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RE: [RC] Fast rides~Decade Plus Horses~ - David LeBlancChristina Hykw said: All this chatting about fast times had me wondering, do the horses that are being raced last a long time in their career. Typically not, though there are exceptions. Joe Long's horse Kahlil went pretty fast, and had quite a lot of miles (11,525 - 7th highest lifetime total). It's also true that the younger you race a horse, the less likely the horse is to last in the sport. My biggest concern is that he & I do this sport *together*, and a long time. I understand. I'm very lucky to own an extremely well behaved and wonderful horse. After being spoiled by Laser, I'll have a hard time finding another that will measure up. I'd like him to last a long time in the sport. He's currently 13, and we just hit 2000 miles. I'm hoping to get to 3000 miles with him, and I think we can if we keep going like we are. If you check out my record, you'll see that I rarely go fast on him, and when I do, I'm careful about it - we do that when he feels like it, I agree, and the footing is good. If we can still do 50's together when he's 20, we'll have done well. I have been trying to get a grasp of a good average time to aim for....to keep in mind while training~ while all the LD/50 chat has lended over some ideas on what is average & what is too speedy, I would love to learn about what type of riding lends itself to longevity~ Then watch what the riders do who have horses that last a long time. I'm happy to count among my friends Mary Forrester, who is currently 32nd in lifetime miles in AERC history, and she owns 2 5000+ mile horses (one of which is still going strong at over 6000 miles) - there's only been 165 horses ever go that many miles in the history of the sport, and to have had 2 of them is a good trick. I like to ride with Mary, not just because she's good company, but because she's a great person to watch and learn from. Mary doesn't start horses too young, builds them up slowly and methodically, sets an even pace through the ride and holds it. She's also really careful about footing, and walks if it looks bad. Something I like to do is to check out people's records. Look around and figure out who rides in your area that gets a lot of miles on their horses, rides the same horse for years at a time, and see if you can ride with them and learn from them. One thing I have to stress is that there is no good average time. It depends on the terrain, the weather, and how the horse feels that _day_. My horse gets warmed up about 5 miles out, and _then_ we decide how fast to go. I've done everything from walking across the start line, last person to leave camp, and finishing 10th to last week I got the tail-end award. It was a hard ride, lots of rocks, lots of elevation change, and we'd done an incredibly tough ride 2 weeks prior, and I don't think he was completely rested up. So we adjusted, took it easy, and got a completion. What you do want to try and shoot for is consistency. Do the whole ride at the same pace. Easier said than done, but the really good riders will do that. One day I might be that good. Good luck! Just get out and do it. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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