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> In the current discussion about 100 mile participation, as well in past 
> discussions, I've heard multiple people mention that the LD rides are not 
> the best thing *for certain types of horses*.
>
> As someone who was planning on staying at the LD level for a while because 
> I thought it was the "right" thing to do, and who is now thinking my horse 
> would be more comfortable mentally with the longer distances (she just 
> seems to settle better the longer I ride), I would like to hear more from 
> people whose horse just weren't LD horses. Really, the only thing right 
> now preventing me from entering a 50 is my inexperience - despite reading 
> multiple discussions about the different conditioning approaches for 50 
> mile rides, I still don't know how to gauge if my mare is ready (perhaps 
> that is the problem - one person insists you need to be riding 50 miles a 
> week, another says they get in one good conditioning ride on the weekend - 
> no wonder I'm confused!).
>
> Comments?

I'm one of the riders that feels that way.  Ideally, it would be nice to 
have a horse that can do any distance the rider wants, and will do 
everything right from the get go.  Some horses are more mentally 
challenged, than they are physically---and that's why I think for some 
horses starting out in a longer distance, or not doing very many shorter 
rides, is in the horses best interest.  I think that you also have to 
consider the rider as well, since they have to be ready to ride longer and 
be able to take care of their horse.

I think that sometimes the more talented horses may have a tendency to be 
more of the mentally challenged type.  Those are the ones that can go do a 
25 and breeze thru it, and learn that it wasn't really that much of a 
challenge for them.  They can even sometimes go do a 50 and not be the 
least bit phased.  The frustrating part I have found is that with a 
talented horse, you can get out there and those horses can literally breeze 
thru the ride, often or always receiving all A's on their vet cards.  Even 
tho the horse is really not taking care of itself.  I had one of those, and 
that was the last horse I'll ever start out in a shorter distance 
ride.  Lots of riders think that if everything is okay when they go thru 
the vetcheck (i.e., all A's on their vetcard) that everything IS 
allright.  That simply is not always the case.  Most of the horses that I 
have seen crash the hardest or die had all A's on their vet cards.  I saw a 
horse go down at a ride this year, that had better vet scores than my horse 
had.  That is why I finally came to realize with my own horse, that I did 
not do him any favors by having him do a few LD rides.  This was a decade 
ago in Rocky's case, so *most* of the LD rides then were not sanctioned (so 
they aren't on his record).  The only thing he learned from doing those 
rides is that he didn't have to take care of himself because he would be 
done and was never phased.  Then when he did move up to the longer distance 
rides, it took him longer to "get it".  Again, he'd breeze thru with all 
A's, even on gut sounds which I knew was wrong as he would go 42 miles 
without eating.  I finally got him hungry enough by riding him 100 miles in 
two days and that gave him the attitude adjustment he needed.  I think I 
should have waited longer to get him started in the sport, and then started 
right out on a longer distance ride.  It took him more time to unlearn the 
wrong things, than it would have to pick it up right from the start.

The amount of conditioning each horse needs can be different.  Some horses 
require a lot more, and some hardly anything at all.  That is where it is 
difficult to tell anybody over the internet what they should or shouldn't 
do -- nobody knows our own horses as well as each of us do and we have to 
be able to figure that out.  Even if there were simple answers for how to 
condition a horse for a 50, that all goes out the window when you throw in 
the rider as one of the variables ;).  How somebody chooses to ride or 
control or not control their horse during the ride can cause failure in 
even the best conditioned horses.   I feel that it takes me a good 35 miles 
to really get into the groove as far as pacing goes, and that will apply if 
I'm riding a 100 in one day or a multiday -- once I get thru that first 
'hump', then it's easier for me, and the horse, either for the rest of the 
ride that day, or for the rest of the week.  That is partly why I never 
felt that doing LD rides really benefited my horses.  Then again, if a 
horse is doing the shorter distance rides and is taking good care of itself 
and finishing in good shape and looks great the next day -- why keep doing 
them, the horse is probably ready to move up (unless of course, the rider 
isn't).  Lots of times the horses are ready before their riders are :P

Karen
in NV


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