Do I still want to do endurance?

[Rides 2 Far <rides2far@juno.com>]

East know 
> my horse, Althea (people accuse me of feeding her rocket fuel).

Hi Christian,

I wasn't going to post any more this weekend (it's raining and I've been
on here too much) *but* I feel like I am more qualified than most to
answer this, since Althea happens to be Kaboot's 1/2 sister. :-)  What
you and I have are two horses who have found their true calling.  Someone
was kidding me the other day about "When is he going to settle down?" 
Kaboot is 12 now, 2000 miles, and he's still rediculous about wanting to
go down the trail...the faster the better...If I want a slow trot, it
proceeds to a fast trot, faster, rediculously fast, break into a gallop,
haul him down with head shaking back and forth like "No, no, no, let me
go!" And this is by himself in the woods out back.  I've had other horses
that I've tried in this sport.  Two that just never took to it, and one 
that bored me to death.  They weren't sour or anything, just "you want to
do this trail *again*??"  They went on to great careers as kid horses and
every mile they did as an endurance horse made them a better horse
later...insuring that they'll probably continue to have good homes all
their life.  Kaboot is not like that.  There is no other career for him. 
If he hasn't settled down yet, he's never going to.  He's never happier
than when he's in an endurance race.  I have a feeling your mare is the
same.  

Last fall at the Liberty 100, Kaboot was on his next to the last loop
(between 80 and 90 miles) and Val Kanavey was on her last 10 miles, going
around the same loop.  When we got to a long hill I MADE him walk it with
her cantering off and once we got to the top he ran away with me.  This
was at 85 miles.  What use is there for a horse like that in polite
society?   The thing is, Kaboot's happy cause I'm as dumb as he is.  I've
watched some of the DQ's horses standing with their heads over their
stalls (which they can barely turn around in) pinning their ears when you
walk up.  I'm glad to say my horse's ears are up when I come to get him
out of his corral the morning of the ride and he's pulling me to the
start. Ever seen a barrel horse drag their rider to the ring?

I don't know what abuse you've seen lately. Out of a couple of 100 riders
that I see regularly throughout the season, I can only think of 3 that I
dreaded seeing show up.  Used to be 3, then 2, now there's only one
actually.  Try getting those odds in any other sport or even at group
pleasure rides.  Don't know what vet told you you were crazy for doing
this sport, but I'll bet it wasn't a ride vet...someone who knows what
they're talking about.

I had a conversation with one of my students last year.  He's a very thin
philosophical sort, considers all competitive sports rediculous.  He
said, "I don't see what's so healthy about it, all you guys ever talk
about is how beat up you are".  He was sort of right... I was talking
about my bad knees, the football player had a hurt back, the basketball
player a hurt ankle. BUT, guess which of these people has missed half the
days this 9-weeks due to sickness?  Guess which one acts depressed?  Yes,
I've put a lot of wear and tear on my body playing sports.  My knee
problems are probably due to years as a softball catcher.  My
non-athletic sisters knees are fine, but then I don't take
anti-depressants.  Do I regret it? NO!  Do I want to rest now? NO!  I
want to push myself as long as I can because I have that desire.  I'm
also glad to see my daughters following the athletic route.

Sometimes in the winter...usually December, I go from being totally
obsessed with endurance 24/7 to a very "I don't care any more" feeling. 
When it first started happening it scared me. I thought, "will the
feeling come back?"  Then, as soon as it was time to go back into
training for the next ride, bam! It came right back as strong as ever.  I
think you might be experiencing that.  Take care of yourself while you're
pregnant.  Give your horse some time off to heal from some things you may
not even know are going on, and then come back when it's time.  I think
you'll want to.  You'll find pretty soon that it's an antidote to new
mother cabin fever.  When my dentist's assistant asked me how I found
time to ride so much when I had kids I told her that I didn't ride all
that much *until* I had the kids.  The dentist looked thoughtful and
said, "My wife never ran until our daughters were born.  Now she runs
five miles every day." >g<

I had never wanted to breed my own endurance horse until I saw how much
like Kaboot Althea is.  Makes me want to find a good mare and go breed to
their sire again.

Angie

________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.