Some years ago Ona Reynolds competed in 50's and 100's on her QH
stallion Art's Vandy---not only did he finish, he (according to reports)
finished extremely well. He's the most unlikely-looking endurance horse
you'd ever see in your life but he'd chug up and down hills all day long
and also sired several get who also went out and have done/are doing
endurance at various levels, including my guy Cato.
Also check out the WSTF web page for some of the very unlikely horses
that have finished Tevis, including multiple POA's, a draft cross I
think and a Hackney pony. Tell your friend endurance people are always
on the look out for more nice people on good horses and it's hard for us
to get too high-and-mighty at how someone else looks when we're sitting
on a horse wearing fluorescent tack, numbers on his butt and a rider
wearing Spandex that can be spotted by Search and Rescue at 10,000 feet!
:->
Tell your friend to jump on in, the water's fine.
Susan Evans