Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

> 1. Have you ever taken a young horse on his first ride? I can tell you
> that  that 25 miles feels like 50 when you are finished!
Well, actually, I take most of my "young" horses on 50s right from the
beginning--since most of my "young" horses are 6 or 7 (or older!) before I
start them on rides.

> 2. Have you ever broken something and had to start conditioning your
> body and  horse again, I can tell you that 25 feels like a 100 when you
> are finished.
Yep, came back from 4 years of not riding, had a hysterectomy, came off a
backhoe and broke two ribs, and then got bacterial meningitis.  My first
LD after that was one of the most excruciating rides I've EVER done.  As I
said in an earlier post, no matter how many of my own demons I have had to
"endure" to complete, that still doesn't mean that I've ridden an
"endurance ride."  The term "endurance ride" has to do with going over a
certain distance--and has NOTHING to do with how tough it was for the
rider to get there.

3. Most of us started slow and moved our way up, learning
> as we went.  GIVE IT A REST - LD's and those who ride them have a place
> in Endurance.
Yes, they "have a place" in endurance--just as learning to walk as a child
"has a place" in every athletic endeavor you will do for the rest of your
life.

But the very differences that have been put in place to KEEP LD rides safe
for horses preclude them from being "the same thing" as endurance rides.

My entire contribution to this thread has defended LD's "place" in
endurance--I'd fight tooth and nail to keep it from going away.  In fact,
NO ONE has suggested that LDs DON'T have a place in "endurance."  What is
so difficult to comprehend about the fact that "having a place in
endurance" is NOT the same thing as "being endurance rides"??

Heidi


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Black care rarely sits behind a rider whose pace is fast enough 
~  Theodore Roosevelt

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