RE: 4yr old doing a 25??

["Corbelletta, Antonio" <Antonio_Corbelletta@affymetrix.com>]

I would ask you how many miles or time on the trail has he had?  It seems
that if it is a CTR and NOT an Endurance ride you should be OK since it is
slower.  I would think you should be fine if you would be in say a "Novice"
class like they have in NATRC.  I would stay away from a class like "Open"
where the pace is faster.  
So bottomline is:  If you take it slow, you should be OK.  
However, from my experiance taking a 4 yr. old on her first CTR, they really
want to go and catch up to the other horses so be sure you are ready for
that.  They are young and they want to GO, and that is when you can end up
hurting something.  I worry about tendons and things like that that are not
yet strong.  Muscles get strong quickly and the cardiovascular system gets
strong quickly(or strong from youth) but the rest of the body(horse & human)
takes much longer to catch up.
Hope this helps.  JUST GO SLOW.
Tony Corbelletta

-----Original Message-----
From: LouLouPierce@aol.com [mailto:LouLouPierce@aol.com]
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2001 5:20 AM
To: ridecamp@endurance.net
Subject: RC: 4yr old doing a 25??


Hi, 

I have a 4yr old Pinto/Arab who is in good shape.  I am going to Vermont 
for a horse vacation for a week.  I am taking my 4yr old.  I wanted to do
the 
25 CTR while I am there, but did not think I should take my 4yr old on the
25. 

My vet who is very consertitive thinks we would be fine, and he can do it.
As 
long as I just go for the expierence and not push him and try to win.  Take
my 
time and do it slow. 

He has not developed his back muscles very well yet.  I'm sure the Vermont 
Hills will help us alot in that area, so other then that, he is in good
shape 
and 
has nice straigh and strong legs. 

I am just looking for other opionions. 

Louisa