Re: [RC] Made for Endurance or No.. Definitely! - Mary Ann Spencer
Congrats and glad you have found a horse you
trust. That is more important than a lot of things. I owned an arab
mare who probably would have consistently been top ten if I had the
ability. It is more important to have that confidence. She spooked
at a full gallop and I hit the dirt road and broke my $55 helmut. Lost
confidence that day but did complete the 50 miler. First time I was in top
ten. BUT did not really trust the mare due to the unexpected
spooking. Good luck and happy trails.
Subject: [RC] Made for Endurance or No..
Definitely!
I just wanted to say thank you to all that emailed and for the
reassurance that my thinking is not way off track.
Today proved it to me - 4 of us went trail riding at Clemson University -
Myself on Shelby, my Paint mare, a lady on her arab (she is the one I have
been training with for endurance), and two ladies on their quarter horses,
including the one that made the comment. The arab lady and myself
slowed our horses down at the trot on the trails since the other two were with
us. At one point, the comment lady asked if this was the pace arab lady
kept on endurance rides. When we condition together, we travel at a good
pace when we're not doing LSD. Shelby has learned how to flow with
her trot and cover more ground. She had to learn and now it comes
naturally to her. The arab has a wonderful ground covering trot!
Anyway, her question about the pace allowed us to explain to her how we cover
more ground when we can, but we also take it slow and easy whenever
necessary. We also explained the vet checks to her etc.
Hopefully now she has a little more understanding.
But after a crazy two days, today was great. I crossed a milestone
for me. There is a stretch of nice road and I cantered and partially
hand-galloped my mare for the first time. Boy did she love that!
It's the first time I've let her move out a little bit more. For me,
it's the first time I've done that since I was 13yrs old! I've
just had this fear of being out of control or coming off and being trampled -
but I'm learning that I can trust Shelby and that is an awesome
feeling!! So far she is unflappable! (if that is a word)
We had a hiker with dog appear out of no where (even the dog with us
didn't know they were there) and run past us with a bright yellow rain jacket
flapping. Of course, I was the last horse in the line and Shelby just
looked at him, almost like she was thinking "Wow..what happened to your
horse?"
Anyway, thank you again everyone.
Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend!
Jennifer
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