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[RC] First 25 mile ride - rides2farOK, 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. Well, I'm probably the only person around who can say I did a 25 AND a 50 as my first ride. :-) I entered the 25 on my backup horse (I'd overtrained like a beast and wore out my 50 mile horse before I ever got to my first ride). I did 25 miles and felt like it was nothing. Then was walking around camp and ran into my friend who was upset that the woman who was riding her horse had gotten hurt at the 25 mile mark (the trail was a 50 mile loop) and her horse had to pull though it was doing great. I got all excited and said, "Let me ride her the rest of the way" So, we did. She hauled me out there, we took up the stirrups as far as they'd go and I took off. (were were not concerned that we wouldn't get a completion) I can tell you that on that day, at that ride (this was in 1987) the 50 was the better place for me. The 25 milers had all been just like me, clueless about pace and just the blind following the blind. Nobody's horses drank, it was just a stampede. Once I got on the 50 mile loop I was able to watch riders who had been doing this a long time and get my horse to drink when theirs did, etc. It was a good place to get mentored. By the way, I was as prepared as I could possibly be that day. I'd read everything available, including every article Equus had ever written about endurance riding, "The Best of Blazer", Linda & Wentworth Tellington Jone's book, Kerry Ridgeway articles and the Farnum Endurance video Darolyn had made and I had spent 6 months riding with some people who'd done a few rides and had picked their brains. I had overtrained so much that the only place I was sore was my abs. I probably held my breath all day I was so excited. :-)) P.S. When I started my neice in endurance I had her do a 25 first. They all took off fast and she got swept away. The next ride I had her do 50 with me and she couldn't understand why I had thrown her out to the lions like that. I remembered that and started my daughter on the 2nd day of a multi-day in the 50. Nice and sane. :-) Angie =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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