Ridecamp: Re: [RC] HAWAIIAN ENDURANCE????

I met some Arabian breeders on Kuaui (I think it was that island) who gave 
me an earful about what it's like having horses there.  She's actually the 
breeder, he's into roping.

1.  Hawaiian grass provides little nutrition on islands with lots of 
rain.  Apparently the nutrients in the soil are just washed away.  So these 
people actually had to have alfalfa imported from the mainland USA.  They 
bought it by the container load.  Very expensive way to feed - and I can't 
imagine any feed stores there having beet pulp!

2.  Hurricanes that hit Hawaii are very, very hard on horses.  The woman 
lost her best breeding stallion to a flying metal roof panel, which all but 
decapitated him.

3.  To get to his roping events which often were on other islands, he had 
to put his horse in a trailer, then drive to the dock and load the rig onto 
a barge.  This of course was a major deal, time consuming & expensive.

4.  Parts of various islands are impassable, way way too steep to ride or 
drive, and many areas are too dense with rampant growth to keep trails open 
without constant maintenance.  If you check a map, you'll see there are 
very few roads on the islands.  That's a hint!  Plus the islands are pretty 
small - I think it would be pretty hard to find enough trail to put on a 50 
miler unless you just had it go along paved roads.  Then there's the 
humidity and heat - unless you had the ride up at higher altitudes, but 
then you'd have the access problem....

5.  These people were/are *rich*.  No way could an ordinary person afford 
to keep horses on pastures on Kauai, import alfalfa from the mainland & 
barge to roping events!  So a big problem would be that of getting enough 
competitors to an event - I'm not sure how many competitors would be 
available for an endurance ride on Hawaii!
       _________________________________________________
           Lif Strand * Quemado NM USA * www.fasterhorses.com
                               ** You speak, I listen, We talk  **


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