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RE: [SPAM] [RC] First 25 mile ride - David LeBlancDiane said: 1) There is so much for your horse to absorb that adding going 50 miles is just overload. Cut him some slack. Once he gets the routine down, there will be plenty of time to do a 50. 2) If your horse is physically ready for a 50, do 50. If he does only a 25, he might get the idea that 25 is it, a piece of cake, and be even more difficult to rate on subsequent rides. Having started a young horse both ways, I favor #2. OK, but all of this is about the horse. Any really experienced rider would have a good shot at getting that horse through a 50. What I'm thinking about is the person on the horse. The rider hasn't done any of this before. A 50 can get to be a long day, and unless your 20-25 mile training rides were accurately measured, they could be 15-20 mile rides, and you're in for a long day. Maybe the horse can do a 50, and maybe the rider can do a 50, but why not learn the drill of how the vet check works, what you need to pack for your vet check, and all of that with a nice, short ride where if you do make mistakes, you've got a lot more margin of error. For example, say you forgot electrolytes completely - not a big problem on a 25, might be a problem on a 50. Or say you had to deal with all out checks, and forgot to bring human food to the check - you're going to live through a 25, but a 50 might be tough. I know there's 2 schools of thought on this, and I'm currently in the "year of LD and move up" camp, but I'm really not even thinking of that as the most important issue - the confused person who hasn't done this before is the critcal factor. This isn't an experienced rider starting a new horse - this is a complete newbie doing this for the first time. So why not go out, learn the ropes a little, be done by lunch, have plenty of time to walk around and talk to people and learn, maybe go hang out with the vets and pick their brains. Then move up next time. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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