Reviewing the Reviews

Oct. 2010 reviews the bone posts. At this point I am believing it is possible to make some plausible conclusions as to minimums in terms of frequency of speed work that will achieve fracture resistance and keep our horses healthy. I'll be putting this together over the next few posts.

From one of the reviews here is a succinct statement of what occurs: Thinking that in any given speed work these changes are minor instead of extensive. It is the accumulation of speed work that causes the changes, and, as bone matures in terms of FR there will be less and less positive change with each speed work!

Assuming a bone fit race horse going into the race, the changes in the bones from the race will be minor instead of extensive. As we keep breezing and keep racing we gain a little positive bone strength from each work. We analyze this in terms of frequency minimums as follows:

"We do educated guess work considering the nature of the materials. What is the situation with the individual bone fibril post race on day #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8 and so on."

The blog has speculated what does occur on each of those days post race in bone tissue, and this is what I'll put together in the coming posts. Possibly the most interesting points in terms of minimums lies in the differences in two approaches:

1. Todd Plecher--breezes ever 7 days but gives three weeks off of speed work post race.

2. Preston Burch--launches into the next speed work 3 days post race.

What may we conclude from such a contrast in training styles in terms of FR, next post.

Training:

Tues. 10/26: 4.5 miles riderless slow. Continuous

Wed. 10/27: about 6 p.m. New hind shoes applied, and just as we start the riderless work the old horse jumps the fence. Highest I've seen a horse jump. Breaks the rope holding the fence and they both launch into the pasture towards the trees. To close to dark to round 'em up.

We're going in the morning. Off

Thurs. 10/28: Morning. Best intentions go awry. It's 36 hrs. after the 4.5 mile riderless slow work. Lazy Rod is back. Has been back for a while. He refuses now to run with the older horse and holds himself back at every opportunity. Mr. Nob must sprint back and forth across the paddock hurling clods to keep him going. Getting to the stage where, when a clod makes contact, the horse looks back like "that hardly hurt at all". Thus, our attempt at riderless speed work this morning is very uneven. I kept 'em going way too long. Probably 3.5 miles in 4f -5f intervals where Rod (as opposed to our kamikaze older specimen) is dragging behind in :15s and :14s and goes to near full speed only for short spurts when closely threatened with a clod. This results in a way too long workout, and we decline tack work fearing the possibility of a pulled muscle. Will detail were we are training wise shortly.