Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Jessica posted: >>>I'm sorry if you feel I shouldn't have "raced" my first
time. <<<

It is often common for those new to the sport, who "race" right off the bat
in LD rides, to find later, that was probably not the best thing they could
have done for their horses future in the sport of endurance. We have had
many different discussions on Ridecamp that often relate back to the fact
that going real easy and slow in the beginning, will help to develop that
horse to then be able to excel in the sport.  Recently the discussion was
horses that do not eat and drink really well on the trail during the rides.
Many horses who start with fast LD rides, never learn to do so, as they are
finished so fast, why bother? But later, when they move up to longer
distances, where the eating and drinking are even MORE critical to the
horse, the horse has race brain, and doesn't take as good'a care of itself
as it should. Horses that are chargy, hard to rate, difficult to slow down
early in a ride are often ones who learned to race right off the bat. But
again, when one moves up to the longer distances, if that is a goal, often
the horses burn themselves out early in the ride, tugging and pulling
against the rider, or the rider just letting them, "go" and they have
nothing left to finish the longer distance as they used themselves all up
early on. Worst case scenario is a horse that has a metabolic crash.....
which can happen to any one of us, so we should try to do what it takes to
minimize those risks.

You mentioned coming from barrel racing, and other speed sports, so I
personally am not surprised by you wanting to "race". I'm sure you are very
competitive.  And, I would also guess you are one of our younger riders. In
the recent AERC survey, most who responded to the survey are between 36 and
55 (with more closer to the mid 40 range). Those of us who fall into that
age range, and have also "had horses all our lives" like you have, often
have a tendency to call it like we see it, with the horses welfare usually
as our first interest. And again, many of us have seen what can happen with
some horses who are "raced" before they, and their rider have a good grasp
on endurance, because we have been around the sport for not only years, but
for some, decades.

I'd love to see you and your horse show us that you have prepared well for
the rides, and fully understand what it takes to get a horse through a ride
at the speed you want to go, and finish with a sound, healthy horse, that
you took the best care of it, and it took excellent care of itself by eating
and drinking well, looked great at the end, and looked great hours later.
And hopefully you are a rider who wants to have this particular horse around
awhile in the sport, and can also show us that indeed, you have the ability
to keep that horse going well today, and even a year from now. Hopefully you
won't be one of those who feel the horse is disposable, and get the most out
of them while you can.
Jonni



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