lowering the age limit has everything to do with economics for breeders
& owners, and nothing with protecting the horse
obvious - no?
Pauline
------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ From:
"Barbara McCrary" <bigcreekranch@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re:
[RC] USEF, Tom Johnson & damaging speculation.
I
agree with this issue of horse's age wholeheartedly. I have brought along
numerous horses over the years from 4 year olds to a strong working
endurance horse. In my experience, a horse is ready to start a few LDs
when he is 5, then a few slow 50s when he is 6, then more 50s and maybe a 75
when he's 7, a greater workload when he's 8, and finally, at age 9, I think
he's ready for 100s. I'm not just talking about conditioning, either,
but about the horse's maturity, both physically and mentally. To me,
when a horse has reached 9, he's ready to be considered mature. If I
would make any amendments to the above, I would say a horse might try a slow
or easy 100 at age 8, but it wouldn't bother me any to see him a full 9
years old before trying 100s. Yes, I know that Rio won Tevis as a 7
year old, and that he was still in great condition and soundness at 22 or
23, but there aren't very many Rios in the world. The horse was a real
"freak of nature", very much as the legendary Justin Morgan was one. JMO,
and not a very humble one, either.
Barbara
----- Original Message
----- From: "Lynne Glazer" <anyone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: "Ridecamp
Correspondence Correspondence" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent:
Wednesday, June 21, 2006 12:31 PM Subject: [RC] USEF, Tom Johnson &
damaging speculation.
>> Re horse age: I am concerned to see
a 7 year old horse on the team. 7 >> years old!
Doing 10 hour 100s! I know the rider is very experienced,
>> but dang--that horse isn't done growing yet. I am not a
fan of rules >> except to protect the horse--and wish we had a
minimum age for >> international competition, especially since we
know these are fast >> courses. >> >>
Lynne
