FL is CTR country. We have probably 8 to 10 a year down here including
the FL 3 Day 100 which turned about 55 this year - yep that's right
older than the Tevis. Many FL riders did CTR prior to doing endurance
and most of us do both. CTR's are a good place to start but so are LD's
and I really think people can learn something from both. I can tell you
that you will find some of the best endurance riders in the country
doing CTR's in FL in the winter.
We had a guy in the SE who loves doing 25's and he was good at it. He
loves his horse and his horse was in great shape and was 13 when he did
600 miles in one year in LD's and was the winner of the first National
LD award. One day after putting in another amazing performance I asked
him why he didn't do a 50.
Seems he was shot in Vietnam while in the Marines and could not ride 50
miles. About 2 to 2.5 hours was all he could take in the saddle before
his leg started to go numb. But he loves riding and he takes better
care of his horse than 95% of the 50 mile riders out there.
LD allows this person the ability to have fun with his horse and his
family - isn't that what it is all about?
Truman
Ed & Wendy Hauser wrote:
I learned distance riding in UMECRA
country. Actually LD is new there and CTR has been at rides since
before AERC. The system works fine. Contrary to some opinion, there
are LD racers who have horses that last many years, don't have
metabolic crashes, and enjoy fast LDs. There is room in distance riding
for Endurance, LD (fast or slow), and CTR (especially with horsemanship
judging optional or nonexistent). The more events a ride manager can
schedule on a weekend, the easier it is to have a positive cash flow,
and thus be able to offer the ride the next year.
Ed
Ed & Wendy Hauser
2994 Mittower Road
Victor, MT 59875