3rd Loop Blues?

[Jerry D Milam Jr <milamj@agtelco.com>]

Hey all! Hope everyone's 4th of July was good.

I have observed a phenomenon occurring with my horse.

I finished my 2nd 50 miler this weekend and have observed a strange
behavior from my horse. I don't know if this is unique to my horse or do
others go through this as well.

Both 50's I've done have been at small MW rides of about 15- 50milers
and maybe twice as many LDers. I don't know if the smaller numbers of
horses on the trail has any bearing on the behavior. Also, all the loops
are over the same trail sections without variation.

Neither ride taxed my horse physically, but his behavior changed on the
3rd loop in both rides. Friends warned me about the psychological let
down there might be as you start the 3rd loop, due to only doing 2 in
the past with LD.  Anyway, I was ready for some resistance to getting
tacked up and riding out of camp again a third time, but it didn't
happen. Both times he just trotted on down the trail as we'd done 2x
before. Both times we were pretty much alone at the start of the loop.
About 3 miles into the loop he slowed to a walk in an area that could
easily be cantered. Then he slowed to a stop and tried to turn around.
He did this numerous times, more so on our first 50 than this last time.

Our first ride took nearly twice as long to do the third loop as the
first 2. This last ride the difference was not quite that startling. The
first ride's 3rd loop, we were totally alone the whole loop. The last
ride, we buddied up with 2 other horses at separate times.

This is what I think happened but I'd like others opinions based on your
vast reservoir of experience over long distances. I think my horse loves
to be competitive with other horses. It's hard for him to go hard with
nobody around to go hard against except the clock and the trail. By the
third loop, the small numbers of riders is spread out quite a bit.

Is there anything to prevent this from happening short of riding the
whole 50 miles with a friend?

Thanks in advance
Happy Tails,

Susan & Fly Bye