basically, if someone trains aerobically or anaeorbically his/her body produces more enzymes for the muscles to grow an dbe maintained. When he/she stops working out, however, these enzymes break down, leading to muscle atrophy. This can occur as soon as one-and-a half weeks after a person stops training or being physically active. Within two weeks, an individual can lose up to 80 percent of his/her gains.

Detraining can be influenced by fitness level, how long and intensely one has been exercising, and the length of inactivity. Studies conducted on aerobic fitness have shown that fit people who exercised consistently for a year and then stopped exercising for three months lost half of their aerobic fitness during their hiatus. The researchers also found that those who just begun an exercise program, who were exercising for 2 months and then stopped for 2 months, however, lost all of the cardiovascular gains they had previously made.

/s/ Alice"

Next time you hear someone declaring 10 days out from the race, he's fit, that's all he needs, or the tubby trainer of Invasor pontificating why gallop 6 days when 4 will do, consider the concept of Detraining.

Training:
Art: Riderless in mud--about 5 x 3f as fast as conditions allowed + 10 min. walk-trot in pasture under tack. The pasture work going slower than expected. This horse has showed such a compliant demeanor that we've had zero trouble to date under tack. First horse Nob has broken and he has yet to hit the ground, knock on wood. But, right now in open pasture the horse suddenly is quite a bit more feisty that we expected, and so we're taking it slow, but, Nob says a big breakthrough will happen next few days.
Y: Only had time to run him riderless in the mud with the oldsters. He was removed after 7 or 8 min. of gentle gallop. Deep mud. Learned my lesson with these yearlings last year, which is take it easy on bad ground.