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RE: [RC] Road riding?? Conditioning - Susan E. Garlinghouse, D.V.M.I would be more nervous about stupid drivers on the road than I would be about the pros and cons of conditioning on a paved road or shoulder. I ride my mule down to the grocery store, and she's bullet proof, but the drivers are nuts. This morning I heard about a local CHP officer that was off duty and pulled over a drunk driver, anyway. As he was giving the drunk a field sobriety test, a second drunk driver crashed into them and killed them both. Having gotten pretty well clocked by a drunk driver myself years ago (and with plenty of residual hardware left to prove it), plus a couple of close calls while on horseback, I personally think killing someone while driving drunk counts as 'special circumstances' and merits capital punishment, or at least public castration. In the meantime, be very careful about riding alongside a road. Stupid drivers get even dumber around horses. Is it possible for you to pop the horse into a trailer and haul down the road to the trail head? Ride with someone that can trailer both of you? Just worried about you getting hit. The stupidity of drivers is not to be underestimated these days. Susan Garlinghouse, DVM -----Original Message----- From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of kit kat Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2006 11:48 PM To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] Road riding?? Conditioning Alright everyone, I have some questions being a relative Newbie. I have my horse boarded on 15 acres. I love the place she is at, and she loves it. Shes a special horse, she cannot go into stalls, as she was an avid stall kicker for over 4 yrs at the race track. She doesnt do well in paddocks either. So it really has put a damper on where I board her around my area as everyone here seems big into stalls and ity bity paddocks. So, I board 2.125 miles from the nearest trail. Thats all road riding to get there, and its got crappy siding and the people that drive down there are not the best drivers... saying this kindly. I wanted to start out at 5 or 6 miles this season, but right there, thats almost all road and I really cant get alot of speed up for trotting on narrow siding and tones of driveways. Some of the sections dont even have siding on one of the hills, just cement. Last year, I broke her and conditioned her on the roads, but I had a riding buddy most the time and good siding, still crazy drivers though. We did two 15 milers last year at a multiday and she did very well for the little amount of saddle time and just doing road riding, Never trails. So, the issue im running into is.. im conditioning alone this year and I trust my horse, just not all the other factors of that 4.25 miles of road riding. I cannot move her as I have been searching for a place and have not found one that suits are needs. Once we get to the trails, they are very nice and we have 53.5 KM of trails available, but its getting there that worries me. So, can someone condition on roads and still get a good endurance horse? How many of you have to ride on roads and what advice do you have to give? What kind of foot gear do you use? I have thought about putting plastic shoes on if Im going to be doing alot of pavement riding, but I dont think that would help the issue all that much. I have 12 weeks till the ride I want to go to.. and I had planned on doing at least one 30 at this ride.. maybe two as its a mulitday and have already booked the days off work. Is it possible to get her conditioned in this time for this ride. I have been riding her, and shes not out of shape, just havent asked for speed much. Any help would be great. Sarah, Arty and Sugar Abbotsford BC Canada =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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