Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Tracy -- it sounds like you are both ready.  I am a believer that it is not 
the distance, but the speed that does horses in.  Be sure to ride your own 
ride no matter what and you'll be fine.  Lots of the riders that will leave 
you in their dust near the start of the ride won't finish so don't worry 
about that -- I always remind myself that about the worst thing that will 
happen if you go too slow is you won't finish.  But if you go too fast, you 
can hurt your horse in a lot of different ways.  It is a lot harder (as in 
requires more horsemanship) to under-ride a horse than it does to over-ride 
a horse (which is really easy, it takes almost no effort at all, just hang 
on and let 'em go!)

My youngest horse did his first 100 this year.  I did Death Valley on him 
(4 days) and that is when I realized that he was ready for a 100.  I think 
that with very few exceptions a horse that can do multidays and come thru 
them in good shape (mentally as well as physically) can do a 100.  I prefer 
to have a horse that can do multidays first, since they have to stay sound 
day after day and learn how to really take care of themselves.  On a one 
day 100 it's over in 24 hours and any damage caused isn't apparent until 
the next day, by then you are finished.  So doing multidays tells you a lot 
about your horse that you wouldn't know by only doing one day rides, even 
if they are 100's.  You are already ahead of the game. :-)

Karen
in NV

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The only thing worse than crewing for a female Endurance rider is crewing

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