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[RC] Rider doesn't do anything (yeah, right) - David LeBlancCarla said: Something that is always amusing to me is that people who don't ride think that the rider just sits on the horse, doesn't do anything, and isn't fit. I have a good story on that. A few years back, I spent a week in Moscow, Russia, where the air is truly horrible. By the time I got home, I was having respiratory problems, and some weird chest pains. Being kind of dumb about all this, I mentioned the problem to my wife. About 2 minutes later, I found myself in the emergency room hooked to all sorts of wires. They didn't find anything wrong and let me go, but recommended that I go get a treadmill test just to make sure. So off I go to my regular doctor, who then refers me to the doctor who gives the treadmill tests. Conversation went about like this: So what do you do for exercise? I ride horses. No, really. I mean real exercise. The horse does all the work. You don't understand. I ride horses for 10-12 hours in a day, and go 50 miles, and might do that for 2-3 days in a row. So he looked at me suspicously, but didn't want to argue. The day of the treadmill test comes, and I'm all hooked up, and they start the treadmill. I'm just plugging along, heart rate of about 110, so they turn it up. Now I'm going faster, and steeper, but my heart rate is steady at about 125. They have to get you to max, or the test isn't any good. So they wait. A couple of minutes later, I'm still at 125, and point out "I can do this all day." Now the thing is about vertical and running at 5 mph, and that does max me out. Turns out the ticker is just fine. Finally, the doctor admits that he'd only seen one other person take that much to hit max (and I'm not really in that great a shape, unless you consider round a shape), and that maybe all this riding might involve some work. I've also often fantasized about taking one of these nitwits who thinks the horse does all the work, and then putting them on the most herd-bound horse we own, get on the horse's best buddy, and take them on a '3-hour tour'. 8-) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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