First Run

Ambrose had yesterday off as I need to put some attention on MONK.  Ambrose has been working hard, part of the reason for some of the push was because of his 30 day trial.  He has passed everything and surpassed most of my expectations.  Actually he is so much more then I expected and is improving by leaps and bounds.  Makes me think that I cheated some by starting out with a much better horse then I had intended.  I wanted to start actually with a 3 year old and I did look and look but ended up with a 5 year old.  So, it is what it is, this is the last hoorah. Be interesting to see how this turns out..

We did ride today.  I took the time to put the Athletic tape under the Gloves so we did not spit any off.  I think under normal riding conditions you probably don't have to do that, depending on the fit, Ambrose seems to be in between sizes.  I will do the "Perfect Fit" for the boots and will video it in the next few weeks.

Ambrose does not have a very good resting HR, most high 30's, I think the lowest I have ever seen is 37.  Most of the time while saddling and putting on boots he will be at 42.  We will see where this goes.  I know that it took several years for MONK's HR to go down even a couple of beats.

We did a nice 9 mph trot down to the lake, Ambrose was feeling good.  This ride consists of 1 mile down to the lake with a 1000 feet of elevation loss.  You then have a trail that goes up the other side of the hill for another 1000 feet of elevation gain and about 2.5 miles.  It is almost the perfect hill, there are a couple of flat spots where we catch our breath and walk for a minute or two and then take off again.  You can't get a good average HR with the monitor because we end up walking part of the trail back down to recover.  Ambrose has trotted this hill a couple of times, but today we did some cantering.  After reaching the top and turning around I decided to jog with Ambrose part way down the mountain.  Ambrose was not sure what I wanted him to do and it took a few minutes to figure it out, but he did a great job.  Side by side was first and then we hit some single track, that took him a second but he did great.

We practiced the one rein stop for a minute or two and he did good and stood while I mounted.  Then off we went, we trotted quickly down the rest of the mountain.  Once you reach the lake, you go along for awhile, maybe 3/4 of a mile before we get the the one mile road to the top.  What is funny is that if your watching the HR monitor you most likely will see their HR go up quite a bit as to the anticipation of getting to run up the hill.  As of to day, Ambrose has only be allowed to trot, today we let him run.  It took him 70 seconds to get to the first landing, farther then you think when your running..   His HR hit the 200 mark a couple of hundred feet from the top.  On rookie horses I make them walk until their HR is back down to 120 and keep track of landmarks before we pick up the trot again.  Ambrose did good, we have 3 levels that I make him recover to 120 before starting up again, each time his HR was well above 180.

Ambrose has done this hill a few times before, but never being allowed to run, this was his hardest and fastest work.  He recovered faster today then he ever has, so I was very pleased.

Ambrose is a exceptional eater, well compared to MONK, but he is down a little in weight.  I will have to keep a closer eye on that, and practice what I preach.