endurance, introduction (long)

["Judy Finchum" <judy@telecomm.umetel.maine.edu>]

Ok, folks, I am a newbie who has "lurked" on RideCamp for 2 years! 
and think it's about time I jumped in the pool.   I rode as a 
teenager, gave up horses to have my other life and then thirty years later,
my goal to have a horse again *someday* was realized.  Five years ago 
I leased a horse at a boarding facility to be sure I wanted to make 
the commitment to ownership.  I knew immediately I wanted a horse 
again and started the search.  The manager of the stable and her 
husband were member of ECTRA and I knew that was what I wanted to do. 
 I found an 8 yr old Arabian mare who had been trained and shown 
saddleseat, but was a failure in the showring (too hot) and who had 
never been used as a trail horse.  I thought it would be a simple matter of 
re-training....ignorance is bliss......One thing I did notice was 
white spots along her spine.  I was told another horse had "groomed" 
her there and the hair had grown in white because the grooms had not 
treated the spots (ignorance is *not* bliss, I have found out!)   
Anyway, there  I was:  middleaged, kids flown the coop and I absolutely 
love this little mare.  (The first time I was alone with her in the 
stall, she sniffed me from the top of my head all the way down to my 
toes.....it was so intimate it gave me goosebumps.... sold!! : )  
Took her home, went through all the hairy 
things others write about on the trail....spooks, water, speed, dogs, 
traffic...but we endured and a strong bond developed between us.   Having run 
myself for years, I knew we needed LSD for a couple of years and 
planned to do that along with the training and lessons.  We did do 
weekly rides with my local riding club for distances of 10-15 miles 
and that was helpful.  She kept getting better about listening.  The 
first time she peed on the trail, I was so excited, I screamed "She's 
peeing!" and scared her <g>; one of my proudest moments was when we 
came to a water crossing and none of the horses would cross.  It 
didn't even occur to me to *ask* her to cross until most of the 
others had refused.  Then by default, it was my turn to ask her and 
she went.  My most embarrassing moment was when she dumped me in 
front of the whole club ... at a walk. 

The year I thought we would be ready to compete, I found her back 
was extremely sore.  Yep, we went through the massage, rest, & saddle thing, 
too.  The next spring, when we had that all sorted out, my mom, who 
lived with me due to health problems, worsened so that I could not 
leave her overnight.  I also was getting to the point of no return 
with the problems I had been having with my shoulders & arthritis.  So, more 
training, more LSDconditioning, but no competetive riding.  Somewhere 
along the way, I discovered you guys, and I have been riding * my* rides through
you.  The last two winters I had each of my shoulders "done"  ( I now have
 the shoulders of a 35 year old  : )

My mom has been in a nursing home for a year.  Last spring, after my 2nd 
surgery (acromoplasty & rotator cuff repair), I started 
riding again.  In July, I fell under my horse and broke my jaw (don't 
ask how, but it would have been  #1 on the "10 most stupid things not 
to do while leading your horse" list.

I started riding in August (very sedate rides) and in Sept my horse is short
strided, lame in front and sore behind!  I took her to 3 vets.  She has had
chiropractic work (her poll, shoulders & hips),  plus special shoeing,
plus a looong  rest (she hasn't been ridden since Sept. 2nd).

 It appears her RF  is shorter than her LF, and has caused her 
to be sore in her loins, her hips, and her front end (pretty much all 
of her, eh?) with the soreness moving from front to back, back to 
front from compensation.  There was a short reference about unequal front
leg length in the last issue Equus, which says this is rare, but can 
be managed with a good farrier.  Anyone else had a horse like this?

So, this spring I hope to start riding. I won't know if we will be 
able to do any competitive riding or not.  We'll just ride and 
see...we may never do anything more than our * moseying on down the 
trail* type rides, but I can live with that...as long as there is 
RideCamp!!

Judy & 
Hilary (who is only a VW, but in her Mom's heart is a Ferrari)
"Hey, mom, guess we know about endurance, eh?"

Newburgh, ME