Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

At 04:54 PM 7/19/2004, Nancy Mitts wrote:
> As long as we brag about $500 world champions and champions off the killer 
> truck, that's all there will be to choose from.

That's an interesting point.  I have been mulling around in my head that 
this all is connected with how endurance riding started, who was involved 
back then.  People brought what horses they already had to a ride.  Rides 
were quite the social events - there was a lot of late night partying, some 
rides had dances after the ride that lasted till the wee hours.  You got to 
rides as early as you could so you could join up with your friends that you 
might only see at rides, some stayed till late in the day on Sunday 
visiting and maybe recovering from a hangover.  I don't think in those days 
people even thought about horses that were bred for endurance.

Maybe since that's how it all got started, that's why horses aren't the 
focal point yet for expenditures.  On the other hand, I, myself, figure 
that when I have a horse I'm going to campaign, I plan on riding it for as 
many years as I can.  To me, paying a lot for a horse of that sort is not 
unreasonable.  I'd rather pay $10,000 for a horse I could ride for 10 or 15 
years or even more, than $1000 every few years for a new horse, because 
when I ride endurance, I ride with a partner.  I don't do divorce well.

________________________________
   Lif Strand      fasterhorses.com
           Quemado NM USA