Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Virginia Goodman TheOdysseyFarm@xxxxxxxxxxx
Greetings, I usually lurk on this forum and am not a competitive rider. 
However, I must respectfully disagree with the statement that you can 
basically pull any horse out of a field and do a 25. I would not want 
anyone considering this sport to see that and think, hey, I saw it on the 
Internet, it must be true. Aside from the potential harm this could do to a 
true pasture-potato, my personal experience has convinced me that some 
horses will NEVER do a 25, either straight out of a field or conditioned 
for 3 years, because they mentally cannot handle it. It's only fair to 
train and condition them properly before throwing them into the excitement 
of a ride where their hearts will drag them farther than their bodies can 
deliver.

Riders with many years and thousands of miles of experience do not realize, 
perhaps, how much they can help an inexperienced horse along, while someone 
who is new to the sport will most likely miss all the signals their horse 
is trying to send them. Please don't suggest that anyone and any horse can 
do "just" a 25 -- to do so is contrary to AERC's goal of preventing 
treatment at rides.

Regards,
Virginia Goodman
Kentucky


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