Barn improvements before home improvements - and practising LSD on the trails (no, it's not what you think!)

JP LOVES barn improvements. While the inside of our house is patiently (way more so than I) waiting for paint improvements, the barn not only received a completely new color scheme (from 'Michigan Barn Red' to grey with black accents), the boys also got large windows. Well, what can I say... if the two and four-legged boys are happy life is good!

Barn door with the new color scheme 

Horse portraits carved in wood - just one of JPs many talents

"What's JP up to now??"

"Hey, what's going on out there??"

So, what's up with "LSD"? you might wonder. It's what we did today and we had a great time :-). It stands for Long Slow Distance, and it's part of our riding/conditioning program. Growing up in Germany it was standard for everyone at the barn to go  "ausreiten" (hacking), in addition to the dressage and jumping lessons. The Sunday group outing "Sonntagsausritt" was always a lot of fun (we added SF to it: short, fast work) and the ride concluded invariably in the "Reiterstuebchen" (riders' bar).

So when I read about the importance of LSD (in preparation for SFD) in Denny Emerson's new book "Know Better to Do Better",  I thought about how I wished that some of my clients would add that to their horse's program also. Lots of horses hardly ever get walked into fitness, and IMO a lot of injuries could be prevented with the right conditioning. As Denny states "It's hard to injure a horse at the walk".

The key idea is that the longer slower miles build the base so that by the time the horse is asked to do shorter, faster work, he is fit and strong and able to do so without getting hurt. Of importance is that the horse still marches forward and doesn't amble around on the forehand.

Note to Remy and Chambord: Treating the trails like the buffet line on a cruise ship is not the idea either!

This is an excellent read