[RC] re: to blanket or not (& cross training) - Cindy Collins
I agree 100% with Diane and Heidi.? I was shocked that you would consider blanketing a horse at 50 degrees.?
Here in wonderful Wyoming it's 28 degrees F with a light breeze at 8:30 AM.? Yesterday I rode my gelding about 6 miles fairly fast and up and down a steep hill.? Never?occurred to me to blanket.? I walked him in (me on foot) the last 1/2 mile like I always do.??
Today my gelding is loaned out to our good friend who is a real, honest to goodness cowboy.? We have a?handful left here out West.? I'm not talking about the "wanna be" types.? Rusty works for the Two Dot Ranch.? Jack (the horse) will ride a fence line searching for cows that are "lost" and checking on ones that are where they are supposed to be.? He'll be without other horses in the middle of nowhere and gone for at least 8 hours.? I can't imagine any more valuable training in the world.? It's priceless.? This same gelding has finished three 50 mile rides and I hope will do more next year.? He had a rough season in 2005.? We got rained out and quit in one ride (trust me, it was really bad to make me quit) and in another ride he flipped a piece of gut somehow (torsion) and almost died before it miraculously (to me) slid back in place.? A horrible experience.? He finished a ride later that season, then injured a tendon.? Sigh. So, he took a year off from endurance.? But, in the meantime, he has won an overall high point award at a local dressage show and is now filling in when needed as a cow pony.? My point in sharing is that even if you can't get out and really condition for some reason or if your horse (or you) can't do endurance for a season, your horse can still have amazing experiences that will improve his performance in the future as an endurance horse.? BTW, no blanket went along with him in the trailer today :)
