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Re: Judging how to "move up a level"...



I agree with you on most of this though I still don't think it prudent or sane to
take any horse, any rider without conditioning on a 25 - 35 mile endurance ride
(ctr maybe?) because the risk factors are too great.  This kind of stress could
cause a horse to bow a tendon, tear ligaments, sprain joints & muscles, founder
(called stress founder depending on terrain, etc.), colic..... who knows what
else?  This can happen to even healthy conditioned horses, who would want to do it
with an unconditioned horse?  I hope some novice person doesn't read these posts
from people and think, hey, who needs to bother with conditioning? I'll take Chico
(or Old Paint or whatever!) out next year on the LD ride in May and start out
there!!  Not a good scenario!  Maybe nothing will happen to the horse, maybe it
will finish in fine fettle (good alliteration there!) and maybe it will tie up and
die!  Please be careful with some of these statements!!  As far as being
"endurance" by definition of an endurance ride shall not be less than fifty
miles... well, sometimes definitions can be changed and I am not here to say that
that one should or shouldn't be.  But a 25 LD is ridden with the same rules as a
50 or 100... and judged with the same score sheets as 50s or 100s.  I don't know
what the big deal is about 25 LD rides!  The statement  "It's nothing to be
ashamed of" almost implies that we should be.. well, maybe I didn't agree with as
much as I thought I did...
Maggie

BMcCrary27@aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 12/2/98 2:51:34 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> grs@TheNetEffect.com writes:
>
> << I guess it depends on why you're riding though -- do you want miles and
>  personal satisfaction, or do you want Top Ten recognition?
>   >>
>
> This is the way all endurance rides are. They are different things to
> different people. One of the greatest rides I've ever done was on a 5 1/2 year
> old that I bred, raised, and conditioned myself. It was her first full
> distance ride (someone else had ridden her on a LD ride previously), 55 miles.
> I started last (she was having a fit of excessive excitement),  I rode
> primarily alone, and we finished last. But in between, I learned so much about
> her, her attitude, her physical capabilities, her intelligence. The learning
> was the exciting part!
>
> We must all remember that the definition of an endurance ride is "not less
> than 50 miles". I KNOW from experience that any rider, on any horse, without
> conditioning, can do 25-35 miles. I've done it. My very first ride, and I'm a
> complete novice, knowing nothing about it, and I take a running QH, both of us
> totally unconditioned, on a 50 mile ride. It was a case of complete ignorance.
> I figured this horse had been out on pasture on a hillside and he should be in
> condition to do 50. It couldn't be that hard. We did manage 45 miles, but were
> very overtime. I could have done 25 of that within time and I wouldn't have
> had to invest any time learning, conditioning, improving myself or the horse.
> This is why I believe that a LD ride is NOT an endurance ride (by definition
> and by philosophy). But do I scorn LD rides? NOT at all. They are an
> introduction, a learning process, a way to keep invloved in the sport, the
> fun, the excitement and the adventure when our bodies or the horses' are
> saying we either can't or don't want to stress ourselves that hard any more.
> It's nothing to be ashamed of; we just have to look at things differently and
> accept it. But a LD ride is STILL not an endurance ride by definition, and I
> strongly believe it shouldn't be - ever.
>
> BMc



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