Re: RC: Sponsers for first time riders

[Lif Strand <fasterhorses@gilanet.com>]

At 10:46 AM 6/23/01, sharp penny wrote:
>    As a newbie I am all for requireing first time riders to ride with a 
> sponser.

OK, here's the problem as I see it.  Endurance riding, for all that there 
are a bunch of people & horses on the trail at the same time, is an 
individual sport not a true team effort, and to be really good at it (that 
is, to finish with a horse that is fit to continue) you need to *focus* on 
your own ride.

To do this, you do more than just condition a horse, you also train.  You 
practice by yourself and you practice on the trail at the same time with 
others - but you don't fall into the (my opinion) false security of riding 
*with* others, since their horse is not the same as yours, doesn't have 
your horse's needs or abilities.  Riding your own ride is something you 
train yourself and your horse to do, too!  So you condition, you train, you 
put you and your horse into as many situations as you can which you might 
find on a ride, then when the day of competition is there, the only thing 
left to experience is the newness of competition itself.  Done this way, 
there is no need for a newbie sponsor.



Lif Strand
Quemado NM  USA
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