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[RC] [RC] building a base - DreamWeaver

I'm sure more people will answer in the next few days. If they don't, next time you are at a ride simply ask other riders what you want to know. If you don't know who people are, then ask and find that out too -- don't be shy. Most people are generally open and willing to share information. Look in the point standings and see who is in them in your region -- look at the National Standings and see who those people are, almost every single one of these people are really nice and friendly.

I can share what I've done with my own horses. My first two endurance horses have made it up to around 5800 and 6000 miles each, and have completed rides for 7 and 9 ride seasons each. I think probably the most important thing I have learned from these horses is that there is nothing wrong in backing off. If they are doing really well, it doesn't mean that I need to keep competing them (by competing I mean riding in the top ten or better). I'm sure I could word this a lot better if I thought about it more. I have certainly made mistakes with both horses along the way but all in all there isn't a whole lot that I would do differently if I had it to do over again. Putting a good base on a horse is different for each horse -- there are so many variables that even if I did post exactly how often and how far I rode each horse in preparation for their rides thru each season, it would not mean anything to anybody else. That is something that we all have to figure out for each horse.

I think as a general rule, I would say that there is no hurry to be racing a horse before it has it's first few hundred to thousand miles of competition. On the other hand, a seasoned competitor that knows what they are doing can train and condition a horse to start out being competitive from it's very first ride. I'm not that person. I think that if I have a horse that can be competitive and do well in rides before it has a thousand miles, it will be a really great horse if I wait till after the first thousand to go faster. Then, we'll have most things figured out. I have seen very few horses ridden hard in their first thousand miles make it beyond that (so, it is a personal choice on what we all want out of our horses -- longevity, etc.) I still don't have everything figured out. As I have learned from both of my horses, as each thousand miles goes by --they change. We never stop learning! I keep realizing how much I learn each time another thousand miles goes by, or even a few rides -- and even at Death Valley I still was learning valuable lessons about my horses. Mainly, that there will never be a time where I won't have to worry about them. No matter how experienced they are, they are still fragile and demand my constant attention. Sometimes, I think they have me trained better than I have them!!

I remember starting out how anxious I was to get to the 'next ride'. It is really hard to have patience when you are dying so badly to get to that magical ride -- at the time, all you see is the immediate future. Thinking back now it is a lot easier to realize that a horses first couple of years does go by fairly fast. I am not saying that people shouldn't be competitive in the first couple of ride seasons -- only that if they are they should be well prepared, and understand that if they have a really great horse, the horse will be even greater once it has done a couple of ride seasons or that thousand miles. Enjoy the journey.

Happy Trails,

Karen
in NV
& Rocky
& Weaver
& Granite Chief, 100 miles & going to the next ride :-)
http://members.tripod.com/ridephotos/


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