Uphill Training

Go to Monday’s December 20, 2005 Kentucky.com or the Lexington Herald-Leader to learn about a new method of training horses. Hurricane Hall Farm, located in Lexington, Kentucky has installed a 6-furlong course that is a straightaway and is uphill. The surface has the new synthetic Polytrack, which is usable in all kinds of weather. David Hanley, trainer at Hurricane Hall, brought the concept of a straightaway galloping uphill with him from Ireland. Hanley says that by exercising uphill, horses transfer their weight to their hind legs, Consequently, they don’t experience the daily pounding on their front legs that they do on a flat surface. Hanley also can drive alongside each set of horses as they jog and gallop on the course, quite different from the practice at racetracks, where trainers watch from stationary position around the track. For occasional work around turns, he can take his horses to Keeneland Race Track, which also is in Lexington. I spent a couple of hours with Hanley as he drove alongside the training horses and captured the horses as they galloped uphill from the interior of his SUV, shooting with a Nikon D2H, 200asa, 500th of a second at 5.6 with a 80-200 zoom and a 28-70 zoom lens. The day was a learning experience and very enjoyable until I was walking to my vehicle and a dog came up from behind and thought that my left calf was suitable for eating. Fortunately the canine was up on its shots.

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