I guess I've been lucky with my strategy with my young horse as far as his
endurance career goes. This strategy has been the use of lots of LD
rides.
We started him when he was 4. When he turned 5, I took him on a NATRC
ride to see what his mindset would be with a group of horses. This was of
course, after sending him for 90 days of "finishing work" with a trainer, pack
trips into the mountains, lots of group trail rides with friends, team
sorting. We tried to expose him to as many things as we could.
He did great at the NATRC ride, so we entered him in an LD. When the
top horses galloped past him and he didn't react adversely, I knew I was
heading down a good track with this horse!
Up to now, I have only done 2 50's on him. He turned 6 in March, and
I've continued to lots of LD rides - especially looking for those LD multi day
rides to give him a good base.
Developing a good strong base and a good mindset while minimizing wear
and tear on a young horse is my plan and it is working well for me - I know it's
not the case for everyone, but I believe I am developing a good strong horse
that will last for many miles in his endurance career. He is capable of
doing 50's now, and I'll sneak one in every now and then, but for now, I'm
sticking with mostly LD's and using these shorter distances to develop him until
he is 7. These LD rides have been a great venue for developing good
control and partnership with a new horse - I consider us to be "practicing" for
our endurance career when he turns 7.
I've also been mixing up the speed at which I do each ride -
sometimes moving out and sometimes keeping him slow. The idea here is that
he is working with me as the leader in our partnership. I don't
want him thinking it's "balls out" all the time. I let him move out one
ride and finish first...the next ride I held him back and finished toward the
end. I want to make the decision on how we're going to do a ride, and it's
his job to wait and find out from me what his "orders" are going to be for that
particular day.
In the beginning, he was more enthusiastic about getting back down the
trail after water stops and didn't drink near as well as he does now. At
my last multi day ride (the Shamrock ride in Wyoming), he was drinking out of
the first water trough every day - only 4 miles or so into the ride- and
at nearly every stream or trough we passed later in the ride. It wasn't
terribly hot, so I was happy he was drinking well in these lower
temperatures. He really has learned to take care of himself and I feel
very confident about taking him in 50's, knowing that he developing that
mindset during his "LD" career.
I think it's important to share this experience with others that are
starting new horses - don't feel pressured to go to 50's. I'm proud to
know that others think my horse can do 50's, and I know that he can, but it is
my choice to develop his base and mindset using the LD ride venue.
My husband in particular loves me doing these LD rides as he's got someone
to hand him a Margarita when he finished his 50 after me!
