ridecamp@endurance.net: It's back to work!

It's back to work!

Mark & Karen Willmus (willmus@runestone.net)
Thu, 20 Mar 1997 23:24:23 -0600

IT'S COMING! (Spring, that is.)

That might not seem like such a big thing to most of you -- but then, most
of you haven't been trapped under nearly six feet of snow for five months.
Today was the first day that I could see a whole three patches of gravel on
our half-mile long gravel road.

I'm writing from western Minnesota, and did we have a god-awful winter. I
didn't ride at all (a first) because there was no place to go. The
driveway's been icy since Nov. 1, and everywhere else is so deep the dogs
don't even try it. Got my snowmobile stuck twice before I finally parked
it last month. The gravel road had absolutely no space on either side to
stand while the cars passed, so judged that too dangerous.

(By the way, for any of you downstream of the Dakotas, watch out! We're
talking floods as bad as the time of Noah.)

I've been spending the past five months enviously reading all this
wonderful info about endurance. No wonder why most of our races are held
in the Fall. Think my horses would fall over and die if they even had to
go 25 miles in May.

So - I guess all those dreams of riding the Tevis, etc. one day will just
have to wait... until the day my husband and I retire and move South.
Let's see... that's about 30 years from now.

Got a few questions for you:

Does working a horse to a light sweat help get rid of that shaggy fur coat?
(It's still 32 degrees right now, but could easily be 80 degrees in less
than a month.)

Anyone have any stretching exercises for horses who haven't been able to
run farther than 50 feet for five months?

Tubby the trail horse needs to drop weight, too. Should I cut back on the
rations (feeding canary hay free choice and a quart of oats a day right
now) or should I just rely on exercise?

How long can a horse stand in water before his hooves start to wrinkle?
(Just kidding.)

Anyway, I feel for those of you along the American and Ohio rivers, not to
mention everywhere else that got drenched this year.

Karen Willmus

willmus@runestone.net

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