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Hi Jennifer,
	Nothing you've said makes me think either you or your mare are not 
suitable for endurance!!!  I have to ask though, why is the unsolicited 
opinion of someone who knows nothing about the sport enough to "stick a 
pin in your bubble?"  I'm sure you're reading the posts about endurance 
racing vs. endurance riding going on right now.  IMHO, most horses, 
carefully ridden, can be successful at endurance riding.  From what 
you've said, your horse is fully capable of doing an LD right now, as a 
riding horse.  So, maybe she won't ever be a racer, does that really 
matter?  And, by the way, what difference does it make that she's an 
"alpha" mare?
Laney

Equus Wolf wrote:
> A disturbing comment was made to me today when I was talking about 
> endurance "riding" with my apha mare, in which I was told I probably 
> didn't pick a suitable horse for that.  Of course, this person is mainly 
> old school hunt seat (still rides in a forward position) and she and I 
> regularly disagree about certain things that I feel she's stuck in her 
> box and won't come out.  Now except for certain issues, she and I get 
> along great so it's nothing like that.  But as an example, it took me 
> four months of trying to show her why her saddle did not fit her horse 
> well(and this was with her asking me to look at it) for her to even 
> consider that may be an issue.  Of course, she has taken little steps to 
> correct it, but she's still in the "my saddle goes on whatever horse I 
> ride" frame of mind.
> Anyway, the comment about not picking a suitable horse just disturbed 
> me.  (Of course, I've had two days in a row that weren't exactly great 
> so maybe I'm overly sensitive)  My mare is 15.1hh and pretty nicely 
> boned.  I have to feel her legs twice to make sure they aren't swollen 
> because hers are so much bigger than my TB mare.  With conditioning, she 
> hasn't gotten bulky in muscle, but rather long and toned.  Her weight 
> still needs to drop a little but it is slowly going with the work, and I 
> don't want to her go too low so as to lose too much at the rides.  I can 
> feel her ribs, but it still takes a little effort.  I bought her from a 
> home that did nothing but trail ride during the two years they had her, 
> and that's probably the majority of what she did before that.  She is 
> turning 8 in March.  When I had her vet checked, I told the vet what I 
> was planning to do and we did major flexion testing, gait observation 
> (how did she carry herself etc), checked HR like normal but also got it 
> to go up, and checked to see how long it took to come back down.  Of 
> course, she was 4months out of work but her HR returns were pretty 
> decent.  This horse absolutely *loves* the trails, is as sure-footed as 
> a mountain goat (thank goodness, I really don't like steep hills and 
> we've had to turn around or go around fallen trees where straight up 
> hill was the only way to do it) and after two hours and a half out on 
> the trail (with 1.5hrs of it doing trot hill work- trot up the field 
> 1000ft, then we'd walk around back to the bottom and start over) she was 
> still ready to go.
> In training, we have done a lot of LSD on the trails or walking the 
> pastures and good grade hills (not too steep), and also a lot of trot 
> work on trails and hills with intermittent walk work to train the 
> heartrate.  Interspersed as well is arena work.  I have started her over 
> caveletties and crossrails, and she carries herself in a nice off the 
> forehand frame(not quite dressage frame yet, but definitely moving into 
> the bridle very well.  In the past month, I have just started asking her 
> to canter, so only allowing straight lines of up to 10-15 strides, and 
> in the arena only the long sides to work on responding to the correct 
> leg aides (which she caught on very quickly).   In our first hunter pace 
> coming up, I am planning to ride mostly trot, with walk when necessary 
> (for her or trail necessitates), and a few short canters to break the 
> monotony.  In mid March, I was planning to do a LD of 30miles just for 
> the experience, without worrying if we make time or not, just that we 
> are fit to continue.
> So without knowing anything else, why would my apha mare not make a 
> suitable horse for endurance?  Or why would she?  I guess it bothered me 
> enough to worry if I'm going to make her get injured.
> Anyway, my apologies for whining - that comment just stuck a pin in my 
> bubble.
>  
> Jennifer
>
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