Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I just finished writing an e-mail to two newbies I'm taking to a ride this weekend (well, one is a newbie, one had done two LDs 10 years ago before a suspensory injury and family life got in the way). I was answering the simple question of "what to pack" when 3 pages later I found my self rambling and rambling about why such-and-such was important to pack and what we'll be doing with such-and-such, complete with anecdotes. As I went on with my e-mail I felt my excitement mounting until if I closed my eyes I could swear I was already there, untangling breast collar and sponge strap in the pre-dawn damp chill as horses nickered expectantly to each other. I then realized the e-mail writing was more for my sake than theirs....oh geeze I've gone completely off my rocker. Have I been rambling like this for the last?year while we've been training together? After an unfortunate?year and a half break (with?just one?LD on my old?"retired" mare) due to a collateral ligament injury on my?main?mare?I think I found my therapy in mentoring these ladies. (Who have also done wonders for me in helping to "rebreak" a mare who was on stall rest for a year). As the day approaches I find my self growing more and more excited-I don't think I was EVER this excited about Christmas as a kid.

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I may be biased but I think this type of enthusiasm for a discipline is pretty unique to the endurance community. I have several ideas as to why but none I can quite articulate. Endurance certainly has it's allure though...since moving to this barn almost a year and a half ago I now have 5 people training with me?for their first endurance ride- 1 hunter jumper, 1 eventer, 2 trail riders and 1 dressage rider.

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I struggle to really put into words to non-endurance people?what it means to do endurance. As I closed my e-mail to them I felt like I needed an explanation for my seemly over-the-top exuberance about the joys they were about to embark on ;-) So I just finished by saying "There is nothing like falling asleep in the middle of nowhere with your horse only a few feet away all night, and knowing that in a few hours you'll be out together just a speck in the wide wilderness."

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So what's your best endurance explanation one-liner?

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-Elyse