Subject: Re: [RC] novice class, LD taken
seriously etc.
FINALLY, someone else who recognizes the
same thing I've been saying for years. I KNOW that most horses in good
health can do 25 miles in 6 hours, because that's what I did on my first 50
(which I did not complete) with a totally unconditioned horse (not an Arab,
either.) I knew nothing about endurance, didn't know about conditioning,
didn't know how to pace, didn't know much of anything. But I kept
plugging along and did finish 25 miles within 6 hours. It was the next
20 that took their toll. I felt humiliated because of my failure to
complete, but it was the salvation of the horse. How utterly ignorant I
was about the sport. How much different it would have been if we had LD
rides then on which to learn..... and mentors. But.....to get back to my
point, a rider CAN do 25 miles on a horse that is not properly conditioned, or
not conditioned at all. Sometimes the breaking point is as much as 35
miles, and the last 15 are the make or break miles. We had a
running QH that was like that. He could finish first on a 35 miler, but
after that, he was done. On a talented, athletic horse, 25-30 miles are
just a day's pleasure ride.
I am NOT belittling people who want to
ride LD, nor am I belittling those who cannot ride more than 25-30 miles, all
I am saying is that extra 15-20 miles is what separates the pleasure ride from
the endurance ride.
Subject: Re: [RC] novice class, LD
taken seriously etc.
First off: Should AERC lump all distances into the Endurance
category???
NO. Reason being, that IMO....this takes away from or lessens
what the people out there doing the longer distances are doing with their
horses. A good rider can go out and take a horse of any breed with
little to no condition and "get him thru an LD ride". No, he won't be
up in the front, but does that make him an "endurance" horse? Does it
make him a great athlete? No, it makes him a horse that with some
legging up and a sensible rider that can finish that shorter distance. I see
this all the time at the local horse trails... trail riders out there riding
25 miles of technical tr! ails on their pleasure horses. And when they see
us conditioning, they "think" that we aren't doing anything that their
horses couldn't do. The truth is...we are doing something that they
can't do. They couldn't take their horses (at the current
conditioning) and do a 50 or better mile ride. So, if lumping it all
together makes everyone have a "happy face"...it won't be anything to brag
about IMO.
