Re: RC: Our Sport

[Tivers@aol.com]

In a message dated 3/31/00 6:58:37 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
CYThompson@webtv.net writes:

<< he line between a horse being okay
 and crashing seems to be very fine; sometimes we cross it due to our own
 mistake, sometimes it seems to just happen.   >>


That's the problem in a nutshell. If you prepare a horse to be simply 
adequate to the expected task, then, when things get just a tiny bit tougher, 
you put the hrse's life at risk--and your life as well, on occasion. 

And this is what's wrong with the "To show up is to win" credo. Nobody 
bothers to prepare his or her horse properly, just shows up and gets 
applauded for doing nothing special--other than posturing as having great 
concern for the well-being of the horse by riding at the back of the pack.  

If anyone REALLY gave a damn, he or she would prepare his horse for athletic 
performance, and would know, through hundreds of miles of experience, 
precisely what the horse was capable of safely delivering on a given day 
under given circumstances. There are a few in this list who actually do this 
kind of preparation--the rest seem to be waiting for a bolt of lighning to 
strike their horse "athletic". 

And those latter are chock full of homilies and sob stories and emotives of 
one kind or another--not to mention ignorant self-righteousness. But, hey, 
it's the same in horseracing, so I can't really complain. Been there, seen 
that. Fought it with every molecule of energy in my body for 27 years. Why 
should I expect more here?  

If all anybody wants is a nice ride in the country air and some friends 
around a campfire--join a Corvette club. You can backyard a Corvette to 
success just by keeping the oil level up.  If horsing is your pleasure, 
settle for nice 25s at a comfortable amble. But if you want to call yourself 
an endurance rider, and ride at endurance distances, then get serious about 
conditioning for endurance performance.  If you don't, and kill your horse, 
then please don't ask me for sympathy or understanding. In fact, don't even 
tell me about it. It's like stepping in dogshit. 

Any time there is a "fine line" between an athlete competing well in an 
event,  or dying during competition, somebody's "one sandwich short of a 
picnic" (thank you Darolyn). If you want to see people who have put in the 
time, and know their horses, and genuinely give a damn about their horses, 
look to the front of the pack. 

By the way, just got word from Abu Dhabi. The new conditioning protocol (much 
as outlined here by myself and Wolfgang) just won a race in Qatar--a 
full-blooded Thoroughbred. The horse finished third, but the first two 
couldn't vet out. Ours passed with flying colors. Carbo-supplemented, of 
course, but the real trick was a "ripping diet" in the months preceding the 
race. Beth, I need your help in figuring out why that diet worked. 

ti