Ridecamp: [RC] re: ready for 55

 Hi, Deanna,

Tanna threw his right easy boot because I had decided to put the boots on
without the normal vet wrap. Once I had wrapped that foot and replaced his
easy boot, he kept it for the rest of the ride. One nice thing about the
Gator Run is that I shouldn't need hoof protection. I'll have the boots in
my cantle bag, of course, but I'm not expecting to need them on this ride.

I have done 2 LDs, you are correct. It was quite awhile ago and both were on
the same horse...not Tanna.

Tanna is an old hat at camping. His previous owner took him group camping
often and his one LD was done with his former owner. I'm sure he might have
some issues at the start. He's a very alert horse. But I'm also planning on
taking pre-cautions. Starting after the pack, etc. He'll have those same
issues if we do the 30 or the 55.

Gator Run is offering back to back LDs. But we don't do Saturday rides, and
the second LD is on Saturday. Gator Run is offering a 55 on Thurday and a
30/55 each on Friday and Saturday. So my choices are a 55 or a 30.

I'm quite certain I will pull us if we need to.

Yes, I'm sure I didn't figure wrong about the 4.4 mph speed. And no, I
didn't take into account the slow downs or stops because I figure we will do
some of those things on a ride, anyway. Hanging out at a water spot. Letting
him eat grass if he wants. Not stopping and talking to people, but plenty of
other things happen that require slowing down or stopping, so I might as
well plan for those things. We're not looking to top ten or top 20 or
anything else. Just completion. A turtle award would be a nice touch. :)

You're also right about there always being another ride. That's what will
help me decide to pull or not. Whatever's best at the time.

I could always do 30 of the 55 on Thursday and the 30 on Friday to make my
own back to back LDs. :)

The nice thing about Gator Run is that I don't have to decide what I'm
really doing until I get there. No pre-entry for this ride. Just show up and
give them your entry form and your money. So if I get there and we're not
ready for the 55, we can do the 30. But I'm going to train like we're headed
for the 55.

Thanks for your input and you gave me stuff to think about.

April
Nashville, TN


Deanna German wrote:

April,I'll be the voice of caution and say just go for the 30 unless you've
gotall of your hoof protection issues worked out (it sounds like you
don't),you have subjected your horse to camping at a ridecamp and have some
milesin with a group of like-minded riders. Competition is terribly exciting
andcan blow the mind of the most sedate horse.If I remember correctly,
you've only done a couple of 25 mile LD's on twodifferent horses? Was Tanna
one of them? Have you AND your horse learned allyou can by doing LD's?I
didn't look at the ride schedule, but if this ride offers back-to-backLD's,
why don't you consider doing that rather than throwing a 55 miler atthe
horse? (And you!)I also wonder in that 4.4 mph speed you figured if you took
into account thetime you stopped to chat. You say you were motoring along
for the most part,trotting and cantering and walking only when your horse
hit a wall; are yousure you didn't figure wrong?And I'll be the one to
disagree with Pat Super about the speed. I personallycannot stand the idea
of taking the whole 12 hours to do a 50, therefore, Ihave been working my
mare in increments, increasing distance (like goingfrom 15 to 25 miles),
then increasing speed, then increasing the distanceagain (doing two-day
rides), then increasing speed (doing 25 in 3 1/2+hours). By the time we
attempt a 50, I want to be able to come in at about4:00 or 5:00 in the
afternoon, with a ride time of 8 to 9 hours. That extra2 or 3 hours out on
trail will just kill me, I know it.Understand that I'm just as much a newbie
as you are. I've done just under500 miles of CTR, 300 on this horse, and
only one completed LD. I attempteda difficult LD last fall and was overtime
despite often completing 25 milesin less than 5 hours. And yes, I had done
lots of hillwork. Not all ridesare created the same and not all horses are
created the same.
<snip>

So my advice is to keep plugging along, keep resetting your goals higher
andhigher and plan on doing the 30 or back-to-back LD's if you want to
increasethe mileage. There's always another ride.


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