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Re: [RC] [Guest] Limited distance out of control - Heidi SmithEndurance4fun@xxxxxxx (Note that a Name SHOULD be used on guest posts.) Here's something else that should be addressed....we shouldn't just target some of the people that do LD's as being careless and ignorant. What about those people who race their horses in 50's that have no business doing so - the horse is either improperly conditioned and/or the person riding the horse is interested in their own glory - the horse is just a "vehicle". There are some differences between racing 25 and racing 50 on under-conditioned horses, the first major difference being that an unconditioned horse usually CAN go 25 miles, but will NOT be able to do 50 miles at racing speeds. Not that I recommend the former--I don't. But with only one vet check to pass, all the horse has to do at the end of 25 is meet criteria within half an hour, and viola! you have a completion. Going the same sort of speed on a 50 will end you up hitting the wall, and either a pull or a really S-L-O-W continuation. Hence, no reward in it for the rider. Second, because the vets CAN get hands on the 50-mile horses that many more times, they CAN exert much more control over the racing aspect of the 50 than they can on the 25. So the problems with underconditioned horses racing 50's over the long haul just aren't the same. That said--a great many very good and conscientious riders skip 25s anyway. No, they don't just come out of the box racing on 50s--but they do their homework at home, and they don't want horses with a lot of potential getting into the idea that 25 is all it is. I'm one who much prefers not to use LDs for starting horses. That said, I just came back from a 5-year hiatus in riding, and I most certainly took advantage of LD for ME. I did three of 'em, and I was riding a wonderful, laid-back, well-broke 16-year-old former 4-H horse. And lemme tell ya, I didn't race! My first one was over 5 hours. My second one was just under 4, and my third one was over 3-1/2. EVEN SO--I could see serious "race brain" starting in this horse, and decided I HAD to step up to 50 "or else". He STILL tried to take off like an idiot on his first 50, and it wasn't until we went out on the 3rd and 4th loops that he started to "see God." He is now a reliable "Steady Eddy" at 50s, but I don't know what kind of a train wreck we might have had if we had just kept chugging along with LD. The really good prospects for longer distances just don't settle into LD well at all, in my experience, so I don't buy the premise that LD has to be a stepping stone to endurance FOR THE HORSE. Many RIDERS need it as a stepping stone (including my own recent experience) and other riders have their own reasons for staying with LDs and not stepping up. But I personally think that for the RIDERS who are capable of going further, it is no shame not to use LD in bringing along horses--in fact, just the contrary, they are often saving themselves some headaches later on. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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