Ridecamp: Re: [RC] LD - the thread that will not die

> *raising hand timidly in back row*  'Scuse me, please....would it be okay
> when I get a chance to start endurance if I start in LD--just to see if
*I*
> can survive the trip???  It's not the horse I'm worried about so much as
> this nearly 37 yo body!!!!

Quite frankly, I think that's the #1 reason (or variations of that reason)
why people do LD.  The horses don't "need" it--you can pretty much do
anything you'd teach the horse on an LD by riding at home or going on
camping trips with private groups and no entry fees, and you can darn sure
have him fit enough for 50 just by staying home and conditioning a bit
longer.  But *people* need LD's, for various reasons--age-related
infirmities, been out of the saddle too many years, never been IN the saddle
that much, want to start kids/hubby/neighbor/friend without scaring them to
death with the concept of 50 miles, whatever.  Or in some cases, just don't
have time to condition enough to get the old bod in shape, and still want to
go to the ride and do SOMETHING and hang out with friends.  In almost 30
years, I'd only done three LD's and now, after a couple of years off, I want
to go participate even though the bod (mine, not the horse's) says "hey,
you're NUTS, sister!"  Yeah, I'll get back in shape enough to do 50's, and
yeah, I could do it just by riding here at home, but it's great to get back
out with the other riders, rub elbows with old friends, and also, since we
have geldings to market, it at least demonstrates that we have them to the
point that they can camp, get through vet checks, and go down the trail,
even though every one of them could start out at 50 if we just put a few
more miles on them before taking them to rides.  All of those are human
reasons--I doubt the horse cares much whether some of his "conditioning"
rides happen to be in public in the company of other horses, and that I pay
money to go do them....

Heidi (5400 or so AERC "real" miles, and have almost doubled my previous LD
record already this year...  <g>)


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
 Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
 Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=