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[RC] LDs "bad" for horses - Benedikte WhitmanJust thought I would put in my five cents since I am right in the middle of the transition up. I have done CTR on my horse and a couple of LDs. I started at that distance because I am a "toe in the water" kind of a gal. Want to try things slowly and get a better understanding before I go whole hog. Also, I did not feel that I had enough time to condition adequately for a 50. My biggest fear is that I go in to that and have not adequately conditioned (since I am not experienced at that distance) and cause problems for my horse. My horse breezed through the 25s, was a lousy drinker, and really did not take care of himself at all. He actually was waiting to get home to adequately drink again. I did my first 50 last year at Strawberry. He went through the first 25 as normal - wanting to rush and really not drinking or anything. Lunch was back at camp and I unsaddled him and turned him out in his pen. When I came out and saddled him back up - you should have seen the look of shock and horror on that horses face. As we rode back out of camp he zigzagged all across the trail looking back over his shoulder at camp at every turn. He stopped and drank heavily out of every stream we came across even if he had stopped at one 5 minutes earlier and I even had to get off and haul him up a mountain because I was going faster on foot than he was. If someone hadn't caught us that we could have ridden with, I would probably still be out there. The point is that the 50 was a real wake-up call for him and his behavior has changed somewhat at this point. He does go a little slower and calmer (a lot of the time) and is more inclined to eat and drink well on the trail regardless. I really think he is a little worried all the time now that I might go "crazy" and do that to him again. I am back to 25s again this year because of other things in my life that have prevented riding and conditioning. I am hoping though that his experience will make him take better care of himself even in those. Benedikte =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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