Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Folks it not about BCs. There are a large number of people who do nothing but ride LDs.

 

I am not one of them. I am currently working with a horse that I acquired 1 year ago when he was 3.5 years old. I still own a horse that ran endurance 10 years prior to my acquiring him at age 17. I spent a year and half reconditioning and entered him in an LD to see if he could still do endurance. He did fine and I then entered him in a fifty and at the first vet check he pulsed in at 56 and was metabolically sound. However he seem off on his right front leg so he was pulled and I subsequently retired him from endurance because I felt that there was no point in pushing my partner to a point that would endanger his well being. He is very happy in pasture and doing long trail rides for both our enjoyment. The new horse was entered into his first LD after he turned four to see if I could determine whether I had a problem with impulsion. The horse tends to pull out to the front when there are other horses on the trail with him but when we are alone he tends to communicate that he would rather eat grass then go forward. He finished his first 30 in 4 hours and 4 minutes. He pulsed in at 56 at the first vet check and was out of the vet check in 2 minutes with a slightly negative CRI of 40/44. He finished the ride by pulsing in at 52 and was out the vet check in under four minutes (we had to walk further to the vet check this time) again with a slightly negative CRI of 40/44. He gets significant conditioning on the trails of Swanton, Ft. Ord and Quicksilver during the week with one extended ride each week. I most likely will not enter him in another LD this year unless I am simply riding to be with friends. He will most likely do one 50 after he turns five and that will be his last competitive ride in the 2006 season. In the 2007 season he will likely start off with one or 2 50s in the first half of the year and at that point I will determine whether he is ready to campaign or whether he should wait until he is seven. Why. There is nothing for either of us to prove and I am not willing to endanger the welfare of my horse before he is ready. I can already tell that this horse is capable of riding distance.

 

So what does this have to do with LDs. That large and growing larger group of LD riders would like to have their times and their completion spots recorded. It's that simple. They are not so concerned about BCs. Once this sport consisted of primarily 100 mile rides, 50 milers were told that they weren't endurance riders. How would you feel if you rode 50 miles and didn't have the times recorded. Would you do it once, twice, 5 times or maybe nine until you said why am I doing this when other organizations will record my times or I can ride with a bunch of friends and get the same jollies. I think you would be mighty miffed. Call the levels what you want but the lady who wrote about training level dressage was right on. A 70 is a heck of a lot better than a 60 even if it is only important to her. It establishes a benchmark so that the horse and rider and can gauge where they are in their training program. Removing placements from an LD ride removes much of the basis for the training argument. How many LD rides are enough for training. What about the people who don't want to do 50s. These are the issues that the important issues to the LD riders I have spoken to.

 

With regard to the rules you can bend them any way you want. But if you do then pull them out because they become meaningless. If you read them as written they are straightforward. Diane's post was simply her interpretation of them. I and others see them differently.

 

Ride On!  

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Richard Sacks
rsacks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.equipedic.com

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