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Re: [RC] We need LDs - Kathy MayedaI've been doing LD's to mentor a few people a couple of times. I don't think that I want to do that many more LD's anymore. Since they cost about the same as doing a 50, I might as well save my money and think about getting a 50 mile horse, or injecting hocks on my older endurance horse...For me personally, I don't take directions well, so mentoring would not have been a good idea. The person that was mentoring me on conditioning rides kept on chickening out on going to endurance rides, and I ended up going by myself. I ended up having a great time. I think that I did better riding by myself because people are more apt to talk to you and give you encouragement than if you are riding in a "pod." I think that I got to know more people in the endurance world because of it. And yes, my first ride was an easy LD. My next ride was a 50. Went riding up to Mission Peak from our barn in Milpitas, CA last Sunday, with a fairly newbie rider, and a old-timey rider who's done endurance eons ago. We walked most of the way, his horse refused to cross water the first time and he was kicking his dead sided horse to make him go over. At dinner over margaritas afterwards he asked me if I thought his horse was ready for a 50. This guy is a sweetheart and wouldn't intentionally hurt his horse, but lack of knowledge is pretty apparent. I'm really not up to mentoring another guy who has Tevis dreams and has been riding only a few months. I'm sure that he's been listening to some of the old-timers from the Quicksilver Club telling him that you should always do a 50 for your first ride and not do LD. However, I told him that I was glad I did the LD because the mental stress of even knowing what to do at vet check, electrolyting if you chose to do so, and just surviving riding with people going at a faster pace than you are used to is enough to be overwhelming. I also had no idea how to pace - and frankly at less than a 1000 miles on me, it would still be a learning experience if I was back in endurance riding, but at least I learned enough not to do the stop and go constantly. I think he had no clue about that aspect of it. His horse went out of control when another horse took off at a gallop the week before, so I doubt that he can control his horse at a ride start. When I first started riding endurance, we had a few years of dinking around on the trails and another year of conditiioning. I felt like we would have been able to continue after our first LD, but I was glad we quit when we did so that we weren't too trashed at the end of the ride. This guy has had a horse for only a few months, it's his first horse, the horse is only six months under saddle and NO I DONT THINK HE'S READY FOR A 50. On the other hand, Scott Sansom took a green horse to do 50's at a multi-day ride, but Scott knows what he's doing. He's got the miles himself to know how to take care of the horse, and knew when the horse had given his all and knew when to quit. A lot of people took offense to this but I think that this is a fine way to prove endurance potential in a horse even though I would never do this myself. I can't walk that long. K. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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