DVE/LSD

[guest@endurance.net]

Kathy Mayeda kathy.mayeda@att.net
Posting as "Guest" because my home e-addy bounced.....

Jim Holland Says:"Maryben... Hmmmm...I assume by your reaction, that this
individual is someone you know well. All I said was that I didn't consider
what he did something to be proud of.
 That's not exactly "bashing". "

THEN YOU WENT ON TO BASH MORE.  NO ONE SAID THAT HE HAD ANY PRIDE INVOLVED
HERE.  YOU'RE THE ONE WHO PUT THAT ON HIM.  HE'S ACTUALLY A PRETTY MODEST
GUY.




What would you have said if what he did turned out badly and his horse was
permanently injured? He had a better chance for "bad" things to happen
than "good" things. What was the old saying? "The Lord looks after damn
fools and little childen"?...or something to that effect. I believe in
erring on the side of the horse and maximize his opportunities to SUCCEED,
not fail. You're right that I don't personally know him. However,
sometimes you don't have to know someone personally to form an opinion
about their behavior.


AND JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS.  THE HORSE DID SUCCEED IN FINISHING BY THE RIDER
JUDGING HIS CONDITION FROM MOMENT TO MOMENT.  THE RIDER HAD NO
EXPECTATIONS OF THE HORSE TO FINISH ALL OF THE DAYS, HE WAS PLANNING TO
JUST GO AS FAR AS THE HORSE'S CONDITION WOULD ALLOW.  THE RIDER THINKS
THIS HORSE IS A HELLUVA HORSE.



In an extreme case, there was an item on CNN this morning about some kid
who killed a bull with a bow and beat a Llama to death with a golf club. I
know enough about THAT individual from those facts to decide that I want
him nowhere near my barnyard. I don't have to conduct a personal interview
with this kid to determine HIS mindset. While certainly not in the same
class, IMHO, this individual, ASSUMING the basic facts reported by Kathy
were accurate:

THEY WERE NOT ACCURATE.  SEE KEN COOK'S POST AND MY SUBSEQUENT
RETRACTIONS.


1. Set a poor example and contradicted all the good information about how
to prepare a horse for Endurance that has been discussed on Ridecamp and
in other articles and publications.

RIDECAMP IS NOT THE BEST SOURCE OF ENDURANCE INFORMATION.  MISINFORMATION
IS JUST AS EASILY OBTAINED ON THIS FORUM AS GOOD INFORMATION.  (EVEN
ENDURANCE NEWS HAS SOME PRETTY IFFY INFORMATION SOMETIMES.)


2. Did not give his horse a chance to become acclimated mentally or
physically for the job he was being asked to do.


YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT KIND OF BASE THIS HORSE ALREADY HAS.  AGAIN, YOU ARE
JUDGING BY PROXY.


3. Did not have proper concern for the long term welfare of his horse.
Perhaps THIS particular horse was strong enough and mentally capable of
handling what was asked of him, and PERHAPS his rider knew that....but he
put his horse at risk....he couldn't KNOW. His behavior could result in
other, less knowledgeable individuals attempting to duplicate this "feat".
I would't care if he were my brother, my spouse, or my great, great,
grandfather...my opinion would be the same. Keep him out there.....he is
not someone I would trust to ride MY horses. Jim, Sun of Dimanche, and
Mahada Magic

THIS PERSON HAS TWICE THE AMOUNT OF MILEAGE AS YOU DO, AND HAS SEVERAL
MULTI-DAY RIDES BEHIND HIM OF WHICH YOU HAVE LITTLE EXPERIENCE, IF ANY (I
CHECKED).  BETH GUNN WAS ALSO A DETRACTOR AND SHE HAS EVEN LESS THAN YOU.
IF YOU NOTICE, THE ONES WHO KNOW THIS GUY, I KNOW HIM BUT NOT WELL, ARE
THE ONES WHO DEFEND HIM.  OBVIOUSLY THIS GUY HAS A LOT MORE BRAINS AND
HEART GOING FOR HIM THAN YOU EVEN HAVE A CLUE ABOUT JUDGING FROM ACROSS
THE NATION.  MARYBEN, KEN COOK AND I WERE ALL THERE AND HAD SEEN THIS
HORSES CONDITION AFTER THE RIDE (AND YOU WERE NOT), AND WE ALL STAND
BEHIND THIS RIDER.  MARYBEN AND KEN COOK HAVE THE MILEAGE AND EXPERIENCE
TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE.

I am not advocating that everyone repeat what this guy has done.  Most
people will not have the patience to hand walk a horse for that many hours
of the day and baby a horse along for that many miles.  He gave all the
credit to the horse and did not seek any accolades from anyone.  He did it
quietly and without ego.  I have a lot more respect for this than for
those who go out and do a fast 25 mile LD as "training" for a young horse.
(As for me, I'll just do a slow one-day LD this spring with Drako, thank
you...I'm not into handwalking a horse for that many miles.)

I bet in the long run, this will be a horse that will know how to take
care of himself because he was taught not to race from the very beginning.
Doing a multi-day has done wonders for teaching my horse to eat and drink
well... something that he wasn't doing during the one day 50's we've done.
Give this idea a little more thought.  It probably isn't for you, but this
was not done out of ignorance, but out of this rider's experience with
young horses.

And I've done nothing in this post but repeat what I've already said.  So
I will give it a rest.  I've had enough.


K.