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Re: [RC] 100 mile horse characteristics - heidiSelf perserving - that is no matter how big an idoit they might be they > will drink (and eat) at mile one on.If you run across a good one that you don't want because he doesn't start drinking till 12 or 15 miles...send him my way. ;-) LOL, Angie... I agree that you want horses that eat and drink well, but I have to disagree with Truman that "all" horses who don't start drinking early get behind the drinking curve, so to speak. I've ridden a few horses that will "catch up" as the day goes on, and I've vetted many. In fact, the ability to rebound is one of the things I look for in a 100-mile prospect. One of the secrets to rebounding is the ability to eat like a pig. If the hindgut starts out full, they DO have some reserve--and when those sorts of horses don't drink for a bit, they tend not to get into trouble. This is also the secret, IMO, to the horses that don't need e-lytes--the ones who eat their fool heads off all day have a tremendous e-lyte reserve in that hindgut as well. The horse I just swiped from hubby and rode at PP a few weeks ago still is not exemplary about drinking on the first loop (almost 19 miles). But he drank like a suction hose when he came in off the first loop, and his eating just kept getting better all day. He also didn't miss a water opportunity the rest of the day, with the exception of a couple of spots where the water was really close to the last water and he had really tanked up. His skin tenting, gut sounds, etc. were a bit diminished early on (Bs), but also came back to As as the day wore on. I've seen this sort of pattern very commonly in very successful 100-milers--by 60-75 miles they are ready to eat a whole haystack (even if they were a bit "down" at the first check or two), and that in and of itself keeps them drinking and hydrated. So if you are looking at your 50-mile horse and asking yourself if he could go further, that's what I'd look for, first and foremost--are you having to drag him away from the food late in the 50 to go back out on the trail? If so, he has some 100-mile potential. That, and does he like to do it? If you practically have to carry him down the trail, he won't like it any better going twice as far... I also want 100 mile horses that haul well--the sort that you can stop at night at a rest area on the freeway and find them sound asleep in the trailer, and that will eat and drink in the trailer (and poop and pee--remember the don't-pee-in-the-trailer thread... <g>). And that camp calmly. You don't want them to have run their 100-miler in the trailer on the way to the ride, or in camp the night before... Heidi ============================================================ The whole ride experience can be very hard, and at times you question why you put yourself through such abuse. But then you remember all those moments when you pop up over a hill and are suddenly surrounded by the most stunning views. It's just you and your horse and for a moment time stops and you can hear the angels sing. Therein lies the addiction, at least for me. ~ Leslie Beyers ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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