Re: RC: 25 vs 50 (can't help myself)

[BMcCrary27@aol.com]

In a message dated 01/22/2001 7:43:36 AM Pacific Standard Time, 
Howard4567@aol.com writes:

<< One of the reasons LDers are criticized so much isn't because they ride 
their 
 horses too fast, since the 50 milers go just as fast and twice the distance, 
 but the fact that the horses the LDers ride are not ready, haven't been 
 trained long enough, muscles & tendons haven't been developed with long, 
 slow, distance training rides, maybe, too young, etc.  I think this is the 
 gist of the problem.  
 
 To do a 50 mile ride a horse has to be in shape.  It has to be trained, 
ready 
 to go, or you will not complete the ride.  In a 25 you can get away with 
 finishing a ride with a horse that is not up to par.  I know now that Dance 
 was not ready for his first 25 two years ago, but we came in 13th place 
 anyway.>>

Standing ovation!!!
 
<< I love both distances and wish some riders weren't so arrogant as to think 
 LDers aren't endurance riders.  >>

Agreed, and I, too, love LD rides......just enough challenge, not too much 
fatigue (for me, not the horse).  But as long as the rules and regulations 
DEFINE an endurance ride as a minimum of 50 miles, that's the way it is.  
And, I will repeat, as I've stated before:  ANY horse, with no conditioning 
at all, can do 25 miles, or even 35.  It's the last 15 miles that separates 
the conditioned from the unconditioned.  If anyone wants me to re-tell the 
story of MY first endurance attempt, I will do so...in minute detail, but 
briefly, I took an unconditoned running QH on a tough 50 mile 
ride...........my first and his.  It was a distaster, from start to finish, 
but definitely a learning experience.  The horse wasn't permanently damaged, 
but my ego was.....and my self-confidence. I believe that if we're going to 
call a ride an ENDURANCE ride, then it needs to be just that much harder, 
that much more of a challenge, require just that much more of an effort and 
commitment to preparation time.  
Off my soapbox now..........

Barbara