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Re: [RC] Letters to the World -- showing - heidiHah! I hardly consider myself to be part of any elite with respect to endurance, but I do expect most neophytes to follow the exact same sort of footsteps I go in - to have a wonderful relationship with horses on beautiful trails and meet great people who, even though they're on the same trail with you, aren't trying to knock you down and in fact will help you achieve your goals just as they are trying to achieve yours. What NFL player would help a rookie player from an opposite team? You know in endurance that happens all the time! The wonderful part about endurance is that all you don't have to compete to the NFL level, you can play Pop Warner football forever, and you *still* are a winner. In fact, with endurance, every time you hop on your horse you are having a great time, and you can get involved with practically all the benefits endurance has to offer - healthy bodies and minds, wonderful relationships with your horse, enjoyment of trails and the outdoors, *free* mentors and training/conditioning advice - without ever even having to enter an endurance ride! Bingo, Lif. And this is why endurance sells horses to people who just want to go ride, even if they never set foot on a sanctioned trail. Many have jobs that don't allow it even if they had the dedication and some of us just like to hack around on our buddies--- a 4 hour ride at the beach is just fine.And that, my friend, is exactly what the AHA should be promoting about Arabian horses! A 4 hour ride on the beach IS distance riding for many people! If you have time for a 4-hour ride on the beach, you have a heckuva a lot more time than I have to condition my endurance horses! I don't think I've spent 4 hours a week horseback since I got back into riding, on average, unless I'm at a ride. It is the consistency of riding that counts, and anyone who spends 4 hours at the beach every week actually RIDING already HAS a horse ready to go complete endurance rides... Heidi ============================================================ REAL endurance is reading the LD vs. Endurance thread/debate every 3 months!!! ~ Heidi Sowards ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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