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Sisu West Ranch wrote:

> This reads on a couple of thoughts Wendy and I had yesterday 
> afternoon. There are some differences between what went on in Oreana 
> last August, the WEC and the efforts of some European teams (as I 
> understand it)
>
> 1.  The WEC horses were in Florida long enough to need to be reshod by 
> the team farrier, but not through enough shoing cycles that he could 
> really learn what works for each horse.  The horses at Oreana were, in 
> general, shod by their own farriers who know the horses.

Trying to change shoeing is a dangerous business.  The new farrier can 
be the best in the world but each horse is different and it takes time 
to learn what will and what won't work. This is a vaild point.

> 2.  In Oreana, the competitors arrived and rode their own ride like 
> they know how.  I suspect that during the 6 weeks in Florida there was 
> a lot of discussion of ride strategys, tack, etc..  There was enough 
> time to learn to do something different, but not enough time to figure 
> out if it really, really worked.

If you are going to ride as a team - you have to ride as a team in a 
ride. Scrimmage is nice, but it is not a replacement for the real thing.

> 4. Most horses in Oreana had feed brought from home, or very similar 
> to their usual feed, the WEC feed had to be different..

What's that about not changing anything - especially feed close to a 
ride.........

> 5. During the time in Florida, some horses that weren't used to sand 
> may have had enough time to get a little sore, but not really aclimate 
> to sand. If on the other hand they could have been on sand for 6 
> months that may have made a difference.
In my experience it takes about 3 to six months for a horse to acclimate 
to slightly sandy conditions and more to acclimate to moderate sandy 
conditions. They tend to use different muscle and muscles differently in 
sand. Horses that have a nice natural canter seem to do better since the 
canter gets them up and out of it instead of plowing through it. Six 
weeks is not near enough.

> My bottom line is that it is possible that the length of time in 
> Florida may have been long enough to change some things, but not long 
> enough to allow the changes to be practiced enough to make sure that 
> the benefits of the changes were obtained.
I suspect you are right on about this.

Truman


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