Understanding Horse Training Regiments
The 2018 Super Bowl is this Sunday and that means the Kentucky Derby is almost here! With that said, today we focus on understanding horses more.
There’s always been a significant difference between breeding and training an animal. Breeding simply consists of mating one horse with another. But horse training is an entirely different ball game altogether. You will first need to understand the breed of your horse before training it for a particular cause, especially for the 2018 Kentucky Derby. For instance, you don’t want to train a thoroughbred for scaling long distances, for obvious reasons.
The Young Ones: You should go with sprinting exercises for the foals. If you try to train an old horse to sprint, it may break its leg, never making it to the tournament altogether. Similarly, the young ones are more prone to sprint than to follow your lead into trotting. Train them for the flat races, breaking them into a gallop as much as you can during the process.
You need to have a conditioning plan in place before venturing to train the foals. Analyze the positives and negatives of your horses carefully. Can they gallop at an equal pace for long hours? Can they sprint for over 500 yards before taking a breath? Train them according to their strengths and behold their progress in competitive tournaments.
The Aged Ones: Can you expect a frail, old man to run as fast as Usain Bolt? An impossible feat, eh? Well, if you do end up with a frail, old mare that could barely trot a stretch without breaking a sweat, then you and your horse are in for some hard times.
The aged horses are usually fit for endurance races, since they have the required experience and skill to compete. But you will need them to trot and sprint when required. Imagine a young colt speeding for a few miles and breaking down halfway. It may take hours to recover. On the other hand, an experienced race horse trained to cover large distances can reach the destination much before the young mare could.
And therein lies the advantage in training an aged horse for stamina and endurance. It is bound to win the long races!
