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RE: [RC] The Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race/Thanks - Suzanne Avery DVMI wanted to say to everyone thank you for all of your great advise. I think this list is great!!! Laney had a couple of questions. 2. Just because you plan to enter 2 endurance rides this spring, doesn't mean that you will complete them, so have a back-up plan! You are so right, I may not end up completing the 50 milers. I do have one or two spare horses I am taking if I need them during the Santa Fe. My spares do not have the condition of Willie. The 50's will in fact give us a go/no go for the Santa Fe. Hopefully, Willie and I can make it. Willie is a "using" horse. My son in spring uses him on the neighbors ranch for calving season. He rides him to work, at a dead run, 4 miles and works cattle all day, then at a dead run he rides him home. Well actually slows him down before he gets home because he knows I will get after him for running Willie so much. My son is learning and beginning to take it easier with Willie. When we harness Willie up we usually take two passengers and use a carriage that weights approximately 150 pounds. So basically Willie pulls 450 pounds around a 10 mile loop at a working or extended trot, only walking downhills. Willie placed 6th at our local CTR this last fall, this was pretty good for us as I consider we are the "local greenhorns" for this ride. Willy has grit and heart, hopefully he will make it through the 50 mile vet checks. He is a panting fool and all business. His business like attitude is his downfall as he sometimes will not drink and cares not to graze when I offer it to him. Hopefully someone bigger then us from up above will be watching because we will be needing it. One good thing is I do feel like I have an advantage over the last time I did ride in a 50 mile endurance ride so many, many years ago. First off Willie is a much better horse then the one I rode and with my "ridercamp short course in endurance riding", I now will either be in tights or be wearing something to prevent pain and chafing under my jeans. The one draw back is I am several years older. Many years ago I was really a newbie with "zero" education on the sport. I entered a 50 miler and I rode in jeans, english saddle, with no nylons under my jeans. No one rode in tights in those days and I had never heard of wearing nylons. Needless to say my legs were chafed, for several days, hmmm, maybe it was weeks. Anyway the pain is still fresh in my mind and that is why I am looking for help now. With all of that said would you believe I took a 4th place in that endurance ride. No there were not a huge number of horses entered and someone took a lovely QH with lots of muscle. That horse was pulled out of the race due to tying up. Information on endurance riding was not as readily accessible as it is today. What great advances have been made. BTW, I did buy a book post-ride. I dug it out today. It is Endurance and Competitive Trail Riding, by Wentworth Tellington and Linda Tellington-Jones, copywrite 1979. Interesting book, here is what they discuss about clothing: One of the greatest contributions to endurance riding has been the development of women's panty house, used commonly today by men as well as women to avoid chafing. Although pantyhose were not invented for endurance riders, one could say that they are generally accepted as perfect for the sport. The only drawback is they are a bit awkward when you have to relieve yourself on the trail. I guess the sport of endurance riding has come a long way. Laney, you talked of carrying two water bottles on your person. I have thought about using my military Camelbak. Has anyone ever used one? I thought I would try it but it may be to hard on ones back. Something else just occurred to me: what kind of horse hauling/living arrangement do you have? one horse and yourself and >to get ready for the next day. Wandering around the village hunting for what you need, wastes a lot of time. Ideally, you would bring all the beet pulp and feed you will need with you from the beginning as well as a good supply of hay and water. My husband and possibly my son will be helping me as crew. We have two trailers and we are not sure right now which one we will take. When we go to a combined driving events we take our stock trailer as it is 24 foot; plenty of room for horses/carriage. We also have an 18 foot 3 horse slant with a currently unfinished small living area. Our plan for the living area is only to put in a mattress in gooseneck and table/chairs. The positive points for the 24 foot trailer is we can haul more hay/equipment and the horses will have more room when hauled. They would be side by side in an eight foot section. The slant is a bit more confining for a long distance. In both trailers we can set up living quarters easily. Horses/stock have never really been hauled in the front of the stock trailer, we use this area for living quarters. Table, chairs, cot, sleeping bags, and a grill are all we need. I am not sure if showers will be available. If not, in the past we have set up a sunshower system in that part of the trailer where the horses are housed. We do have a water container that houses several gallons of water for the horses. We hopefully will be pretty much self sufficient and while I am riding Jim can restock on low items. We have rope/tree saver line to tie the horses out if trees are available. I hate to tie them to the trailer because they keep you awake at night. I guess we could also set up an electric fence type unit if there was room. Apparently every evening the ride organizer will have ride participants trailer/living area already designated. This will help. deally, you would bring all the beet pulp and feed you will need with you from the beginning as well as a good supply of >hay and water. Another question; How do you all feel about the Purina product Ultium? Suzanne -----Original Message----- From: Laney Humphrey [mailto:laneyhh@xxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2006 1:35 PM To: Suzanne Avery DVM Cc: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [RC] The Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race Hi Suzanne, As you suspected, you are indeed getting lots of advice! And you are probably now more confused that ever. You don't say where you live, but if you live close enough to make getting to the AERC convention in Reno/Sparks, NV in Feb. a possibility, there is more endurance "stuff" there in one place than you'll ever seen anywhere else. It is a fantastic opportunity to shop, try on, ask questions, etc. And, since there are lots of folks there, you can ask questions and get answers. At this point, my main concerns are: 1. that you can actually enter as an individual. From what I've heard, I don't think you can, that's why I suggested you look at the webpage. 2. Just because you plan to enter 2 endurance rides this spring, doesn't mean that you will complete them, so have a back-up plan! T Another lesson learned from desert rides and XP01: carry your water on your body because if you and your horse get separated it won't do either of you any good if it's on him. So your rumpus should be covered with a fanny pack holding 2 bottles of water, an emergency first aid kit, toiletry items you must have, a knife, etc. Plus you will surely have a cantle pack behind your saddle where you'll have a jacket, maybe some carrots or apples, e'lytes if you use them, a spare easyboot, etc. So, your rumpus will be very well disguised without the big shirt! The website makes a big deal of the race villages but I've found it is so much better to be self contained and not have to depend on finding what I need from someone else. From my experience, multi-day riders go slower than riders on one day events do. That means you finish your riding day later and therefore have less time to care for ySomething else just occurred to me: what kind of horse hauling/living arrangement do you have? our horse and yourself and to get ready for the next day. Wandering around the village hunting for what you need, wastes a lot of time. Ideally, you would bring all the beet pulp and feed you will need with you from the beginning as well as a good supply of hay and water. Many multi-dayers would agree with me that the riding is the easy part; the planning, organizing and management are the hard parts! Laney =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. 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