Re: Show and tell, questions for oldbies

[Jim Holland <lanconn@tds.net>]

Heidi...

Exactly my perspective. You spend 3 years training a horse to do
Endurance. He is trained beyond your wildest dreams. His manners are
perfect He is so fit that he could "gallop" 25 miles....so then you do
25 mile LD...and he thinks..."Oh, Boy! This is fun!" and he flys through
the thing and never gets the edge off. Just makes him worse next time
cuz you have "conditioned" him to this.   However, if you take him to a
50 on his first ride....particularly a HARD 50...but do it slow and
easy, it changes his whole perspective. He is sound, but he is one tired
puppy at the end and will sleep well that nite!  He not only sees God,
but the Prophets as well! <grin>  You then work from there depending on
how he does on that 50.  Sunny coasted thru his first 50 in 22 place and
I had a LOT of horse left....he was still ripping around the paddock
like he hadn't done anything! Hmmm....next time a little more....and he
was a Top Ten in his 2nd ride....still in great shape.  If the horse is
struggling in that first 50, then you reevaluate what he can do.  As
Heidi says, some horses are LDers, some are completers, some are Top
Tenners, etc. I had rather start with the harder ride (50) and pull
immediately if he has problems than do a 25 and not have the opportunity
to evalutate his potential....which is also the reason I don't start
with LD anymore. You don't HAVE to finish that first 50....for me it's a
"training" ride...an investment in his future.

IMHO, Endurance horses, Arabians in particular, are happier when they
are being worked. I know that Sunny is the best behaved during ride
season. He does a 50 every other week, he's mellow and affectionate
around the farm, and only reasonably excited at a ride. He stands
quietly for the ride to start and tho he pulls on me hard for the first
loop, he always listens and is never an "idiot".  This summer his right
front wheel has been "broke"....can't compete. He's been a pain all
summer. Even had to haul his butt back to the round pen a couple of
times because he was being a s**t! Just not getting enough exercise.  I
can only walk with all that plastic on his foot....and it's just not
enough. <Sigh> One more shoeing and we're gonna boogie thru the bushes!
My boogie level is looooow...


Jim, Sun of Dimanche, and Mahada Magic

> 
> Actually, Deanna, you've described perfectly the very reason why I do NOT take any of my horses on LD's!  I don't EVER want one of them to figure out that 25 miles is the end of the ride.  I want them to learn from the git go that 50 miles is a long way, and that THAT is what they need to take home as a message, and think about the next time they are camped out at a ride.  That's another reason why I like to start my younger horses on rides with tough terrain, too.  A slow-paced 50 on tough terrain is often actually EASIER on a horse than a fast 25, especially if you HAVE done your homework and they are fit.  If the horse is just coming 6, then don't do 50's close together--but with the reaction you are getting, you have stayed with LD with this horse about 2 rides too long.
> 
> Some horses are quite content to do LD's forever.  Others simply need to step right up to the plate and do the mileage.  I'll never forget a particular horse in the NW that was running for a "Rookie of the Year" award that we have here, which is given to the rookie horse with the most consecutive completions on LD's.  Worthy goal.  However, the horse that was leading for the season got so out of hand that he piled his rider at the start of a ride, injuring her sufficiently that we had to load her on an ambulance.  (BTW--that was a classic commercial for helmets, as the ER doc looked at the dent in her helmet and declared that she would have been a fatality without it, but that's another topic.)  At any rate--her husband asked me (as we sat with her waiting for the ambulance to arrive) what I suggested to get the horse back in hand.  I said--"There is a 75-miler in 3 weeks.  Be on it, and make him see God."  He was, and the horse went on to be a top 100-miler, very mellow and n!
> ice in camp, very calm, etc.  He
>  simply had so much potential that the 25's were just winding him up.
> 
> Heidi