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Re: [RC] Horses treated - Heidi SmithI'm wondering if there is any relation to the number of horses treated to the number of "easier" flatter rides? The horses I've been competing with, all half-arab,half-saddlebreds, are notorious for not drinking well in camp and get pretty carried away on a flat trail. I avoid flat rides with them if I can unless they are really fit. Can't speak for overall, but yep, there sure is in my own experience. There are several stressors at the flat rides--overall speed, the fact that the horses behind can see the horses in front for a longer distance and get hyped up by that, the use of the same muscles over and over, the mental stress of the sameness, etc. And overall, I've seen more treatments at such rides, vs hilly rides where the horses get happily separated into groups going their own speed, use different muscles, and go slower for the most part. And as a rider, I agree with you in your approach to such rides--I call the flat desert rides "3rd-year rides" and I pick the most up-and-down "technical" rides for my green horses that I possibly can for the very reasons named. Heck, last year we started a couple of horses on an LD ride, and we started a few minutes late--and thanks to the terrain, we just about never SAW other horses all day! No reason to get hyped at all.... 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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