ridecamp@endurance.net: [endurance] first ride & sickle hocks
[endurance] first ride & sickle hocks
lee clark (laclark@unm.edu)
Wed, 1 May 1996 08:07:30 -0600 (MDT)
Hello,
Well, we're back from our first 25 mile ride. Although we did not burn
down the trail, I'm very pleased with the horses. They remembered that
they did indeed have brains after the first mile, settled into nice
trots, listened to us the rest of the way, drank at every
opportunity, and passed the vet checks with flying colors. Since I
didn't know really what kind of shape they were in we held them back, I
kept yelling to my husband "Remember, western jog!" for the first ten
miles until it was clear that they weren't stressing at all. Then we let
them pick up the pace a bit. We were almost last, but that's ok.
I am, however, a little amazed at what the front runners must have done
to go so fast. The last 11 miles of this ride was VERY rocky, some of it
was round river rocks, the rest was very sharp pointy rocks. We didn't
want to trot over it, much less gallup, which we saw some riders doing.
I've always heard/read that going too fast over such terrain causes stone
bruises, founder, etc. Some of the horses were probably wearing pads,
but not all of them. So why were they going so fast? Did they not
know/care that they could be damaging their horses? What am I missing
here? I guess I'll never be a front runner, I'm not willing to do that.
Also, I was quite proud that my horses got all A's on the vet checks
until a friend told me that unless your horse is dead lame or about to
drop dead you get A's. Is this true?
On to sickle hocks, which my horse unfortunately has. After looking at
all the gorgeous horses at the ride all weekend, I find myself more and
more dissatisfied with the conformation of my horse, essentially his hind
legs, to the point that I'm considering selling him and finding another.
He has consistantly come in second and third at novice CTR's his first
season (we didn't have a season last year because of vesicular stomitis),
he's been sound so far, sensible on the trail, except for grumpiness no
other bad habits/vices. My reason for selling him therefore would be
aesthetics, every time I look at him now all I can see are those hind
legs. So, are sickle hocks mostly a cosmetic flaw, or will there most
likely be problems down the road if I continue to ride him hard? I'm
thinking of riding him one more season, mostly CTRs with a few 25 mile
endurance rides, and see how he does.
Lee Clark
New Mexico