LDers catching up

[Todd & Toni Jones <tjones@coinet.com>]

No, Kat wasn't kidding about LDers blasting up on
slower 50's. This happened to me at the last ride
I did on my 6 year old stallion. (And the 3 rides
we did last year also). We started late, about 10
minutes, on purpose and happily walked out of camp
on a loose rein and hit a trot once we left camp
and had a wonderful time for about 3 hours. We
passed several other mosey type 50 milers and rode
with others. We never stopped moving, never
galloped, but kept up a steady pace alternating
between walking and trotting (medium trot),
stopped for water, of course at every opportunity
and for a bit of grass but then kept right on
going. I was with 2 others at a water tank at
about 17 miles into the ride when we heard a
thunder of hooves coming around the corner and we
got out of the way so they could have water. 3
Lders with 2 hot on their tails. The first 3
dashed up to the water trough at speed and the
horses were just huffing and puffing trying to
catch their wind and hadn't been there more than
maybe a minute at most and someone yelled,
"they're not going to drink, let's go!" and off
they went in a cloud of dust with the other 2
right behind. Well, my guy just thought that was
too much fun and he wanted to join them... I
managed to keep him at my pace for a ways, but as
we were on the plains he could see them and their
dust for quite sometime and he really wanted to
go. So I finally compromised at a canter and we
covered some ground ... never caught them or their
dust and he finally decided the grass was looking
really good so we were back to doing "our thing"
for the rest of the ride. 2 of the front runners
were eventually pulled, one at the vet check for
metabolics (hung at 80 for a long time, he was
still there when we came moseying in) and the
other at the finish, but I'm not sure the reason.
No other LDers caught us, and I don't know winning
times.

Starting off with a young horse in this sport
really has to be taken slowly. I'm trying to do
that. But it can be scary, too. The one thing I'm
chicken about is the starts (my friends will
attest to this)... so I leave late as has been
suggested. It works great. The other thing I worry
about is the racing LDers blasting up our tails. I
don't mind "normal" riders passing of any
distance. Those are not a problem. A group of
horses passing at a normal pace (big trot) doesn't
phase us, he handles that just fine. It's those
that RUN past at the speed of light (well almost)
that worry me. I don't need that and it's why I
leave late... I try to pick rides that have
SEPARATE loops for the 50's and LDers, or at least
enough time between the starts that it won't be a
problem. But SOME LDers ride really fast and catch
up to me moseying along and there's nothing I can
do about it but handle it as it comes.

So, before the offended LDers blast me, this isn't
meant to put you down or anything. I've done more
LD than endurance. I started a new horse and
skipped LD this time and went right to 50's. This
is working for me with this horse. Everyone can
start where they want which is nice about this
sport.

This is all my experience and my opinions. Any one
can have theirs. I just didn't want new people to
think that Kat was kidding or joking about the
subject. :)

later
Toni and Shagya O'Biwon
Central Oregon