RC: RC: RE: 'cheap' horses in endurance / no $ in owning a stallion

[Janice Taylor <JANUSTUDIO@compuserve.com>]

>Yes, but he wouldn't necessarily know how to walk, trot or canter over 
uneven ground, up & down hills.  I'm not sure I could agree that an 
ex-track horse (with the qualifications you mention) would be an endurance 
contender at the highest levels.  I'm not sure that not being able to run 
fast enough for short distances on flat ground is that much of a 
recommendation for an endurance future.  However, I am more than willing to

find out how I am wrong about this.  Lif<

As for the first sentence, all it takes is training.  I'm not saying take
him off the track tomorrow and put him on a 50/100 miler the next weekend.
Jedi came off the track I'm thinking in March and we put him on his first
ride (CTR) within 8 weeks.  In that time I had to get him down from the
incredible high of the intense work he was accustomed to.  The first time I
put him on the lunge line to exercise him before turning him out in a
paddock, I thought he would drop dead of a heart attack.  His whole body
shook with each heart beat.  But within a week, he was comfortable in a
large paddock, and then under saddle he went, just hacking around,
remembering hills, creeks, brush etc. We had no trouble with whoa, but have
to admit he was close to running away with me a couple of times, but since
he didn't realize it, all was well. <g>.  All I did was what you would do
with any distance horse you would start. Get him out on the trails and let
him see/do it all.
  He was raised here and started here, so he at least knew what a hill was
from the beginning. He didn't go into training until he was four.
As for the rest, flat runners are taught how to run, as in stride, as in
how to get over the ground in the most economical way.  Compare how a
pleasure horse runs to the way a race horse runs.  Big difference. The
pleasure horse appears choppy, all four legs moving forward at almost the
same time.  The trained race horse lengthens, and rolls from foot to foot.
So when it comes down to needing that big burst of speed,  I'd bet on the
ex-race horse.  Not that endurance horses don't learn how to do this, most
do. But the advantage is  the ex-race horse that does it like second
nature.
Hope I'm not getting in too deep here.  THis is just my own observation, my
own experience.  And again I would say, if I were serious about doing
endurance at the highest level, I would definantly look to the track. You
however would probably find your dream distance horse else where.  That's
what makes the world go round.<g>

Jan

www.janusstudio.com