Re: my musings on LD

[Chris Paus <paus@micoks.net>]

Thank you Theresa. Maybe if the rules aren't broke, we don't need to fix them.

chris paus & star

At 06:53 PM 1/28/98 +0700, Teresa Van Hove wrote:
>
>I have to jump in here in regards to a few statements made about LD's vs.
>longer distances.  Angie states that if you are top 5'ing 25's your horse
>can do 50's.   Not neccessarily Angie. I have a mare that is a great little
>LD horse, she moves at a good working speed, has great recoveries at V.C.s
>and has BC'd a few times.  She aint no 50 miler horse - has completed 2 flat
>50's in her life.  She just runs out of gas at the longer distances. 
>So all  I ask is that I not be looked down on for finishing mid to back 
>of the pack on a 50 from someone who has won an LD BC award - (win a 50 BC 
>award before you look down on me for being slow.)  I consider my slow 50's
>gelding a better endurance horse than my BC winning LD mare. 
>
>Someone stated that LDer's are more likely to run too fast and ruin their
>horses.  Well some of them do go too fast, especially on a 4 yr old horse
>but many who race those 4 yr olds at LD will race them 50 miles as 5 yr
>olds. (And these horses will have soundness problems before a properly
>ridden horse reaches his peak) but AERC has some good rules to protect
>horses from ignorant or unfeeling riders and I don't want to see the
>sport become totally hemmed in with rules to try to offer total protection
>to every horse out there. All horse lovers hate to see a horse over-ridden 
>but most of us are also indepenent cusses who do endurance to get away from 
>nit picky rules arent we?  
>
>The best we can do is be very pro-active in educating newbies that horses
>need a good LSD base of a few years before they are ready to race, so
>it is better to buy a horse from someone who raises good animals and
>starts them slowly than to buy a horse that was winning 50's at five;
>and to put a base of moderate paced rides for a year or 2 on your own horse
>before you open the throttle.  I like the current AERC system for LD's with
>the BC and completion awards and the rider mileage program. I like the
>50's and 100's system for completion awards and rider mileage program, in
>addition to placement awards, which recognize that not every one rides with 
>the goal of winning that day's race. 
>
>nuff said,
>Teresa
>
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