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Re: [RC] a year of 25's - Heidi SmithHow does doing 1/2 a 50 at the same pace as a 50 fry the horse? This thread got kinda convoluted.... :-) How that works, David, is that the first time is fine. But the horse remembers that it wasn't much of anything, if he's fit and he's that kind of a horse, so the next time out, he thinks he ought to liven things up a bit and get it over with quicker. But you don't want to go fast. So you've set him up to fight you about it. The other drawback is that if he's the kind of horse where this is easy, he also didn't "see God" out there and sees no pressing need to eat, drink, etc. out there. If, on the other hand, you took him right out of the box and did 50, you never go through that. He learns from the git go that it's gonna be a long day, and that if he passes a water tank, he'll regret it (yes, horses REMEMBER being thirsty--or at least the good ones do--and do what they can not to have it happen again--remember the threads about teaching horses to drink?). He learns that maybe he shouldn't rush right out there, because it is a long ways before he will be done. He becomes happy about the slower pace right from the start, and doesn't come back next time thinking gee, this is nothing, why should I bother to listen to YOU up there? I'm a firm believer in setting the horse up so that the natural thing for him to do is what you want him to do--and that includes going my pace down the trail. Part of being the "brains" of the duo involves avoiding picking a fight--by making him WANT to go your speed, it is much better mentally for him than to have a tussle with him to go your speed. (And yes, David--although I did CTR as a kid, my first endurance ride was, indeed, a 100... I did well over half of my 600 CTR miles after I did that first 100 [I think I had done 4 CTRs totaling 180 miles prior to it]--and just could never get thrilled about it again, having tasted the victory of crossing a finish line at midnight, knowing I'd just ridden 100 miles... :-) I went back the following year and won the reserve championship of our Bitterroot CTR conference, but only did a handful of them after that, once endurance riding got into full swing here in the NW.) Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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 Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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