Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

When we tried to start endurance here, most of the people who quit when 
the UAE/FEI started running the show were people who were more 
interested in going places on their horses than they were in running in 
circles.  Ride management LOVED the loops, and some riders liked them 
because they were easy...but the ones who got fed up first were the 
horses.  I can't tell you how many puzzled riders told me that "for 
some weird reason my horse just hates going out in the desert anymore". 
 Well, duh.  One of the things that was hard here was the fact that the 
desert is about the only place that riders could condition at any speed 
(countryside, besides being scary to a lot of riders here, is a lot of 
stop and go....with stop being a very abrupt event when you suddenly 
round the corner on a flock of goats.).  But for the horses it became 
so routine and miserable that they began, sensibly, to refuse.


If you HAVE to have loops, the best thing I can see is to do them 
clockwise and then counterclockwise with a different loop in the 
middle.  At least it's sort of different.  But to be successful in 
endurance, horses have to be fairly smart, and one of the obvious areas 
that horses may even be smarter than us is in understanding terrain.  
So they will find it tiresome before we do.

Maryanne
Cairo, Egypt

On Tuesday, Jul 22, 2003, at 04:04 Africa/Cairo, Truman Prevatt wrote:
>  ?It is not only some riders that find the continuous looping in to 
> camp easier - it is ride managers. I doubt if any horse does. No out 
> checks = fewer vets = lower cost, etc.

> The thing that may be an issue with dwindling 100's is people don't 
> like to ride 40 miles of trails 2 1/2 times. They might like to have a 
> diversity. Unless there is some other reason, e.g., FEI - why spend 
> many hours being bored on the trail? End it a 50 and get on with the 
> party. Once you have seen something - why see it again.
>
> Good point Bob,
> Truman
>
> Bob Morris wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> One thing missing, at least in this part of the country is the fact 
> many of the rides had between 75 and 100 miles of trail. Now so many 
> rides have loops that are shorter and are repeated. To me, and I am 
> sure many of the older riders, this is boring and tedious. A deterrent 
> to the longer rides.
> ?
> Bob
> ?
>
> Bob Morris
> Morris Endurance Enterprises
> Boise, ID


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