I also agree with Bob Morris on many of his points, get to know your horse.
Feed, supplements, and all the gadgets in the world will not substitute for
LSD and a solid knowledge of your specific horse! I put about 500 miles
base on Blue before our first ride, I continue to diligently ride him 4 days
a week, keep a close eye on his attitude and soundness. We have 2 days a
week now of interval training with speed work and 2 days a week of LSD, he
tells me how he is doing, not the other way around. I don't think there is
a vet in the world or a CRI rating that can tell me more about my horse then
my horse does. Also I too believe it is ok for your horse to get tired.
After all we human athletes need to push ourselves a little beyond our limit
to advance in our own condition, so do our equine athletes. On the track if
your horse comes up short in the stretch, barring any injuries or illness,
it is usually due to the horse getting shorted on mileage. Add more lsd,
push them a little further then you did the week before.
By the way, my horse Blue and I just missed the win on the 25er at Mt
Wrightston by less then a minute. The other rider, Laurie Jurs, ride manager
for the Cobre Ridge ride, and I walked across the finish line together, but
she was faster with her stethascope then I so she called p&r one minute
before me! THIS IS A REASON TO OWN A HEART RATE MONITER!:} I hit criteria
in a scant 2 minutes after crossing the line and took second. Blue was
great, got all A's through the race except for gut sounds at the end. MY
FAULT, rooky me DIDN'T wait the 60 minutes to go to the vet at the end, when
I brought him back an hour later he had an A on gut sounds. Live and learn
that is what these 25ers are for. All in all I feel we won because I had a
lot of horse left, we reached our goal for straight A's and top 10'd again.
This is such a fun sport, great people and a good challenge.
I felt pretty lucky to have been able to ride with Laurie through the race.
It was good to pick an experienced rider's brain for 3 hours!:} And she
didn't seem to mind at all either, which is what I like about the endurance
riders, they are most always willing to help educate us first year rookies!
This ride was our first without my ride buddies and Blue's conditioning
buddies. He was a totally different horse. With the other horses there he
is quiet at the trailer, eats his hay but not his grain and is generally a
good camper. By himself he was a basket case, winnied all night, wouldn't
eat hardly at all, and didn't settle in till race start. Afterwards I had
to lead him and let him graze pasture to get his gut sounds up to where they
should be, he still wouldn't eat at the trailer. As soon as a trailer
pulled in next to us ride morning he settled down some too. I find this odd
because Blue is a 10 year old arab that is used to going places such as
gymkhanas and such and is typically very quiet and he isn't buddy sour. But
I think this is his first trip alone. Have any of you had this experience
before with their normally quiet horse and do they settle in eventually?
Geez I hope so, since it would be hard on him if he didn't eat before a 50!
We hope to move up to 50's this sometime this spring season. In fact I
think Blue will be ready and in shape for one long before I am. I still get
a little sore and tired after a 25, but it is getting better.
Well thanks for this great list and I hope to hear back from you all about
how to do a CRI properly.
Cheryl Newbanks
~~^** Just In Time Ranch
~~}_ _~~ /\| Buckeye, AZ
( )__, ) ~ horsetrails@inficad.com
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