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
