I think some of the attittude of "training for Tevis" comes
from the fact that at one time there were no other rides to prepare
for. Riders just prepared for the big event, Tevis, and either completed or
not, and learned what they needed to do to complete the next time. Julie Suhr's
book answers lots of questions about Tevis.
I've heard of other horses in the past few years
(since I've lived here) that did Tevis as their first ride, usually under the
training and care of experienced Tevis riders. Since the horses are conditioned
here in the same canyons, heat, and terrain as the Tevis trail, it
doesn't seem unreasonable at all. The toughest part (IMHO) is from Last Chance
to Francisco's. Once you've ridden those canyons several times, you & your
horse know the most difficult part of the trail. Some riders will go out on 8-10
hour canyon rides nearly every week, in addition to a couple of easier rides. So
in a sense, the horse has proven himself by the time Tevis rolls around. Still,
as we all know, anything can & does happen on "ride day".
You are right, at this time there is no mileage
requirement for the horse, but I've "heard" it's coming. Having ridden the
entire trail, just not all on the same day, I couldn't imagine taking an
inexperienced horse on the ride. There are too many narrow cliff trails, with no
room for error, that are ridden in the dark for an inexperienced horse. But is a
horse that trains here all the time an inexperienced horse? Even with a well
prepared, trail savvy horse, $%#& happens.
Kathy
This seems to happen pretty often...somebody plans *one* ride and it's
T= evis. Why? I'm just baffled by it but it seems to be a
local thing ou= t there maybe? Something like that wouldn't even cross my
mind for me to= ponder on it. I looked on the Tevis site, since I was
thinking they'd a= dded a minimum mileage requirement but I see that's just
for the rider. = Are there many people in that neighborhood who just train
for that ride,= and don't do any others? How does that work out for
them?
I think it makes a lot more sense for me to ask you the question
than fo= r you to ask us. As an experienced 100 mile rider...can you really
take = a horse from being a lawn ornament to completing what is supposed to
be = one of the toughest 100 mile events in a year...and them be properly
pre= pared? To those who do Tevis often...is this common? I guess
it's just= that out here, we think of Tevis as something you train for
forever, an= d when your horse has proven he can do everything else you've
thrown at = him, you go try Tevis. Can't imagine it being the *first* thing
you thre= w at him.
I really am curious and not just trying to put you
on the spot. Sometime= s things simply *are* that seem as if they shouldn't
be. The kids in ou= r school had a science fair this week and some of
the experiements didn'= t turn out like it seemed they should. For instance,
a girl had two plan= ts in 2 2-liter bottles. She filled one bottle daily
with exhaust from a= car and the other was regular air. The exhaust
filled bottle's plant lo= oked best. Everybody wanted to deny it, but there
it was. Maybe a horse = can go from untrained to ready in a year. Examples
anybody? =
