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I found myself reading a lot between the lines in Keith's post. First, a new 
person showing up at a ride on a gaited horse doesn't usually make a ripple in 
the gossip pool...so, why were they so worried that you were going to go too 
fast? You mentioned you were local...had you put out word that you were going 
to 'show them how it's done?" You said you'd been e-mailing the manager. Had 
you shown an attitude that had her particularly worried...like that you planned 
to go straight to the front in your first ride?  I can tell you that as a 
manager, that attitude has scared me to death with newbies when they were on 
Arabs too. You can kill a horse you love through inexperience no matter what 
breed you ride.

So then you started the ride, and chose a horse that had been in the Pan Ams 
and had 4000 miles experience and decided "it would be a good one to keep in 
sight". Why? I just did a first ride on an 11 year old Arab and the last thing 
I wanted to "keep in sight" on his first ride was a top dog.

Then you said you stayed about 20 yards behind them...please refer back to Dr. 
Q's recent thread on people who attach themselves to you(he rides a foxtrotter 
by the way) on how he hates it when someone latches onto him and decides to 
follow all day. On top of that, something you might want to consider as the 
rider of a gaited horse is the effect the sound of a fast singlefoot has on 
trotting horses. To my horses it sounds like a gallop and tends to really upset 
them. I have had to get them used to it but it's been a real problem many times 
to introduce it and I have had my horse bolt at a ride when a fast gaited horse 
came up on him. That's not the gaited rider's fault, but it's something they 
can be aware of and be considerate. Did you offer to lead any?

Next: "I hear you ride like hell". Where would one hear that? It's just not the 
sort of thing that's said when an unknown rider shows up.

You arrived at the 20 mile vet check in 2nd 3rd & 4th. So, you are definately 
moving out. Guess they were right when they suspected you were going to go for 
the lead in your first ride. You are obviously concerned with where the 1st 
place horse is. Again, not the best attitude at your first ride. Then you say 
the following:

"It took about 15 minutes winding through the LD riders to pull the two 
arabians we were following back to us. We did just that and settled in again at 
a rack at about 10 mph.J"

Boy, don't try this on Dr. Q!  You chased them down so they could pull you 
around some more. Bad etiquette, but then it's hard to know that when it's your 
first ride. It could be that your horse's breed was not the problem, you just 
didn't know what's considered rude yet because you're new. Another reason to 
learn the ropes before going for the front.

Next you say:

"I bumped Blues up to 11-12 mph (arent gps watches useful?) for about 4 miles 
and never saw the Pan Am rider again. She must have been positively flying."  

Yep, she was, and so were you...asking your horse to compete with a horse with 
a lot more experience and a rider who has a better idea how it will affect him. 
My guess is she wouldn't have gone nearly as fast if she hadn't been sick of 
you following her all day.

Now. let's assume you are going to be one of several people who have sort of 
come into endurance like this...and turned out to be very good endurance 
riders. Here's my advice. Chill out. The best way to earn respect is to show up 
and do a good job at *whatever* speed and learn the lay of the land before you 
go trying to prove something.  The people who were leary of you because they 
guessed correctly that you planned to let it rip had good reason to worry. 
They've seen these situations before that didn't end so well.First timers and 
racing *usually* are a dangerous situation no matter what breed!

It's NOT that you're on a Foxtrotter. I have seen a Paso Fino win first in a 
big 50. It can be done...and nobody worried about that horse because it was 
ridden by an experienced endurance rider and we trusted that if she was going 
that fast she knew the horse could safely do it.

You said:

"1. Training for this was just like training for a human endurance event. 
Periodazation, Lond Slow distance, rest, speed work, heart rate monitering, 
race preperation and proper food all come into play."

Sounds like you're a distance athlete yourself. However, horses aren't people. 
You can't convince them they need to eat or drink by reasoning with them. I had 
someone ask me at the last ride how to teach a horse to drink. I said, "Slow 
down". I'd give the same answer for eating. If your horse has enough natural 
ability to handle being run that hard on its first ride and come out OK...and 
if you're that gung ho, you may be great candidates to move up to 100's someday 
but he'll need to know to eat & drink. He won't learn that going all out from 
the start.

Now...I may be way off base in what *I* read between the lines in your 
situation, but maybe by reading this you can at least get an idea into the 
mindset of what the others there might really have been assuming about you 
rather than what you thought they were.

Angie McGhee (who has competed on an App, a Mule, a Standardbred, and wants to 
ride a pony)


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