[RC] Top of the Rock-Grain Brained! - Rides 2 Far
>an added incentive of racing for money at this ride as
> well.
After reading the rest of your post, I really don't think that was the
problem. I'll bet that if you checked the entries you'd find that several
of the front runners weren't in the IAHA event. Just a guess. You
started up front...why? My horse is pretty aggressive at the start and
I'm scared silly to be up there. I just avoid it by starting in the
middle...doesn't make much difference, *everybody* starts out pretty
fast.
Since we haven't done a 50 miler in 2 years, I also wanted to "top
> off his tank". I Fly hasn't been grained since we opened the pasture
back up mid April Fri am before trailering,
> when we got set up in camp around noon, at dinner and before I tried
to go to sleep.
This scares me. My horse gets quite a bit of grain twice a day, but I
cut back before hauling and give smaller meals coming into the ride.
Tying up is my big fear. I cut feed in half when hauling.
I like to mount about 30 minutes before the start so
> He trotted with extreme suspension
> for 30 minutes straight before the start.
No walking at all? Why warm up? A trot is a trot whether they've said
"go" yet or not. Again, I'd be terrified of tying up. Granted, I get
that "BOOM BOOM trot that I'm not asking for during warm ups too, but I
can always get my 15 min. walk in before he starts. Since he has no
medium trot during warm up I walk 15 min. then alternately huge trot /
walk the next 15.
> Our first
> loop of trail was 25 miles, then 15 miles and the final loop of 10.
I think this is the answer to the question of "Why did this happen?" I
HATE long first loops. I think they're horrible. They allow the first
loop runaway to go way too long. A vet check at 15 miles would have
sorted out the horses by recoveries, then they leave no longer in "bolt
with the crowd" mode. People may say that 15 miles is too soon, the
horses aren't drinking yet, etc. Who cares? They need to be split up
and take a few minutes to chill out. Also, it's very hard to stop during
the first loop to give electrolytes. I think lots of people just wait
till they get back to the check and that's too late.
The National Championship trail was like that too. I dislike long loops
period, but as a first loop I think they're dangerous, *especially* on a
hot day. If I were a betting person I'd say this had far more to do with
the problems than the money offered by IAHA. My horse isn't registered,
so I don't ride for the money anyway, but don't think it's the culprit
this time. If the first loop had been 15 miles, you might have been able
to regroup and go back out sanely rather than pull.
P.S. 22 lbs. in 7 weeks...can't think of a very healthy diet that would
do that. :-P
Angie
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