Day 55 .. +My Emapthy for the Horse post

Today is an off day and the start of a new week.

Run down for the week:

Tuesday: 4 mi
Wednesday: 7 mi
Thursday: 4 mi
Friday: Off
Saturday: 15 mi <-- Blue Loop at the Grasslands
Sunday: XT..or Off, depending on how my knee feels

Week Total: 30 miles :-D

Here is my post about my empathy for the horse. It was in the previous post, but I decided to put it here instead. It'll give some beef to the off-day post.

1. Walk the Hills. Up and Down. Steep Uphill wise, Running gets you to the top faster, but wastes way to much energy. Steep downhill wise, running is torture on your joints, especially if you are already dealing with a knee issue. This is common sense for most, but something the weekend warrior trail riders seem to have never learned. I've seen more than a few trotting and cantering their horses not only up the hills, but also down. Ouch. I feel for them. And, it's so dangerous.

2. Deep Sandy Loam...ugh. When you ask your horse to trot through that stuff, get off and try running through it. It's the devil. I see why the North Texas Trail Runners stick to compacted Mt Biking trails of Lake Grapevine. Sandy loam does have its pros along with its cons. Since I can't train on anything near the terrain NZ will throw at me, the deep Sand will help build some leg muscle. Short, no show socks are NOT a good idea to wear though. I spent way to much time trying to get sand out of my sock to keep it from blistering my feet.

3. Briars hurt on bare legs. Ouch.

4. Clothing fit vs Tack Fit. It has got to be the same. If I have trouble finding things which are comfortable to run in, I can see the annoyance a horse would get with an ill fitting saddle pad, a halter that may have a twisted buckle under a bridle, or even a breastplate which rubs even a little on the point of the shoulder. The clothes I can run 3 miles in are not the same as clothes which are comfortable to run 10+ in.

5. Stay out of the ditches. The strain on my ankles gave me some insight into what Mulligan probably felt on his pasterns and cornary bands during the 1000+ competitive and training miles of his life. Not only did it put my feet into weird positions, but it also made me change my entire gate in order to compensate for the narrowing of the trail. I decided quickly to pick the higher ground.

Most of this is common sense, but it does make me feel for the horses which are taken straight from the pasture, without a days worth of conditioning in them and are expected to speed through the trails because, well, they are a horse.