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Maybe there is a compromise people can do with their horses, without having 
to run them till they drop on a ride.  With some horses, they will expend 
more energy not getting to go, than getting to, and in the process because 
their brain has left orbit, they aren't paying attention or focusing and 
then end up being even more likely to hurt themselves or their riders than 
if they were allowed to go faster.  The problem with letting them go, is 
that is the easy way out for the rider -- and then the difficult part is 
knowing when to pull back and actually doing it.  It's also fun to ride 
fast. :)

I think that the art of pacing is the most difficult thing there is to do 
with a horse on an endurance ride.  Very few people really have it down, 
some are quite good at it, but I really can only name a handful or two of 
people that really are consistent about it all of the time.  I'm not.  I 
try, but it's a struggle.

What I have found is that each horse is different and what works for one of 
them, will definitely not work for another.  For example, I have one horse 
that is very forward with the ability to back it up.  He has always loved 
to go go go and wants to trot up everything, the steeper and longer the 
better.  Early on I took him on one of my training hills which is fairly 
steep, and long and he wanted to trot up it.  I wanted to walk, or at least 
go a little slower.  He fought me, so I said okay, let's go.  When he got 
about halfway up he wanted to walk.  Nope, you wanted to trot, we're 
trotting.  It taught him a lesson that did really get thru -- that is be 
careful what you ask for, you might just get it.  He was already 
conditioned enough to be able to do that, and it wasn't long before he 
could trot all the way up without any hesitation or wanting to stop, but 
when he does that now it's because I gave the ok, not because it was his 
idea and he is fighting me over it.  If I had tried that on the flat, we'd 
still be going <g>.

It is really nice to have a horse that can run in the front, but it is even 
better to have one that can also go in the back without a fight, or 
basically do whatever you want to do that day.

Sometimes I wonder what the @#$$ am I doing going slow so much of the time 
with Chief.  I look around camp when I come in and everyone is done 
cleaning up, relaxing, talking, hanging out and I'm just getting finished 
with an hour left on the clock, sometimes less, sometimes more.  It would 
be a lot easier to let him go faster, less effort on my part and I'd be 
done sooner.  But then, I remind myself, so would he, in more than one 
sense of what done means.  My choice is to get to ride him a long way, for 
a lot of years and if going slower lets me increase those values by 25% or 
50%, then it'll be worth it.  We really do have a good time out there all 
day, but it isn't for everybody.

If I could exchange every first place or top ten that Rocky has had in his 
career, for double that # of slower rides I would do it in a heartbeat.  It 
all seems so important when you are doing it, but the reality is that even 
the best horses are subjected to wear and tear by going faster, and you end 
up putting a lot more than dimes and quarters into them.

Karen
in NV


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