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Re: [RC] big horses in endurance - rides2far@xxxxxxxx


I have a coming seven year old grade quarter horse that I
have been toying with the idea of doing endurance with. My concern is that he 
is a tank at 16 ?>>>hands and 1200 lbs.

I'd be doubly careful on all the rules for avoiding tying up. This may have 
been a fluke, but when I started out I rode a 16 hand Appaloosa that weighed 
1080 in fit to do 50 condition. My friend was riding a QH around the same size 
but with more muscle definition. Once we really had them in shape (and this was 
back when we over trained) they had very little body fat, just muscle. One day 
she didn't warm her QH up and it tied up like a rock. She probably could have 
gotten away with that before the horse was in such good shape, but if I recall 
correctly from what we read the more fit the horse is and the less body fat it 
has the morel likely they are to tie up.

I took her lesson to heart and was always *religious* about a thorough warm up, 
no leaving them up over night before riding or if I did warming them up even 
longer, cutting grain when not ridden, etc. I had no problems in the area but 
hers had to be retired from endurance.

My App had always been a major handful on all day trail rides and I thought 
he'd love endurance, but once I rode him in training and kept his edge off he 
decided anything over 25 miles just wasn't all that fun. While he was off for a 
lameness I got an Arab on a trade that I  planned to re-sell and I've been 
riding them ever since.  If my App had liked it more I'd have kept riding him.

Angie McGhee
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I rode a 15.3 H Paint gelding (around 1100 lbs) for a few years. I had decided at the  time I would just ride NATRC, slow down a bit and enjoy the scenery, so to speak, and still be competitive.  Well, the paint prefered to 'go fast' and was much happier getting on down the trail rather than pacing at such a slow speed. He wasn't the 'bulldog' type, but more of the TB type, still he would take a bit longer to recover if it was hot. Otherwise his working pulse and recovery was in line with my Arab friends. I only did LD with him, as he developed bone spavin and never did fuse. I finally had to retire him from distance riding because of it.
 
Janice ~ now back on Arabs...

On Sat, Dec 20, 2008 at 7:12 PM, <a.hoins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hello everyone and Merry Christmas,

Actually had some time to enjoy RC and decided
to put this topic out to you all.

I have a coming seven year old grade quarter horse that I
have been toying with the idea of doing endurance with. My
concern is that he is a tank at 16 hands and 1200 lbs.

I know there are some big horses doing well in endurance,
just wondering what there humans do to insure their
well being in competition and if there is anything they do
different with a big horse in there conditioning program
as opposed to say a smaller/leaner
built one. He has a resting heart rate of 32
and is not legged up at all at this time. He is
a blast to ride down the trail,
forward but not spooky.

It would be a real encouragement to hear from others who
have big partners and would tell their stories.

My other horse is a 13.3 hand half arab mare. I
sometimes get vertigo going from to the other;o)

Best wishes to all,

Ann
Smoke and Penny
SW PA
 


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