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RE: [RC] The Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race/Thanks - Suzanne Avery DVM


-----Original Message-----
From: rides2far@xxxxxxxx [mailto:rides2far@xxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2007 8:00 AM
To: ksbsmorg@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [RC] The Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race/Thanks


 Willy > has grit> and heart, hopefully he will make it through the 50 mile
vet checks.
He is a> panting fool and all business. His business like attitude is
his
downfall as> he sometimes will not drink and cares not to graze when I
offer it
to him.> Hopefully someone bigger then us from up above will be
watching
because we> will be needing it

Susan,
If it weren't for the DVM after your name everyone on here would probably
collapse with fear for you after reading the above quote.  Those are the
horses who are sooo willing to get themselves in trouble because they are so
competitive. Out >of shape horses go lame, but at least that doesn't kill
them. Overenthusiastic horses with lots of heart and not enough experience
to get religion kill themselves by doing something as harmless sounding as
not eating when they have the chance. It's a hard thing to teach them and
the way you do it is by boring them with miles of competition and convincing

them that this is no  big deal.

Angie,

I probably should have worded my email a bit differently. Willie is all
business but he is not the fanatic untrainable type. I had a friend that
rode one of those type horses. It was a lost cause, impossible in fact.
Willie just needs to be taught. In his "other" life he is not allowed to
lower his head to graze. It is unacceptable and can be dangerous in harness
especially if he gets to rubbing his head and a shaft pulls his bridle off.
This equates to about a guaranteed runaway in harness with a carriage
trailing. If you have ever witnessed one I guess you have witnessed one of
the true "fears" in the horse world. So eating while tacked up is not
allowed and Willie knows it. This is what Willie now has to be taught. So
when riding I take breaks to teach Willie it is OK to put your head down and
graze. Willie and I have been doing quite a bit of standing. He is just
starting to lower his head now. I have been using a bosal to encourage him.
As far as drinking this will come too. He drinks but usually just a little
in the middle and a bunch in the end. At camp he drinks just fine. After
rides I now try to make him look for his water from me in a bucket. My
friends fanatic mare would not drink on the ride or at camp. She just could
not function and yes she was on her way to becoming a casualty. I told my
friend to pull her and she has never taken her to another ride.
-

I don't think I'd be so concerned if your goal was to go to regular
established rides. I think everyone is nervous that this Santa Fe deal will
go wrong, that lots of people who don't have the miles behind them to spot
these little undramatic >details (like not eating) will show up and the
"Great Adventure" will involve lots of IV's.

I'd just like to put in a good word for the Great Adventure of the sport of
endurance in general. You don't have to go to the ride that's putting out
flyers like the old promoters who were trying to get pioneers to move out
west. "Move to 
Oregon, the soil is so lush you can drop a seed and tomorrow you've got a
crop!"  What's such a "Great Adventure" about
*this* race that makes it better than doing one of the other Pioneer Rides
out there? If you go to a regular pioneer ride >you'll be surrounded by
people who know what the heck they're doing. Their horses will set a good
example for your horse which will encourage him to eat and drink whereas the
other will probably have lots of horses who are as excited as yours >at the
novelty of the event.  Everybody knows that when you go to a ride the first
time it's held there are often problems that get worked out in later years.
The management of an established Pioneer ride will almost without fail put
on >a safer more enjoyable event than someone who is figuring it out as they
go.  You sound like you've got a lot of potential as a future endurance
rider. I'm just saying you'll probably stand a better chance of making a
good one and 
helping your horse become a successful endurance horse if you both do your
learning at established rides.

I know what your are saying here. There is for sure going to be challenges
with this first Santa Fe ride. The are many 
"unknowns" in the equation. It is not going to be 100%, I expect things to
go wrong. This race has never been done before at least in our era, this is
the first. Unknowns and never have been done before equate to "adventure".
Everyone will be in the same pot with all of the same grips, smiles, tears,
rub marks, pain and laughter. It will for me be an experience of a lifetime,
and yes, the "Great Adventure on Horseback". Once things get ironed out and
everyone knows what to expect it is no longer an "adventure", it is a ride.
We have ridden on the Santa Fe and Oregon trail rides; just short 5-6 day
rides, not races. They are fun but they also are not an adventure. They are
organized to the "T" and they are a ride. 

Something else just occurred to me: what kind of horse
hauling/living> arrangement do you have?

Nothing anybody else would want to camp in....especially for an extended
time. :-P I'll let others comment on that!

Angie,
Our 3 horse slant is new. My husband asked if I would like a finished living
area in the trailer, toilet, shower etc. I looked in the small empty living
quarters of the trailer and pictured a fine mattress in the gooseneck and
below a lovely chair and table. I was surrounded by walls with no dust. I
turned to my husband and said Jim I lived in the desert for a year on an
army cot and to me this place is a palace. All I need is a place to sleep
and sit down with a table. I need nothing more. 
I know what tough living is. I was deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom,
One. You probably remember the folks that stayed there forever and ever; 365
boots on the ground. We were the first folks to hit the desert. Believe me
it was another "adventure" and it was in its own right the "wild west", as
theater was not mature and there were not systems in place like supply etc.
We lived in tents and temperatures soared up to 130 degrees with no air
conditioning. We drank water that was the same temperature. The water tasted
thick and hot. It did not ever cool you; there was no relief, no such thing
as cool air or ice. At night the sand would blow into your tent and when you
woke up your body had a silhouette of sand and sweat around it. I slept on
an army cot in the desert for a year. My quarters did not have a toilet,
shower or kitchen. All were located outside quite a walking distance away.
You soon developed a new impression of what was clean. There was no such
thing as clean in the desert. Even when you did shower your towel was
embedded with the fine sands of the desert in which you lived. This in
itself was an experience. As the months passed theater matured and soon came
air conditioning, ice, better food etc. And with maturity, unfortunately for
our deployed troops, came the violence. 
I know most folks may not choose to live in a trailer the way we do but that
is OK. I guess I am probably rattling on to much as this is an endurance
list, not tales of my past. Yes, I am a bit different and I do like the
sense of adventure. Going on the Santa Fe is probably crazy, but for me, and
probably others like me, it is something that is exciting and something we
must do; an adventure of a life time. I will try to make this race happen,
but I am no fool and know the realities of life. Like I said, I will need a
bit of help from the good man that lives above us, a good horse and a good
crew. 

Suzanne

bags, and a grill are all we need. I am not sure if showers will be
available.

I'll bet money you'll just be praying to find a gas station that will let
you pay to fill up your water tanks.

If not, in the past we have set up a sunshower system in
that
part of the trailer where the horses are housed. We do have a water
container that houses several gallons of water for the horses.

I go through 55 gallons of water for 2 horses at a one day competition.

Angie







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Replies
Re: [RC] The Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race/Thanks, rides2far