Nature of Endurance Riding/Racing

[DVeritas@aol.com]

I think Dancer was a terrrrrifffic horse.
I can't imagine the bone-numbing effect his loss has had on Dave.  
It has given many of us a pause for cause.
'Cause, but for the Grace of God, and just sheer dumb luck, go you and I.
....I was riding alone yesterday just at dusk (having ridden Ranger for about 
two hours up to that point.)  I found myself (ever in search of the 
appropriate terrain to generate the appropriate physiological effort to help 
my horse get stronger and better prepared for the "next" ride) on an 
extremely narrow trail with a barbed wire fence (marking the boundary line of 
the area in which I was riding) just a foot to our right, and to the left, a 
sheer precipice of about five hundred feet.  The trail was no more than a 
game trail, as I have never seen another horse on this trail (in the Wildcat 
Hills south of our place.)
    Then, Ranger and I heard the low vocalization of a nearby bobcat.  Ranger 
froze.  My mouth with dry, but I reassured Ranger and asked him to continue 
to forward down the trail.  He did.  His response to my request to move 
forward may have saved his life and mine as well.  Had he jigged, even just 
slightly...
    IT WAS (FOR THE MOST PART) A BENIGN SITUATION THAT COULD HAVE CHANGED 
INTO A MUCH MORE DRAMATIC INCIDENT IN MY LIFE had Ranger not remembered his 
training and his trust in me.
    When my truck and trailer came into view, I just shook my head and 
thanked God and Ranger.
    I was "racing" no one.  My horse was not stressed metabolically.  
    But, we both could have died instantly.
    THINGS HAPPEN, BUT, MORE IMPORTANTLY, SOMETIMES THINGS DON'T HAPPEN.
    How many times have things NOT happened to you?
    
    Frank.