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> What would some speculate is the "secret" to their success?  Is it the
> horse?  The rider?  The conditioning program?  A combination of all of
those
> things (seems probable and logical)?  Inquiring minds want to know.  :)
After watching horses and riders up close and personal for a number of
years, I'm surprised there even needs to be much speculation.

First, the horse--he has to have the conformation, the desire, AND the
metabolic capability to do the job.  By conformation, I don't just mean
legs--he has to have the BODY.  The back, the balance, the proportions.  In
short,  he has to have the genetics.  There are  more out there with
adequate conformation than there are with the metabolic capability, IMO--and
metabolic capability has to do with stuff like cardiovascular capability, GI
function, kidney function, etc.  How efficiently can the heart and lungs get
blood (and hence oxygen and nutrients) around the body?  How well can the GI
tract produce VFA's from cellulose in the hindgut?  How well can the GI
tract deal with water and lytes, storing a reserve in the hindgut,
presenting that reserve when needed, etc.?  How efficient is the kidney at
sparing lytes and concentrating urine to spare fluids?  How efficient is the
cooling system (sweat glands, subsurface vascularity, etc.) at dissipating
body heat, sparing lytes, etc.?  Every horse starts with a genetic potential
for ALL of the above functions and myriad others, and you are WAY ahead of
the game if you START with a horse that is genetically capable in most of
these areas.

Second, the conditioning program--did it strengthen the above functions, or
not?  And if so, how much did it strengthen them?  We hear a lot about doing
LSD to condition bone and supportive soft tissue.  We hear a lot about
cardiovascular fitness.  Do we hear anything about helping tune the kidneys
toward more efficiency with lytes??  Noooo, we hear how we should just keep
dumping in excesses, so that the kidney never acclimates to mild shortages.
Do we hear about getting the hindgut to its peak efficiency--both in terms
of producing VFAs and in sparing lytes and fluids??  Not much.  I think we
miss the boat about some of this stuff, but some riders manage to do it by
trial and error, having found out what works for a given horse.  (And there
is a degree of that anyway, as you explore your way through how your horse
is internally put together--see item #1.)

Third, the rider--and this is in three parts.  The first part is how did the
rider do his/her homework pre-ride?  Is the gut pre-loaded with forage?  Is
the horse well-hydrated from travel?  Etc.  The second part is that the
rider is actually IN TUNE with the horse, and READING those little signals
and riding accordingly, making adjustments in the strategy so that the
little things do not coalesce to become big things.  Thirdly, there is how
the rider does the aftercare of the horse, with an eye to the future.  The
rider HAS to comprehend that the horse is not a robotic machine, but rather
an intricate sensate being that requires rest in order to repair for the
next event.  That may not mean "total" rest--but the activity level and the
recuperation from one event has to be balanced with a view to what THAT
horse's individual capability is with what will be expected on down the
road.  And I think that may be the area where too many riders fall down.

Heidi


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