Re: RC: Show and Tell

[Jim Holland <lanconn@tds.net>]

Kristene Smuts wrote:
> 
> >>I did LD's for an entire year before I considered my first 50.>>
> 
> Howard, and everybody else, I want to pick up on this as well.  In every bit of research I've done into how to do endurance correctly, the 3 year plan is considered to be the accepted way of building an endurance horse.  Nowhere have I read anything that contradicts this plan.  For those of you who don't know the 3 year plan - year 1 you should be doing 30 - 40kms in competition; year 2 you should be doing about 60 kms and only in year 3 do you look at 80 kms.  Of course, the 100 milers take another year or two.  (It's even in the RC guidelines)
> 

I agree totally with the "3 year plan", but you don't need to start at
LD's and you don't necessarily need to do it in competition.  There are
multiple ways to implement this.  I never did a 25 with my horse Sunny. 
His first ride was a 50 completion and his second ride was a Top Ten in
a 50.  However, I conditioned him for three years just as tho we were
doing 25's, then 30's, etc. until we were going all day.  It saves lots
of money and time (for us "retirees", both in short supply) <grin> and
IMHO, you get better results. I KNEW he could do a 50 before we ever did
one...he had already done it...in the mountains.  When he hit that flat
land down in South Georgia, he thought he had died and gone to heaven! 
His training also including lots of "camping out", and we "ran" with
other horses on the trail at speed to get used to being excited, then
calming down and getting used to being "left behind".  I insisted on
impecable manners, both on the ground and in the saddle. There were many
"altercations", but you can deal with a "learning moment" better here
than (almost impossible) during a ride. 

For example, if you're riding behind another horse and the other horse
trots off, what does your horse do?  Pick up the trot, too, right?  You
should NEVER allow this.  What if the horse in front of you bolts and
runs away?  Would you want your horse to bolt and run away, too? If you
didn't ASK for the trot, then he should continue to walk.  How about
when TWO or THREE horses trot off?  This drill is difficult for a horse
to learn...because it's against his nature.  But when the other horses
CANTER off and your horse continues to walk, you are there.....he will
WAIT for the cue. I don't think I need to expound on the value of this
during an Endurance Ride. Believe me, it you're consistent, and do it
properly, he may get excited and may pull on you asking to go, but he
will listen....his mind is too conditioned to do anything else. "Don't
do nothin' without checkin' with Da Boss first!"  Sunny was excited at
his first "real" ride...but he didn't turn into a creature I didn't
recognize.

Limited Distance is great....and really helpful for riders and horses
getting started in Endurance, but if you go about it the right way, you
don't need to start horses on LD.  It depends on what works for you. I
think Howard was referring to himself doing a 50, not his horse.

Jim, Sun of Dimanche, and Mahada Magic