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Re: [RC] a year of 25's - Deanna Germanon 10/17/03 3:11 PM, Heidi Smith at heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote: Deanna, if you bothered to read my AERC record, there are actually three LDs that show up there--all three on the horse I'm currently riding. Whoa there, Heidi, that was David speaking, not me! But that really isnt' germaine to the discussion, as the conclusions I've drawn with regard to the detriments of LD have come not from my riding career but from having vetted a copious number of rides over the years, in which I've seen horses come back to do LD after LD until their minds were fried. And no, I'm not talking racing--I'm talking about conservative riders who were "told" that this was what one had to do, but lacked the experience to see what was going on with their horses. I didn't agree with you on this a couple of years ago, but I agree with you now and you have put into different words exactly my point. A year of LD's wouldn't have worked for me and this horse. I could see the brain frying after the second LD and the third one blew her mind. Took me 110 more competitive miles to get her back. The one day 50 back in June was the best thing I've done for this horse mentally. After 500 miles of CTR. :-)) And yes, I'm a total newbie to this sport. Any equine sport actually. (Actually, you pointed that out, too--you correctly pointed out that I didn't learn it on LDs, although you likely didn't know that I rode CTRs prior to ever doing endurance at all...) Again, some of this is what David said, not me! My concern here is the concept that a year of LDs is good for the HORSE. Precisely. While some may benefit from that, a great many will not, and will actually be hampered by not moving on. Yup. This isn't a debate about LD as such--it is a debate about what is best for the HORSE. And since that is different for each individual, the rider needs to have the freedom to make the right choices for his or her individual horse, instead of having to "survive" a rule aimed at the lowest common denominator, so to speak. Agreed. And I wouldn't have agreed with this 2 or 3 years ago when I was just getting started. The rider needs to be understanding what's going on with the horse. Deanna =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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