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Actually there are a lot of people that have done this. With a horse 
that has a good base, a few good conditioning rides or a few LD's and a 
50 is a piece of cake. Last year I went to Michigan. Because of various 
injuries I had - my horse had not done a 50 in over a year. It was 
summer time in FL and about 5 miles of trotting was about all you could 
manage before either you melted or the horse melted or both. So a mile 
trot, walk, a mile trot, etc. was about it before we left. I did two 
LD's back to back to get me ready for a 50 more than for the horse. Then 
a day to crew for my wife, a day to sight see and do laundry and we did 
a 50. The horse was just fine with plenty of gas in the tank at the end. 
We actually probably did more like 55 considering we got lost a few 
times :-[ .

Was it particularly hard on the horse - I don't really think so because 
the base was there. One particular rider in the SE who has a 3000 mile 
horse used to say "I'm riding the first 25 to get him in shape for the 
second."

Given the 50 is twice as long so twice the opportunities to "take a bad 
step" lose a shoe and being out there in the heat of the day, the pull 
rate between the 50 and 25 really isn't that different.

Truman



heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> David said:
>   
> > I don't think the difference  between a 25 and a 50 is enough to count. You 
> > see, I think it is the 50
> > milers who want to take credit for doing something special when they're not
> > all that special. 
> >     
>
> Kim responded: 
>   
> > David,
> >    I have to disagree with you on this for what it is worth.  I do think 
> > there is enough of a difference between doing 25 miles and doing 50 miles.  I am 
> > not talking about competition.  I am talking about just doing the miles say as 
> > conditioning miles at home.
> >  
> > I can take just about any one of my horses that has been sitting for a while 
> > on a 25 mile conditioning ride.  
> >     
>
>
> Actually, David has a point.  Now mind you, I am not recommending this--but it is perfectly do-able...  But if a horse has any particular aptitude for the sport, and particularly if he has any previous base at all, he can do a 50 for completion without much homework being done, if he is ridden by a savvy rider.  I know, because I've done it (she says shamefacedly), and have had the horses come through in good shape with more in the gas tank.  Is it a good idea?  No.  Is it fair to the horse?  Not really.  But is it do-able?  Heck, yes.  But that jump from 50 to 75 requires homework.
>
> Heidi
>
>   


--

“It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how 
smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong” Richard 
Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics


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