RC: Karla`s 2 questions

[Lysane Cree <lysanec@yahoo.ca>]

A little behind in reading ridecamp, but here`s my two
cents:
Question 1: Personally, I think camping the first few
times would be a good idea. I worked at two rides this
summer as my intro. (since I just sold my own horse
and am ònly buying another in the spring) and the best
thing I did was get there the night before - and one
ride was only 1.5 hours away. Even though I wasn`t
riding, I learned alot just listening in on the
pre-ride meeting. It also got rid of some of the
nervousness - after all I was there and didn`t have to
worry about getting lost or anything else early in the
morning when I am not necessarily at my best. :)
It is also my plan to keep doing this (arriving the
night before) for at least the first season. 
If you are not too much into camping and don`t want to
spend tons of money, I can tell you that the best
investment I ever made was an air mattress and a
portable re-chargeable air pump that inflates and
deflates the mattress (I charge it up at home before I
leave and it is fine for the whole weekend).  I can`t
remember the exact prices, but I am pretty sure that
it was under 100$. They are only maybe in the 20-30$
range depnding on what you get. I got them from Sears,
which has a decent selection of camping gear for
reasonable prices. 
Then a tent and a sleeping bag and your set. If you
are not in an area that gets very cold at night during
the ride season, you can get a pretty inexpensive
`thinner` sleeping bag that will do just fine. 
Question Two: I used a Wintec Endurance and I love it
so far and don`t feel the need to change saddles. I
trained and conditioned my horse for two years with
the plan of getting to rides, but before the start of
each season, things happened that prevented me from
getting started YET (My horse`s hocks being the main
reason). Soooo, although I haven`t actually started
competing yet, I have done many conditioning miles
with my Wintec Endurance and I still have not found
any reason to change. The newest model has air-filled
panels and the changeable gullet system in the saddle
is great. You can pretty much adapt it to any horse.
That`s all I have to say now... ;)
Lysane


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