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There are several issues - you don't run any faster than needed to win. 
If the field is not running at an 8 hour pace - why should you take the 
additional risk of doing so. To some extent we don't know how good some 
of these older horses really were. At the '94 Carolina ride four riders 
unleased a race that left the mouth hanging open. The first four ran sub 
8 hours with Cash winning in about 7:30 and change.

The other issue is while these older horses could do it - can any horse 
do a steady diet of sub 8 hour 100's. It is clear with 20 mile intervals 
in thier training, carbo loading, etc., the UAE has been able to show 
horses can run sub 8 hour 100's when asked. But we already knew that - 
even without 20 mile itervals and carbo loading. With the right durgs a 
rider has shown that can be pushed down to 7 hours. However, I guess the 
real question is why our horses (US) aren't showing the capability of 
the past. Could it be we (as a group ) aren't paying enough attention to 
the base and the time to build it? I have no ideal but it sure seems to 
be (and I may be wrong about this) as a whole the top 100 mile horses 
say of 10 to 15 years ago were better than todays.

Truman

heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Jody, you are right on the mark.  We've had USA horses do this very sort
> of thing at home on AERC rides from time to time, and just a notch slower,
> the sub-9 100s are not at all uncommon.  (Heck, I've even ridden one of
> those, and my 8:46 was only good for 6th place!)  And yes, many of the
> horses doing such things are high-mileage horses with long careers and
> lots of BCs.  The times and the trail are red herrings here, detracting us
> from the real issue (IMO) which is why, with all the modern "goodies"
> etc., we don't seem to be able to train horses for this, when our very own
> AERC mentors and examples did exactly that with far less "stuff."
>
> Heidi
>
>
>  


--

“Many people consider the things government does for them to be social 
progress but they regard the things government does for others as 
socialism.” Earl Warren


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