Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

At 08:11 PM 9/2/2004, Truman Prevatt wrote:
> One of my neighbors buys horses at killer prices frequently, puts some 
> training and miles on them and some TLC. He may do a ride on them or he 
> may not. He usually sells them to a good home at reasonable prices and he 
> sitll makes money.

The sale of horses to "good homes" that aren't endurance homes is a 
wonderful thing, but the only numbers for your neighbor that I'd be 
interested in are total horses bought compared to those that become 
successful endurance horses (= horses with high rate of completion for 
multiple endurance rides for more than one season).

It is so very discouraging for me to think that so many people support the 
idea that any old nag that looks like it has decent bone structure is worth 
trying as endurance horse.  I guess people like it because of these sort of 
wonderful "rags-to-riches" stories we keep hearing, with an egalitarian 
twist to it.  We're fond of those stories:  Cinderella makes good.  Little 
rag boy wins the Olympics.

There's a reason they're called fairy tales.

To me the notion of finding the diamond in the rough at killer sales is 
right up there with the outsider perception that that you need a wild beast 
that wants to run all the time.  It happens - but the odds don't support it 
happening in real life.

What it also means to me is that the sport of endurance riding is still 
just one step above being a trail ride.  This is dangerous 
thinking.  Endurance is not simply a faster trail ride.  It is a physical 
and mental effort requiring skills and preparation, with a real risk of 
injury, metabolic breakdown and even death.  The casual attitude that so 
many people have for endurance and selection of their horses is astounding 
to me (especially compared with the intense hunts for the perfect tack, 
electrolyte, trailer, etc).

And then there's the additional issue, the fact that the ultimate cost of 
*pain* and *death* is not paid by the human, but the horse.  Until the bar 
of understanding of what the sport is about is raised, the ultimate cost of 
our ignorance will continue to be paid by the horses.  No one will ever 
convince me that a difference in price is an acceptable justification for 
the potential for pain, suffering and death by a being that did not get to 
choose.  We all may think it's wonderful to save a horse from the killer, 
but to save it for the possibility of suffering in a sport it was not bred 
or raised for is not my idea of good thinking.

I've said it before and I still believe it:  The making of an endurance 
horse doesn't start the day the rider decides to do an endurance ride.  For 
the horse, it starts generations before (genetics).  The making of that 
endurance horse continues every day from the moment it is conceived, 
throughout the time the horse is growing up, and future success depends on 
how it is cared for and trained as well.  Finally - and often only at this 
point - the endurance rider steps in and begins conditioning.  Conditioning 
and sport specific training is only the tip of the iceberg of what an 
endurance horse is!   Everyone in every other competitive equestrian 
endeavor understands this, but we in endurance still don't get it.

I'm not saying you can't get a great endurance horse from the killer 
auction, but let's stop citing how many killer auction horses make good if 
we can't say how many didn't.  Let's not encourage making the exception the 
rule.   We all know that the realities of the endurance trail call for more 
than dreams and fairy tales.


________________________________
   Lif Strand      fasterhorses.com
           Quemado NM USA