Re: Fwd: LD VS. ENDURANCE

["superpat" <superpat@gateway.net>]

Great post. Thanks, Lif. I was lucky when I got into this endurance
business. I was in my attorney's office and making small talk with the
secretary and mentioned that I was thinking about doing endurance riding (I
didn't even have a horse and only a couple of riding lessons under my belt).
Small world of endurance riders in this neck of the woods and before I had
settled in back at my office, I got a call from someone with the most
enthusiastic and welcoming voice I have ever heard. The person to whom I had
made the comment had called her friend to tell her about me and she just
wanted to welcome me to the wonderful world of endurance. She invited me to
come to the Rogue Riders meeting that week (they still had monthly
meetings...wish they still did) and even invited me to come ride with her.
(Poor thing, she didn't know how very inexperienced I was, so I declined for
the time). And there began my education. She helped me look for and find a
great little horse and we went on conditioning rides together and she was a
wealth of information about the care, feeding, etc of horses. And on more
than one occasion I was chastised for my poor trail manners. Everything from
riding off while a horse is still drinking to passing at unsafe times, etc.
Riding with experienced and caring people is the best education. (Of course,
I was told later that I didn't know how much they worried about me as I
separated from my horse with regularity) All this to say that if one can
find a good mentor, it helps immeasurably.
Pat Super
By the way, that sweet,  friend is Leighsa Rosendaul who remains one of the
endurance riders I most respect for her careful and well thought out care of
her horses and for her willingness to share----- Original Message -----
From: Lif Strand <fasterhorses@gilanet.com>
To: AERC <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 1999 8:57 AM
Subject: RC: Fwd: LD VS. ENDURANCE


> Hi Keri - I don't think competitive riding is a cure-all for the need
> for endurance riding education.  These are two different sports.  Just
> because horses & trails are involved doesn't mean they're
> interchangeable enough to *require* a person do CTR before endurance.
>
> Keep in mind that one won't necessarily learn how to pass another horse
> politely or how to rate a horse at speed by doing CTR (at least when
> staggered starts & mandatory pacing are involved - when and why would
> anyone be passing at a trot unless they're late, and where is the
> education for that coming from?).  I've seen horses overridden *at*
> NATRC events, and for one horrible 3 days in Auburn years ago, a bunch
> of us tried to save the life of a horse that was overridden on a last
> minute Tevis training ride - the rider and horse were an experienced
> NATRC team, but that didn't keep the rider from making fatal mistakes.
> You wrote "Ride management expects you to know how to take care of
> yourself and horse" with reference to endurance, but CTR is not "made
> for teaching" - it's made for being judged.  You still have to come to a
> ride having learned how to take care of yourself and your horse before
> you got there - not at the ride! - the difference is that there are
> judges at the ride seeing if you have figured out the rules & can follow
> them and they tell you about it.  There are judges at endurance rides,
> of course.  They're just different - sometimes they're called rope burn
> or lameness or cut-off times or a pulse that won't drop, sometimes
> they're called sorry experience.  You're expected to not need a judge to
> point out your mistakes.  You are expected to learn from them
> nevertheless.
>
> No one prevents anyone who wants to do endurance from getting an
> education.  Most of the basic skills should and can be learned from a
> good riding instructor, a good riding club, a 4-H club, etc.  There's
> quite a few endurance (& distance riding books) available now.  Many,
> many experienced endurance riders have begun mentoring.  For that
> matter, anyone can go to a race and work for management and learn a
> tremendous amount.  If people need to get an education before doing
> endurance, it's out there for the getting.  All they have to do is *take
> personal responsibility* for deciding to get that education.  Endurance
> is like life.  You're free to decide to make mistakes. If more and more
> rules and requirements are added to endurance, no one gets to make the
> *decision* to learn, and we wind up with a bastard version of something
> too much like CTR to be called endurance any more.  Lif
>
>
> --
>                                      ____________
> Lif & Paul Strand   STRAND ENTERPRISES   http://www.fasterhorses.com
>            Arabian Horses for Distance Riding
>          Internet Research * WebArt * Fine Art
>     Nutrition and alternatives for self-reliant people
>                      Quemado, NM  USA
>
>
>
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