>I guess it doesn't count, because the ten years
was 1985-1995, but my old Azzor Kishi (Oz) went over 3500 miles over 10
years. He did at least 8 100s (ROC wasn't sanctioned then), one 5 day
multi, and two- two day 150s, and was rarely pulled (the records don't reflect
pulls for that time frame). I sold him to LG Neal but continued to ride
him some for LG. He was very toed out naturally, never interfered, and I was the
only person to ever shoe him. A good old horse.
I've likewise had two 10-year horses that don't
"qualify" because they are no longer competing. My foundation stallion
Surrabu started his endurance career in 1973 with his first ride being the
Virginia City 100. He didn't do any endurance in 1974 (we really didn't
have any up here to speak of then) but did earn the Reserve Championship of
the Bitterroot CTR Conference that year. (He also did CTR in 1971 and
1972.) He continued (I think he went every year) until his last ride in
1986, at the age of 20. He was in the PNER Top 25 seven different
years. So he did some form of distance riding for 15 years...
His son Abu Ben Surrabu went from 1986 to 1999,
although he took 3 years off at one point (he spent them working on a
cattle ranch) because *I* had a knee injury, and missed another year
because I was simply too busy vetting rides to be able to ride. He might
still be going if he had not lost his eyesight to ERU--a completely
non-endurance-related problem. (He did complete one ride after becoming
completely blind, which I've always considered to be quite a feat and quite a
testimony to how much a horse can trust in a rider.)
Both these guys were just shy of 3000 miles,
although if you could lump Surrabu's CTR miles in, he'd be over... And his
son had one season over 1000 miles, when he was well into his
teens...
