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[RC] Ride your own ride - k s swigart

Lucie said about the WEC:


The US team came in riding together, all looked great.
I talked with Skye and Dr. Beecher, they said the plan
is for the  team is to ride together and finish as a group.


It is a good thing that I was not on the team since this particular plan
isn't one that I would buy in to, since it is in contravention of my own
endurance maxim of "Ride your own ride."

I can see how it might be beneficial to all stick together so
individuals don't get caught up in trying to ride with other people who
are going too fast, but the fact is, that planning to stick with anybody
other that your own horse is a mistake.

Here's to hoping that that plan in flexible enough that when one of the
horses tells its rider that it needs to do something different, that the
rider listens to her horse and abandons the plan :).

At any endurance ride, pairing up and riding with somebody else can be
advantageous, but only for as long as your real team mate, your horse,
thinks the pairing works....and it is important to realize that because
of its herd mentality, your horse is prone to think that staying with
the other horses is the best plan...even if it isn't.  This is only a
good plan if your primary concern is getting eaten by predators :).

If you ask me, this is yet another example of how the WEC endurance is
different from your everyday endurance ride.  Here at home, the team is
you and your horse, and those are the ones who need to stick together
for the whole ride and be attuned to what each other are doing.

I have no idea whether this strategy is appropriate for the WEC, as I
said, it may just be a way to keep the whole team from getting caught up
in the madness that the other 150+ horses are doing at the start.  And I
will admit to using that strategy myself at the start of rides
too....hook up with somebody else who doesn't want to participate in
what everybody else is doing at the start.

However, this "riding with somebody else" rarely ever lasts much past
the first 5 or 6 miles. ;)

kat
Orange County, Calif.



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