Horse Around The Race Track
Rider and horse through the gap, without incidence, and onto the race track. At the Woodlands track entrance was located near the 3/16th pole and we entered the track counterclockwise heading to the finish line on the grand stand side.
Rider instructions are one mile of 2 min. gallop after the warm up. The trainer stands track side at a position permitting careful watching and evaluation with thoughts, as always, involving injury prevention and performance and control of pertinent variables.
Helps to know what the variables are. And, you do need transfer that knowledge into the head of your rider which presents its own unique set of challenges. There's an art to trainer-rider communication. I generally try to get one point across every day and compliment it or criticize it at end of w/o.
But we digress. Back to rider and horse entering the race track about 8:50 a.m. just before the break at 9:00 a.m. The sun is less of a challenge at this time but for the rider high up on the horse, immediate red flag, the track from all the morning traffic since 6:00 a.m. is divoted and cuppy. Might our trainer have picked a better time for this relatively fast gallop? Maybe. Depends on a lots of things.
Most riders will utterly ignore the divoting problem to the peril of the horse imo. The problem as stated is the hoof landing sideways on a divot instead of flush with the race track. My suspicion has been that these sorts of hoof landings in the morning cause more injuries or beginnings of fracture lines than is normally understood. Jocks, unfortunately, completely oblivious.
For myself, when I'm on the horse, immediately on entering the track I assess today's divot conditions, their depth(which varies with track conditions), and the extent there might be a path or mostly clear path through the divots, or a path where there are the least divots. The goal is to keep the horse on the freer path, and there generally is a "safest path" in most workouts. The way to avoid this, obviously, is to be the first horse out after the break, something eminently possible when you're riding your own horse.
On entering the track the rider's mind is spinning over several subjects, or should be. What are they? Continue next post.
Training:
10/2: Off.
10/3: Riderless 15 min and finally got a couple of good spurts for the lazy one. Dark at 7:15 p.m. Declined tack work.
Rider instructions are one mile of 2 min. gallop after the warm up. The trainer stands track side at a position permitting careful watching and evaluation with thoughts, as always, involving injury prevention and performance and control of pertinent variables.
Helps to know what the variables are. And, you do need transfer that knowledge into the head of your rider which presents its own unique set of challenges. There's an art to trainer-rider communication. I generally try to get one point across every day and compliment it or criticize it at end of w/o.
But we digress. Back to rider and horse entering the race track about 8:50 a.m. just before the break at 9:00 a.m. The sun is less of a challenge at this time but for the rider high up on the horse, immediate red flag, the track from all the morning traffic since 6:00 a.m. is divoted and cuppy. Might our trainer have picked a better time for this relatively fast gallop? Maybe. Depends on a lots of things.
Most riders will utterly ignore the divoting problem to the peril of the horse imo. The problem as stated is the hoof landing sideways on a divot instead of flush with the race track. My suspicion has been that these sorts of hoof landings in the morning cause more injuries or beginnings of fracture lines than is normally understood. Jocks, unfortunately, completely oblivious.
For myself, when I'm on the horse, immediately on entering the track I assess today's divot conditions, their depth(which varies with track conditions), and the extent there might be a path or mostly clear path through the divots, or a path where there are the least divots. The goal is to keep the horse on the freer path, and there generally is a "safest path" in most workouts. The way to avoid this, obviously, is to be the first horse out after the break, something eminently possible when you're riding your own horse.
On entering the track the rider's mind is spinning over several subjects, or should be. What are they? Continue next post.
Training:
10/2: Off.
10/3: Riderless 15 min and finally got a couple of good spurts for the lazy one. Dark at 7:15 p.m. Declined tack work.
posted by rather rapid at
10:39 AM
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