|
|
 
| I'd love to know the top NFR girls work and feed routine of any knows! Esp considering they are always on the road. I know they have crazy sponsors that I'm sure give them all the products and supplements they could ever want but I wonder if you actually sat down and talked to them what they would say they really used/fed. Any info would be awesome! |
|
| |
|
 Veteran
Posts: 126
Location: Ohio | I've often wondered myself how they keep them rode and in shape when hauling so hard. When I'm hauling more than 6 hours a day I like to not also ride that day, let them rest. Is this feasible on the pro rodeo road? It takes a tough horse that's for sure. |
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 788
| Nobody has a BFF that has ever qualified for the NFR? Or at least got really close so they can give us some insight? |
|
| |
|
I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| BarrelRacingReport will often have the winner of big races/rodeos answer some questions on what equipment, feed and alternative therapies they use. It is free to sign up for it and lately Jill Moody has been writing a little editorial piece that is REALLY good to read. |
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 634
| I would also be interested in this! I think Barrel Horse News did an article about some of the workout routines of the NFR girls a while back that was pretty good.
I try to ride for about an hour 4-5 days a week. Lots of long trotting, loping, softening, bending exercises and the occasional trail ride. If it's muddy or I'm in a rush, I have her long trot 20 min each way in the round pen. My mare seems to be in pretty good shape and she's usually pretty cool and isn't breathing hard by the time we get back to the trailer after a run.
Just to be clear, I take her to the trailer, unsaddle, then walk her to cool her out. It's a pet peeve of mine when people make a run, walk their horse to the trailer, tie them up, then they are sitting back in the stands 3 minutes after their run. |
|
| |
|
 Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
 
Location: Kansas | I'm no NFR girl, but in 2012, I put a lot of miles & runs on my gray horse hitting the ammy rodeos in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. I think I exercised him TWICE in the month of July. We just rodeoed and went for hand walks at every rodeo grounds in the country. LOL. He ran at 11 rodeos between July 3 and July 25, and would have run at 3 more the 26-28 if he hadn't bled on the 25th and gone on vacation for a month. It must have worked because he placed at 7 rodeos in a row (July 3-6, July 12 & 14, July 19) and the streak only stopped because I hit barrels at a couple in the same weekend. When I have been hauling more than one and trying to exercise the backup on the road, I don't do much different than I do at home, though I shorten workouts by a few minutes to keep legs fresh in case I need that horse to run unexpectedly. |
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 788
| Yea, I would think they dont have much time to really "excercise" the horses, but more walk and loosen them up when they get some where and then run again. |
|
| |
|
 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 575
| The only small piece of insight I have is as to Michele & Slick's workout routine. (I'm friends with one of her daughters) Before the NFR we started talking about what everyone was doing to prepare Slick to be back in Vegas. I'm not 100% as to what they do when they're hauling a ton, but when time permits, Slick is ridden 4 miles per day, even when he's going to make a run. We mapped out the distance around my arena, and I started trying to work mine up to the 4 miles/day routine, and HOLY SMOKES. They started being able to fire so much harder, and make phenomenal progress as far as stopping the clock is concerned! That's not to say that between November and now that his routine hasn't changed; as far as I know, it could have changed a ton! |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 1695
Location: Willows, CA | On the feed side, we do quite a lot of horses at that level. For our program, Stingray for instance, 1 1/2 pounds per day RG, and good hay in front of her all the time. Sherry feeds some supplements, but no other calorie supply.
Edited by winwillows 2016-06-13 1:07 PM
|
|
| |
|
 Veteran
Posts: 253
Location: SoCal | rpreast - 2016-06-13 8:41 AM
The only small piece of insight I have is as to Michele & Slick's workout routine. (I'm friends with one of her daughters) Before the NFR we started talking about what everyone was doing to prepare Slick to be back in Vegas. I'm not 100% as to what they do when they're hauling a ton, but when time permits, Slick is ridden 4 miles per day, even when he's going to make a run. We mapped out the distance around my arena, and I started trying to work mine up to the 4 miles/day routine, and HOLY SMOKES. They started being able to fire so much harder, and make phenomenal progress as far as stopping the clock is concerned! That's not to say that between November and now that his routine hasn't changed; as far as I know, it could have changed a ton!
How much of that 4 miles was walking, trotting or loping? (If possible, about how many minutes you did of each) I believe previously from an article (or video, can't remember which) Michele had said about 5 minutes of loping is a mile? I had done that each direction previously with an older mare who I was then running high school rodeo on and that seemed to help a ton with her conditioning, but wasn't sure if this 4 miles/day is only loping, long trotting, ect. |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 575
| Last Catt - 2016-06-13 1:20 PM
rpreast - 2016-06-13 8:41 AM
The only small piece of insight I have is as to Michele & Slick's workout routine. (I'm friends with one of her daughters) Before the NFR we started talking about what everyone was doing to prepare Slick to be back in Vegas. I'm not 100% as to what they do when they're hauling a ton, but when time permits, Slick is ridden 4 miles per day, even when he's going to make a run. We mapped out the distance around my arena, and I started trying to work mine up to the 4 miles/day routine, and HOLY SMOKES. They started being able to fire so much harder, and make phenomenal progress as far as stopping the clock is concerned! That's not to say that between November and now that his routine hasn't changed; as far as I know, it could have changed a ton!
How much of that 4 miles was walking, trotting or loping? (If possible, about how many minutes you did of each ) I believe previously from an article (or video, can't remember which ) Michele had said about 5 minutes of loping is a mile? I had done that each direction previously with an older mare who I was then running high school rodeo on and that seemed to help a ton with her conditioning, but wasn't sure if this 4 miles/day is only loping, long trotting, ect.
I would trot 1 mile in each direction, and then lope 1 mile in each direction. I would imagine 5 minutes being pretty close to a mile. My arena is a little under a quarter mile/lap if you stay on the fence the whole time. These fitness apps made it insanely easy for me to just walk the perimeter to get a rough estimate of the circumference! lol I didn't count the walking as a part of their 4 miles though |
|
| |
|
  Whack and Roll
Posts: 6342
Location: NE Texas | Marlene McRae outlines a 4 mile warmup in her book. She talks alot about conditioning and exercise and the importance of a thorough warm up.
She even talks about venues that don't have a good warm up area and her stopping somewhere close to the rodeo and getting the warm up in before she gets to the rodeo grounds....it's that important to her.
I'm a firm believer that a warm up such as this, combined with an exercise program that builds a horse up to being able to handle this type of warm up is a fantastic way to keep a horse from ever starting to bleed and getting a bleeder back under control.
Edited by Herbie 2016-06-13 2:34 PM
|
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 1695
Location: Willows, CA | Just had a talk with Ivy Conrado about her program. Her good horse ties up. ERM not PSSM. These horses still need to be exercised every day, and she does that, no matter what it takes. Doing an every single day program limits the risk of tie up and keeps the horse running fit at the same time. Feed program for the last three years is RG and hay. If hay quality is poor she adds a little stabilized rice bran. This horse can not eat grain based feeds of any kind or she runs the risk of tie up. She uses a joint supplement and mixes turmeric herself.
Edited by winwillows 2016-06-13 4:46 PM
|
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 705
Location: Weatherford, TX | winwillows - 2016-06-13 4:43 PM Just had a talk with Ivy Conrado about her program. Her good horse ties up. ERM not PSSM. These horses still need to be exercised every day, and she does that, no matter what it takes. Doing an every single day program limits the risk of tie up and keeps the horse running fit at the same time. Feed program for the last three years is RG and hay. If hay quality is poor she adds a little stabilized rice bran. This horse can not eat grain based feeds of any kind or she runs the risk of tie up. She uses a joint supplement and mixes turmeric herself.
What is ERM? |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 1695
Location: Willows, CA | Gator Bug - 2016-06-13 5:59 PM
winwillows - 2016-06-13 4:43 PM Just had a talk with Ivy Conrado about her program. Her good horse ties up. ERM not PSSM. These horses still need to be exercised every day, and she does that, no matter what it takes. Doing an every single day program limits the risk of tie up and keeps the horse running fit at the same time. Feed program for the last three years is RG and hay. If hay quality is poor she adds a little stabilized rice bran. This horse can not eat grain based feeds of any kind or she runs the risk of tie up. She uses a joint supplement and mixes turmeric herself.
What is ERM?
ERM is Exertional Rhabdomyolysis
This is muscle breakdown from extreme physical exertion. This is not a genetic condition like PSSM, but rather thought to be more related to an extreme sensitivity to excess sugars in the system. Ivy has this horse under complete control through her management program.
Edited by winwillows 2016-06-13 6:21 PM
|
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 788
| winwillows - 2016-06-13 6:18 PM
Gator Bug - 2016-06-13 5:59 PM
winwillows - 2016-06-13 4:43 PM Just had a talk with Ivy Conrado about her program. Her good horse ties up. ERM not PSSM. These horses still need to be exercised every day, and she does that, no matter what it takes. Doing an every single day program limits the risk of tie up and keeps the horse running fit at the same time. Feed program for the last three years is RG and hay. If hay quality is poor she adds a little stabilized rice bran. This horse can not eat grain based feeds of any kind or she runs the risk of tie up. She uses a joint supplement and mixes turmeric herself.
What is ERM?
ERM is Exertional Rhabdomyolysis
This is muscle breakdown from extreme physical exertion. This is not a genetic condition like PSSM, but rather thought to be more related to an extreme sensitivity to excess sugars in the system. Ivy has this horse under complete control through her management program.
I would say shes doing a good job!
I wish so bad I could get Renew Gold in my area. We dont have Tractor supply and my feed store cant or wont order it for me :( |
|
| |
|
A Cool Sharp One
| rpreast - 2016-06-13 11:41 AM The only small piece of insight I have is as to Michele & Slick's workout routine. (I'm friends with one of her daughters) Before the NFR we started talking about what everyone was doing to prepare Slick to be back in Vegas. I'm not 100% as to what they do when they're hauling a ton, but when time permits, Slick is ridden 4 miles per day, even when he's going to make a run. We mapped out the distance around my arena, and I started trying to work mine up to the 4 miles/day routine, and HOLY SMOKES. They started being able to fire so much harder, and make phenomenal progress as far as stopping the clock is concerned! That's not to say that between November and now that his routine hasn't changed; as far as I know, it could have changed a ton!
interesting to see if they were long trotting, loping, etc that 4 miles....... I ride mine 2 miles each way 3 laps walking, 3 laps trotting, 3 laps loping and then turn around and then lope, trot and then walk |
|
| |
|
Regular
Posts: 65
| What is RG? |
|
| |
|
 I Want a "MAN"
Posts: 3610
Location: MD | barrelmom68 - 2016-06-14 3:34 PM What is RG?
Renew Gold it's a horse feed. |
|
| |
|
Expert
Posts: 1695
Location: Willows, CA | horsiace1025 - 2016-06-14 7:57 AM
winwillows - 2016-06-13 6:18 PM
Gator Bug - 2016-06-13 5:59 PM
winwillows - 2016-06-13 4:43 PM Just had a talk with Ivy Conrado about her program. Her good horse ties up. ERM not PSSM. These horses still need to be exercised every day, and she does that, no matter what it takes. Doing an every single day program limits the risk of tie up and keeps the horse running fit at the same time. Feed program for the last three years is RG and hay. If hay quality is poor she adds a little stabilized rice bran. This horse can not eat grain based feeds of any kind or she runs the risk of tie up. She uses a joint supplement and mixes turmeric herself.
What is ERM?
ERM is Exertional Rhabdomyolysis
This is muscle breakdown from extreme physical exertion. This is not a genetic condition like PSSM, but rather thought to be more related to an extreme sensitivity to excess sugars in the system. Ivy has this horse under complete control through her management program.
I would say shes doing a good job!
I wish so bad I could get Renew Gold in my area. We dont have Tractor supply and my feed store cant or wont order it for me : (
Not my intent to turn this tread into an advertisement. I can only show those feed programs that use RG simply because those are the people we work directly with.
On the topic, I do see a lot more horses running on less grain based concentrate and better roughage than we did in the past. The stress of hauling to as many rodeos as it takes to make NFR does not need to be increased by having an unbalanced digestive system. You can't feed a horse to be faster than it is genetically capable of running. More and more people are looking at reaching the absolute potential of the horse by maximizing digestive efficiency rather than thinking that more and more high starch feed will give them a faster horse. |
|
| |
Folks on-line