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[RC] [RC] List update-100's - Nancy MittsOkay Angie,I don't do computers, but my slave Nancy does it for me. (Y'all don't know what you're in for...N) I started my endurance career in 1987. I think my first 100 was in 1988. My career mileage is 7600+, all but 50 miles of this has been on 2 horses. Believe it or not, they aren't Arabs. They are a home grown horse bred up by me over the last 43 years, and I call them Amonte Horses. Candy being my first (endurance) and an exceptional horse. Her resting heart rate got as low as 21 and she once had a cri of 52/32. Candy's career is 5300+ with 23 100's. She kept me in the Central Region Top Ten 5 straight years. I retired her in 1996 to raise babies. Now at the age of 21 she is pregnant with her 4th. Whe I retired her I took Racer away from Nancy who had already done 13 100's on him. Racer now has 22 -100's and is 17 years old and still doing good, although we haven't entered a ride on him in a couple years. His third endurance ride was a 100. Now for the advice part: Pantyhose under jeans beats plain jeans. Tights beats pantyhose under jeans, especially in the heat and humidity. Tights under jeans is great in cold weather. Your number one competition is the trail. You have to beat it before you can beat anybody else. A 100 miles is plenty of time for your riding competition to screw up. I've been asked to mentor a lot of riders on their first 100. When they ask if they can ride with me, my answer is "You can ride with me, but I will not ride with you." I only ride my own ride, and not everyone can ride a steady 6-7 mile an hour trot every step of the way. Know your horse and ride to his/her ability. As for getting extremely tired or seeing things, I've been known to get off and sleep. I just run the reins through a belt loop or something that will break easy and let the horse graze while I sleep. My horse will wake me up when it's time to go. Over the years one of the things I've found about horse care, especially for 100's, is they have to eat and drink a lot. Now, you and your horse become a number one team, because most of the time it's you and them by yourself. Horses can't stand to be alone, they need a buddy. I want them to see ME as their best buddy. I sit and eat and drink with them at the vet checks, it helps keep them eating and drinking better instead of looking around. On trail, I tell my horses "drink or go", they only get to stand around if they keep taking sips. Candy got wise to this and would hold her lips in the water, so I started watching for swallows. I started counting swallows and found it's beneficial because I know how much water they take in. Racer averages about 170 swallows in 17 miles of trail during the heat of the day, if the water is good. I also find taking water from home keeps them drinking better in camp. I try to avoid chlorinated water. Due to large amounts that horses drink, chlorination can interfere with the bacteria that aid in digestion. For those of you that are interested in winning points in your region, my ride philosophy might be beneficial. I stayed in the top 2 of my weight division for 9 years straight. 5 first and 4 seconds. I did this by beating the trail----completing, completing, completing, year after year. I have only won 4 rides in my life. All of them were 100's, here's how: The first win I was the only one (out of 5) to finish. The second was me and Katrina Mosshammer who I was sponsoring as a Junior and we were the only 2 to finish and I make the Juniors ride behind me. The third was Nancy & I were the only 2 to finish and it was my turn to be first. The 4th one, only 2 in the ride, we rode together as this was another first time 100 miler, and we flipped a flat rock. Wet side up, I won! If you're not going to be in the top ten, you might as well be last and save your horse for another ride. If you can afford to enter 1200 miles of rides per year and just finish in last place you will almost always win your weight division and place top ten in your region. (Unless your in the same region as Trilby P or Don Funk!) Monte Mitts 5851 (typed by Nancy, my honeydo of the day)
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