Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

> Its amazing how much time you can make up on the people that come zooming
> into the gate/holds.
Well, there's zooming in, and then there's just joggin' by those folks off
leading their horses, when you're riding a horse with really good
recoveries, and (like Stagg mentioned) you didn't burn him up out on the
trail.  The horses I've ridden the most over the years could literally be
jogged right up to the PR area, and be down to 60 by the time I could get
off, get my card, and present.  I agree with Stagg that you can pass more
folks at the vet checks and still have horse left if you ride conservatively
at the beginning--but whether or not to get off and lead in is a factor of
knowing your horse, and knowing just exactly what it takes to have him down
when you get there.  I've sure snagged the back end of the Top Ten over the
years on a lot of horses that were far less fit than the front runners--and
have passed most of the folks I've passed at the vet checks rather than on
the trail....  But then they didn't get into "race mode" to begin with, so
tended to be just trotting along at a nice working trot and not a very high
heart rate from which to recover.  So--if you know your horse needs the
extra time and the break to be down when he gets in, by all means get off
and lead the last little bit.  But if you know your horse is nearly down
anyway, an easy jog will just help you pick off that many more horses as you
come into the check.

Heidi


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