Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

Re: [RC] CTR thumbs down post - Truman Prevatt

I'm probably going to get into trouble for this post - but that's never stopped me. The first ride I did on my old mare was a 25 (in fact it was my first ride). It was about 90 degrees in South FL in Jan and we had showers - which turned the forest into a steam bath. It was survival. I came home did my homework. The next ride in Feb was an LD in South FL. We ran it in 2:40 and two of us "raced" the whole way. Actually we were riding together and having a blast. It was two guys - sort of a guy thing :-) . The next LD she would have won if I hadn't had my saddle slip as I was ducking a branch to save my butt. We ended up in second. However, she had a perfect vet score - the only horse of the day in any distance, 25, 50 or 100.

I bred her in May (so she could have the maden thing out of the way). In Nov I did an LD - 2:40 again. She'd done it before and it was a walk in the park for her. She had the foal in the in mid April and we did our first 50 the next Jan. She went on to do about 1800 (endurance not counting those scummy inferrior LD) miles - I retired her to breed at 15 before it was too late after she finsihed the ROC. She had a couple seconds, a first, many top 10's and even a BC. She could do and did do a 3:40 50 - and had the best vet score and won BC. Of her miles over 1/3 of them were one day 100's. All this and she is a walking horse.

Were the fast LD's bad for her - clearly not. Did them make a difference - if they did it was positive. Did they stop her from going on - nope.

Now here is the kicker.

The basic reason was she was 8 years old before she did her first LD. She had three years of hacking around and lots of trail riding and lots of long fast trail riding before she hit an endurance ride. It's not the speed of fast LD's - it's the age!

As far as I can see there are no fixed principles - except one. The horse has to be ready to do what you ask of it. A 4 year old is not ready to do fast LD's, a five year old is not ready to do fast 50's and a 5 year old is not ready to a 100 at any speed.

It's not the speed of the first LD's - it's the age and base of the horse. Would I do a fast LD again - in a hearbeat in a heartbeat if the horse was ready, willing, able, and OLD ENOUGH.

Asbestos suite on - fire when ready.

Truman

Jonni wrote:

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.



--


"The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. The opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth." Niels Bohr -- Nobel Laureate, Physics




=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


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!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


Replies
[RC] CTR thumbs down post, Jonni