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Cash Pony is an example of just this.  We bought him last year in April, and he did his first 50 in Sept., a two day 100 in the first of Oct. and then the last of October his first 100.  Since then he did one more 50 and then the OD 100 and looked great. I know this sounds really fast, but he had TONS of miles put on him from April until October and he did NOT go fast at either 100.  He went into the OD with a total career miles of 355  !!!!  But, I will say that this is not the norm for all my horses.  I haven't asked the same out of the others. He is an exceptional individual and that is the key here, knowing each horse and what their limits/needs are and riding to those.

 

Jody

heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Kim, you are right on the mark with these comments.  If the rider has the horse, there is no problem with going right to 100s, if the rider has done his or her homework.  The "three seasons" thing is that it takes three seasons for a horse to hit his full potential--but he can be easily doing the distance long before that.  Additionally, in the hands of a capable horseman, he can do the early part of that "three seasons" stuff at home.

 

Heidi

The interesting part of the discussion is not really about a specific horse or performance but the optimal time for riders to get their horses doing 100s.  I tend to agree that most riders want to have a really good base on their horse before attempting a 100.  It is interesting that this usually translates to a "ride record" based on starting with LDs, moving on to 50s, and then doing some multi days.  I do think that there are several horses out there that could be attempting 100s earlier.  But I think that part of the issue is that the riders are not confident that their horses are "ready" so they keep adding on mileage to their horses record yet are not getting more confident that the horse is ready to attempt a 100.  You can't fault riders who are trying to do their horses right. But if 100s are the long term goal, the rider needs to adopt the mind set that a shorter distance is the stepping stone (training ride) to get to the 100.  You don't keep "training" at the same distance if you want to move on to longer distances.  One of the other obstacles I have seen is the idea or theory that it takes horses three years or seasons of conditioning and moving through the shorter competition distances to enter a 100.  I probably agree that most horses should have three seasons or conditioning seasons behind them before racing 100s competitively but I think this is over kill to ride a 100 conservatively. 

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