Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

> From: Deanna German [mailto:finishis2win@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
> on 10/17/03 3:11 PM, Heidi Smith at heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
 
> > Deanna, if you bothered to read my AERC record, there are actually 
> > three LDs that show up there--all three on the horse I'm 
> currently riding.
> Whoa there, Heidi, that was David speaking, not me!
Right - OK, so I was off by one. I was surprised to see any, to be honest. 

> > riding career but from having vetted a copious number of rides over 
> > the years, in which I've seen horses come back to do LD 
> after LD until 
> > their minds were fried.  And no, I'm not talking 
> racing--I'm talking 
> > about conservative riders who were "told" that this was 
> what one had 
> > to do, but lacked the experience to see what was going on 
> with their horses.
I'm not suggesting that people do LD forever. To be clear, I'm trying to
make two points - first is that I do not agree with Dane, and would not
support a requirement that people do a year of LD. Maybe 2-3 rides, but
certainly not a year, and I'm not sure about making it a _requirement_.
Second point is that there _are_ things to be learned from LD for a new
rider (unless you learned them somewhere else, like CTR). I learned a fair
bit - did 5 rides and moved up to learn some more. A 25 is probably a great
place for most new people to start, and can be a good way to start a new
horse, but that's a matter of preference.

> I didn't agree with you on this a couple of years ago, but I 
> agree with you now and you have put into different words 
> exactly my point. A year of LD's wouldn't have worked for me 
> and this horse. I could see the brain frying after the second 
> LD and the third one blew her mind. 
OK, I'm confused here. I only see 2 LD rides, one of which was overtime,
another with a ride time of 3:38 for 25th place, which is perfectly sane and
reasonable. IMHO, about the pace you needed to run an 8 hour 50, which is
exactly what you did next. How does doing 1/2 a 50 at the same pace as a 50
fry the horse?

> > you likely didn't know that I rode CTRs prior to ever doing 
> endurance 
> > at all...)
> Again, some of this is what David said, not me!
We're getting completely confused. I was saying that Deanna probably learned
enough from CTR that LDs for her were a moot point. I had no idea Heidi had
done CTR. <joke> I thought she started with 100's <vbg> 

> > My concern here is the concept that a year of LDs is good 
> for the HORSE.
> Precisely.
I'm not arguing this part. Depends on the rider, the age of the horse, the
training regimen, the horse itself, and personal preference. Personally, I
like to start with a few LD rides, preferably slow to moderate rides. You're
welcome to do something different, your horse and it's up to you. The thing
that worries me about longer rides and young horses that are just starting
endurance is getting bones and tendons conditioned enough. If you condition
right at home that might not be a concern - again, personal preference.



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