Re: RC: Tevis, slower riders, some random thoughts

[Lif Strand <fasterhorses@gilanet.com>]

At 10:44 AM 7/20/00 -0400, Sandy wrote:
> a lack of water sent me into orbit at a 1997
> ride - my old girl went nearly 15 miles without a sip 

I guess this is just my own unique way of looking at things, but I
*expect* our horses to be able to go 15 to 20 miles without water on a
ride.  We condition that way, we expect to race that way.  Out
here in the middle of nowhere, if you can't ride that far without a water
stop, then you will be stuck riding in a very constricted path, back and
forth from water tank to another.  You sure couldn't ride anywhere
else.

One thing Tom Ivers said to us (and probably has written in one or more
of his books) is that when you condition, you work out for longer,
harder, faster, farther and [my take on this], drier, more humid, that is
with more extreme conditions than what you expect to find during
competition.  I totally agree with this but maybe I'm just being
cruel to our horses?  It just seems so logical, and so far none of
our horses have had any problem whatsoever going for long distances
inbetween water stops.  Lif

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