Monday, December 08, 2008

Training

Bill--"everyone seems to be inconsistent with frequency"--it's looking a lot that way. I plan to include Bill O'Gorman's views on in season training of horses racing. As long as I've been at it I should know everything, lol, but possibly the answer on how frequently we need to go to avoid injury is an unknown that has yet to be established. So many things to consider obviously I'm going to try to stumble through this and come to some conclusions. Any insight you have is always appreciated. (unable to find anything on Abrams).

Meanwhile, another blow for expensive stallions as Briecat by Adcat (Korea) wins the Bayakoa. Does the appearance of this filly say anything about the training of Vladimir Cerin?

http://www.croatians.com/cerin.htm

Cerin is one I'd enjoy having a conversation with.

Back at ranch RR we're taking in the 40 degree+ weather over the last 4 days and bracing for what's coming in tomorrow. I'd at least like it warmer than Woodbine around here. I'll be doing an extensive report on my own stable soon.

Training:
Thurs. 12/4: Off
Fri. 12/5: Each horse does 1.7 miles slow tack work.
Sat. 12/6: Tack: Rod 1.7 miles of what passes for gallop at this point for the 2 year old. Art: 1.7 miles gallop but fails to switch to right lead on command, so, intermittent. Both horses then do 6f riderless speedwork all out. We limit distance with view to going tomorrow with good weather.
Sun: 12/7: normally would rest,but with weather coming in we decide to go on. Art: 1.7 miles gallop but again declines switching to right lead. Hmmm. We decide he possibly bruised his right hoof when we galloped on hard ground last Wed. Unknown. There seem to be no other problems but we're concerned about this easy switching horse suddenly refusing. Rod: does his best galloping to date 1.7 miles. Riderless, Rod only 2 miles slow. Art excused due to potential hoof problem.

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Food for thought....

Off the 'net:

"Cerin also tried interval training on his horses, believing he could optimize their performance by pushing his steeds to the next level of conditioning, but found that they became listless, out of sorts and unable to compete. He concluded that horses are so advanced from an evolutionary viewpoint that there's little we can do to improve them."

KH

12/8/08, 12:44 PM  
Blogger rather rapid said...

Interesting! I gave up Ivers partly over confusion as to what to do after racing commenced. But, I'd have to say that I've never myself seen IT make a horse listless or out of sorts. Enthusiatic and business like would be my adjectives. Can you improve them? $64 thousand $$$ Q. I was unable to improve my 12 year old a year ago with about 50 breezes every 3rd day. That sticks in my head. I kept swearing it would happen, though...

12/8/08, 2:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would be curious as to what constitutes 'interval training' to Cerin - I've seen some horsemen train their horses in 3 separate daily sessions and call that IT.
Plus I would imagine that when a trainer starts an IT schedule, he'll jump right into multiple breezes with a conventionally trained horse - no wonder they become 'listless'.

12/8/08, 2:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bill, I think you hit the nail on the head. Talking about IT or any other training is pretty much a waste of time unless you talk the specific details. Repetitions, ladder works, special endurance, intervals, tapering.... All these are nice fancy words but are clearly open to multiple interpretations and misinterpretations. It's easy to throw IT under the bus, and maybe it makes someone feel better about themselves, but it would be self evident that if your horses aren't performing better, it's not a good thing. Ivers was very good at examining the scenario of failed attempts and showing why they likely failed. This came across as "my way or the highway" to some, but I always took at is "you knucklehead, many people have screwed this up the same way you're about to, so take my advice and change what you're doing." If you could back up your methods with results, there was never an argument.
Very interesting re: what to do after racing. I seem to remember a comment from Ivers basically saying that what to do once racing and how to peak etc., is largely unstudied. There are thousands of trainers that have an opinion, but I can't say I've seen it boiled down in a way that makes sense. My gut tells me that trainers from other than North America have a better handle on this. You don't do quick turn arounds without confidence in your methods and expected results.
I read the Cerin remarks (which admittedly are 3rd hand) as disheartening and unimaginative. Sounds like he's lined up with the rest that ask owners to shovel money and what will be will be...That's putting words in his mouth, but hey, this is the internet. It's allowed isn't it?
;-)

KH

12/9/08, 9:20 AM  
Blogger Wind Gatherer said...

KH-HRTV had a thing on Cerin a while back and he discussed his disdain for interval training. He, I guess, has a degree in exercise physiology and tried to translate that into equine methods. It didn't work for him, he never stated what he tried, and so he dismissed it.

I find it telling, when, overseas, trainers use IT to great advantage.

Maybe the Grayson Jockey Club or some university could try a program of IT and report on findings. There is much that can be gained by incorporating those methods.

12/10/08, 10:18 AM  

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