Hi Sandy; When I was horse shopping, I was really careful not to mention I would do any endurance riding on the perspective horses. I actually saw one ad from a ranch with a couple really nice trail horses and the ad said, "Will not sell this horse to do endurance". So that made me cautious. And yes, I saw the endurance prospects , who were just hyper with bad legs. I saw many a bad leg or lameness problem this year. When I saw the horse I was looking at, I really pussy-footed around the whole endurance thing for fear they would tell me I couldn't have the horse. First we talked about CTR, and trail riding and the owners thought that was nice. Then the owner popped out with a positive statement about endurance and people she knows who do endurance, then I showed her my Tevis picture and she got all excited. "Maybe a horse I bred can do the Tevis some day!!!" Then the vet check, the vet declared the horse has "Up-right hooves". I thought, "Nah--this horse has a heel". That vet is just used to race horses and show horses. My vet concurred. He say's "that horse doesn't have upright hooves, he has nice hooves." It's all in the way we are looking at things I guess. Beth
>From: SandyDSA@aol.com
>To: CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com, ridecamp@endurance.net
>Subject: RC: Sandy's response to The Way We Win
>Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2001 12:00:48 EDT
>
>Perhaps I should have added that in any case, I would MUCH prefer to choose
>an endurance home for a horse than just about any show home any day of the
>week. I think the pervasive effect of the show ring puts a less positive
>slant on endurance horses down here. Many ads will read "ex-show horse,
>expert rider needed, great endurance prospect!" Usually this is ONE BAD
>MANNERED horse, sickle-hocked, hooky, neck and a pig eye - who just didn't
>make the show ring - and then again too many times, people are selling a true
>athletic looking Arabian whose only fault is that he or she is not tabletop
>flat (as if THAT conformation was going to get us far or fast!).
>
>There is a ton of ignorance down here as well, so the combination of ignorant
>endurance riders(who don't understand abuse vs. conditioning) coupled with
>ignorant show owners(who have no idea about either conformation or
>conditioning) AND simply far too many poorly put together horses bred by
>greedy breeders results in a glut of average to bad horses, average to bad
>owners and ultimately average to bad reputation.
>
>It will be great to have a forum in which to perhaps police our own, learn
>from each other and possibly create a base for improvement.
>
>San
>p.s. don't forget, we in Lo Cal are a stone's throw from every bleeding heart
>"all animals should be free" Fruit and nut on the west coast. We look bad
>just OWNING horses!
>