New top height and Back to Work and Conditioning

Sunday I had a jump lesson on Charlie which was delightful. We did a little course and ended with a tweener (in between novice and training height - I think about 3') vertical. We took my stirrups up a notch which helped tremendously with my lower leg position, and I continued to work on rhythm (1-2-1-2) and then if Charlie got a little sprawling, collecting him up asap after the fence. It was a great ride and a lot of fun. I had a couple days off, so I finally caught up on some reading, and finally read "Back to Work: How to Rehabilitate or Recondition Your Horse" by Lucinda Dyer. For several types of injuries, it had some perspectives from vets, and then case studies with owners' experiences. Although none of the examples were identical to Willig's, the tendon & ligament section repeated several times the importance of slowly working back up (but the importance of keeping them moving - and the consistency of the owners' nervousness (will he spook and reinjure himself?) and frustration). The recommended schedule after walking, is to add trot work to 30 minutes of walking from two minutes on week 1 to 20 minutes by week 7. Then add canter work from 5 minutes on straight lines only (week 1) to 40 minutes by week 8 in an hour of riding. I thought it was a good book with some useful tips. The April Practical Horseman also had a conditioning article by Jim Wofford (he's almost always my favorite) that said for Novice and Training, you should canter once every four days and work up to a slow canter twice the distance of your course. So a 5 minute xc course, you should be riding a 12 minute slow canter every four days, and he should recover within 7 minutes. To build up, start with trot sets - 3 x 5 minutes, walk 2 minutes in between, then do 9 minutes of slow canter in 3 minutes with brief walk in between. Build this up to at least 12 minutes.