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[RC] Horse vs. runner Speed - sandy . l . holder17 years ago, before I "knew" what endurance was, I leased an arab gelding and rode him out at Point Reyes every weekend doing 20 - 25 miles in 2 - 2 1/2 hours. If you've ever been to Point Reyes, it's mountainous until you get to the beach and then you go over mountains to get back. The owner ran the distance. We would only stop for the cattle gates to open & close them (5 I believe). We rode in a Stubben saddle (no breast collar, HRM, etc.) and a snaffle bit. I carried a water bottle in my fanny pack around my waist but we never stopped for food, water, etc., nor at the end of the ride would the horse drink from the creek. Before anyone goes ballistic on me here, please understand that this horse's owner was a marathon runner (under 4 hour marathons) and ran with the one of two horses every 2 - 3 days doing just what I did on the weekends. One was 20 at the time and the one I rode 10 or 11. When we finished, the horses had generally not even broke a sweat. We'd haul them back down to Lucas Valley road where they lived, rinse them off and turn them out to roll in the arena romp around for another 30 minutes or so together until we put them in their paddock. To them, these rides were a jog in the park and we did this for about 5 years. The horse I rode was 15 hands and pure Egyptian arabian. Knowing what I know now, I can only fantasize about what kind of endurance distances they might have been able to do. Bo passed away last year in his late 20's (28 or 29), doing the same thing until the last 3 or 4 years ago. To finish my thought, I curious how fast we could have gone had it been flat. Ed said: >> "...He completed the 22-mile course in two hours, five minutes, >> and 19 seconds.." > > I don't know what the rules of this race are, but this does not seem > very fast to me in light of the 2 hr 30 minute times for LD's. Ed is making the mistake of not including the hold time in the time it takes to complete the course. Since we don't know how long it would take for a horse to complete and LD course if there were no mandatory hold, we can't use this information to answer the question. The closest we might be able to come to getting an idea of this is to know how long it takes horses to get to the first vet check if it is more than 22 miles out, but even that is not totally accurate, because one presumes that the rider may be planning to "go on" and therefore is not riding as fast as s/he might if the race were to end at 22 miles. That said, 2:05:19 for 22 miles also seems a little on the slow side to me. Additionally, in the Prescott Man against Horse endurance ride held pretty much every year, it is my understanding that it has a tendency to be a "toss up" as to whether it is one by a runner or a horse. However, this ride also has mandatory holds for the horses that it doesn't have for the runners, as did the 50 mile race between Tom and Jenn Nice on Al in Dubai (which Tom won after the second mandatory hold for Al was reduced from 40 minutes to 20 minutes). kat Orange County, Calif. Thanks, Sandy _________________________________________________________________ The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer.
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