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RE: [RC] [RC] What do I need? - heidi

Helmet and Easy Ride stirrups. Secure water carrying system. First aid
pack.(skip the splint boots unless your horse interferes, then keep
checking  them to make sur eyou don't get sand, dirt under them--bad
rubs). (Tights to  ride in,undies with no seams in delicate area). Maybe
halfchaps--

Huh.  I rode for years in regular irons with no problem.  Just switched to
EZRide stirrups as a consideration to creeping middle age and various
other physical complaints.  I have yet to carry a first aid pack with me. 
A "secure water carrying system" can be something homemade that will allow
you to tie a cheap grocery-store water bottle to the saddle--the wonderful
commercial adaptations are nice, but not a "must" to start out.  I also
rode for years in regular undies (until I got <ahem> "gravitationally
enhanced" which aggravated the rub factor), and do admit that I love my
high-tech riding undies--but again, we're talking the basic necessities
for getting started here....  Also rode for years with knees wrapped in
Elastoplast or Vetrap, over regular jeans, to keep the seams from chafing.
Then moved "up" to leotards, shorts, and knee socks, before all the good
endurance tights became available.

You really don't know WHAT you need for your own self until you go ride
and find out where your own personal "weak points" are.  I sure wouldn't
go buy anything besides the basics until I've found the sore spots--and
then I'd recommend going out to see how riders have specifically dealt
with those things, and try to figure out which solution would work for me.

What I'm trying to convey here is that a newbie needs to go ride first,
and then start cataloging what happens--and trying to seek solutions to
those issues.  Every horse and every rider has their own personal set of
issues, and will have to find their own personal set of solutions.  I
think it is a big mistake to look at pictures of endurance riders and go
try to deck yourself and your horse out to look like the pictures.  What
works great for one rider may actually cause a problem for another, so you
have to define your needs by riding before you go shopping for the
"extras"....

Heidi


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This weekend, many of you are at rides...25's, 50's or 100's.  You are the
lucky ones.  I know you did whatever you had to do to get to 'em.  I know
that each of you go to 'em with different so-called "goals" in mind...but I
also know that each of you cares for your horse and realize that "carrying
you" is the least of what he/she does for you.  LIFTING YOU is the true
effect. 
~  Ryder

ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/

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Replies
RE: [RC] [RC] What do I need?, Laurie Durgin