Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Wow Barbara! I am probably dating myself but I remember those days.  Sheila Varian used her stallion (brain fart.....I can't remember his name) to work cattle on her ranch.  She competed him in reining, I believe, in open shows and if memory serves they won at the Cow Palace.....which was BIG Qtr Horse competition at that time.  It did take a lot of courage to buck the trend. 

 

I was also a founding member of the Oregon Dressage Society.  I designed the logo.  I wonder if it still exists.  Yep, we were a bunch of Arabs.  Does anyone remember Ward Wells?  He had the stallion "The Count of Al Marah".  The majority of my dressage training was with Ward in Oregon City, Oregon in the middle 1970's.  Our first clinic was with Herman Freidlander.  We were soooooooooo bad, I thought he would have a stroke.  LOL.  He did not mince words!!!!  Sadly, one of our Arab owners quit riding, sold all her horses, and her barn as a result of his critique.  As with the QH/Arab thing, we were considered a bunch of clowns by the Thoroughbred folks at the Lake Oswego Hunt Club.  Gotta love the good ole days!

 

  Merry

Barbara McCrary <bigcreekranch@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

My Arab gelding came from a ranch in Montana, bred by a man whose
grandfather bred remount horses. I asked him once WHY he was breeding Arabs
in Quarter Horse country. He said, with a tone of voice that hinted of
knowing something that no one else knew, that he found out that Arabs didn't
get tired when they worked cattle all day and he could ride the same horse
the next day, too. He must have had a lot of courage to buck the trend in
cattle and QH country. My gelding is no halter horse, but he has good legs
and feet, lower respiration than I'm used to, and terrific pulse recoveries.
He also has a lovely disposition and was calm at his first ride. I have yet
to see him tired, but I suppose it could happen. We'll see soon, as we're
going to a 5-day ride in a couple of weeks.

Barbara

----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Cc:
Sent: Monday, May 31, 2004 11:23 AM
Subject: Re: [RC] Top five endurance horses-appys


> > Heidi..........................That is soooooooo true.
> >
> > Not every horse is bred for the purposes of distance riding. Not every
> > person is into distance riding. I guess it would be a very boring world
> > if everyone liked the same things.
>
> Yes, it would be. However distance riding is a sport that brings out the
> best in general riding qualities, no matter what the horse's purpose, and
> far too many breeds are going to show horses that are unrideable for durn
> near anything. The Saddlebred that the modern Arab show horse resembles
> is likewise dysfunctional--his prototype was a good cavalry mount, but
> General Lee would not have gotten three days into his campaign on the
> modern version. The dysfunctional show QH is worthless as a ranch horse.
> Etc. Distance riding is a "generalist" sport--a horse suitable for riding
> in virtually ANY functional situation can "do" endurance even if he
> doesn't excel at it. And horses that can "do" endurance can also go out
> and cut cows, do dressage, jump fences, or whatever.
>
> I've always maintained that there are two disciplines that are basic to
> all other disciplines--those being endurance and dressage. If one
> approaches fitness from an endurance viewpoint and optimizes training from
> a classical dressage standpoint, one will improve ANY horse--even if one
> never sets foot on an endurance course or in a dressage ring. JMHO, but
> it seems to me basic to the nature of a horse that he should at least have
> the biomechanical structure and the metabolic capability to complete rides
> and the trainability to do basic dressage if he is to be a successful
> riding horse at ANY discipline. That doesn't mean that he has to go DO
> those things--but if he doesn't have the CAPABILITY to do them, he won't
> make much of a riding horse....
>
> Heidi
>
>
> ============================================================
> REAL endurance is reading the LD vs. Endurance thread/debate every 3
> months!!!
> ~ Heidi Sowards
>
> ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/
>
> ============================================================
>

Be Happy, ride an Appy

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