Re: RC: Our every whim (was: WATER WATER...)

[Trailrite@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/25/00 8:25:51 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
guest@endurance.net writes:

<< We had just gotten done with discussing how important ride 
 managers are to our sport, and that it is a tough job that
 nobody "REALLY likes to do."  And I wanted to point out to
 an admittedly novice ride manager, that they don't really 
 need to provide, not only water that often, but all the
 other rider amenities. >>
Kat,
    I not disagreeing you with, just a different train of thought on some 
other factors.
    As a novice RM myself, I think that some of us as RM's fear the fact that 
some of the riders do not look at a ride with your type of knowledge in mine. 
 What we are concerned about is the novice type of rider/horse that just 
maybe doesn't have the experience about how far and how fast they should go.  
They are new and are learning, why make it a bad experience for them, to 
never do it again?  Riders don't want to hurt their horses and without 
knowing, now find their horse on an IV.  This is a great shock and it is 
devastating experience to see their horse this way.  And Yes, sometimes it 
has nothing to do with the amount of water available on the trail.
    Since I train new rides into this sport some of them really don't know 
what to expect along the way.  You can be surprised at some of the 
perceptions of new riders and understand why they would think the way they 
do.  I've had a number of students that thought that horses think about the 
same way they would think as far as them being tired.  Quoting some is "Well 
when I get tired jogging up a hill, I stop and rest a few minutes," "What do 
you mean, my horse will not"?  You can understand why they would think that 
way.  After they know this is not right, they understand and become great 
riders.  It's just one of many small types of learning curves.
    The same goes for the water issue.  If you can offer the water then do, 
if you can't then we as RM's will let you know about the distance and hope 
that riders will conserve and get there.
    Doing multidays is a great training area for survival on making it work 
for you and your horse.  But some of the riders are just starting out in this 
sport and they have to learn this somewhere.  So the one day 50/25 rides is a 
good place to do this.  Water every 15 miles is a nice distance and most 
horses will do find at this.  But if you have a LD ride and there are new 
horses or new riders or both new riders & horses, they might not drink at the 
first 15 mile water stop.  Then it's another 10 -15 to the next water.  At 
this point pending on the riders experience, could get them into trouble.
    I think all in all that we all agree that around 10 -15 miles or a little 
over is a good distance for offering water at a ride.  If you can get to 
more, YEAH!!

Tammy Robinson
Trail-Rite Ranch & Products
661/513-9269