Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

In a message dated 3/30/2004 5:32:35 PM Eastern Standard Time, ridecamp-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:


> ....my opinion is that
> nobody really has the right to judge how someone rides their horse....unless
> they are willing to get on and give it a try!  


Gotta jump in here and tell a story that happened to me many years ago...I was on a 100 mile ride on a "looney" gelding named Ben.  For the first 50 miles, he had on a mechanical hackamore and a standing martingale that prevented him from getting away from the hack...after 50 miles, I could usually take both off and have a pleasant and , most of all, safe ride.  A very famous endurance rider was riding along with me and began complaining about the treatment of my "poor horse" saying if he tripped, he would go down on his nose because of the equipment.  I replied, ...get in front of me and I will take it all off and after Ben has walked right over you and your horse, tell me if you don't prefer for him to possibly bruise his nose.  The FE replied "leave it on and never mind".  A further interesting item is that Ben and I finished just fine and FE did not.

Susan K