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RE: [RC] The Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race/Thanks - Suzanne Avery DVM-----Original Message----- From: rides2far@xxxxxxxx [mailto:rides2far@xxxxxxxx] Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2007 8:00 AM To: ksbsmorg@xxxxxxxxxx Cc: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [RC] The Great Santa Fe Trail Horse Race/Thanks 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 Susan, If it weren't for the DVM after your name everyone on here would probably collapse with fear for you after reading the above quote. Those are the horses who are sooo willing to get themselves in trouble because they are so competitive. Out >of shape horses go lame, but at least that doesn't kill them. Overenthusiastic horses with lots of heart and not enough experience to get religion kill themselves by doing something as harmless sounding as not eating when they have the chance. It's a hard thing to teach them and the way you do it is by boring them with miles of competition and convincing them that this is no big deal. Angie, I probably should have worded my email a bit differently. Willie is all business but he is not the fanatic untrainable type. I had a friend that rode one of those type horses. It was a lost cause, impossible in fact. Willie just needs to be taught. In his "other" life he is not allowed to lower his head to graze. It is unacceptable and can be dangerous in harness especially if he gets to rubbing his head and a shaft pulls his bridle off. This equates to about a guaranteed runaway in harness with a carriage trailing. If you have ever witnessed one I guess you have witnessed one of the true "fears" in the horse world. So eating while tacked up is not allowed and Willie knows it. This is what Willie now has to be taught. So when riding I take breaks to teach Willie it is OK to put your head down and graze. Willie and I have been doing quite a bit of standing. He is just starting to lower his head now. I have been using a bosal to encourage him. As far as drinking this will come too. He drinks but usually just a little in the middle and a bunch in the end. At camp he drinks just fine. After rides I now try to make him look for his water from me in a bucket. My friends fanatic mare would not drink on the ride or at camp. She just could not function and yes she was on her way to becoming a casualty. I told my friend to pull her and she has never taken her to another ride. - I don't think I'd be so concerned if your goal was to go to regular established rides. I think everyone is nervous that this Santa Fe deal will go wrong, that lots of people who don't have the miles behind them to spot these little undramatic >details (like not eating) will show up and the "Great Adventure" will involve lots of IV's. I'd just like to put in a good word for the Great Adventure of the sport of endurance in general. You don't have to go to the ride that's putting out flyers like the old promoters who were trying to get pioneers to move out west. "Move to Oregon, the soil is so lush you can drop a seed and tomorrow you've got a crop!" What's such a "Great Adventure" about *this* race that makes it better than doing one of the other Pioneer Rides out there? If you go to a regular pioneer ride >you'll be surrounded by people who know what the heck they're doing. Their horses will set a good example for your horse which will encourage him to eat and drink whereas the other will probably have lots of horses who are as excited as yours >at the novelty of the event. Everybody knows that when you go to a ride the first time it's held there are often problems that get worked out in later years. The management of an established Pioneer ride will almost without fail put on >a safer more enjoyable event than someone who is figuring it out as they go. You sound like you've got a lot of potential as a future endurance rider. I'm just saying you'll probably stand a better chance of making a good one and helping your horse become a successful endurance horse if you both do your learning at established rides. I know what your are saying here. There is for sure going to be challenges with this first Santa Fe ride. The are many "unknowns" in the equation. It is not going to be 100%, I expect things to go wrong. This race has never been done before at least in our era, this is the first. Unknowns and never have been done before equate to "adventure". Everyone will be in the same pot with all of the same grips, smiles, tears, rub marks, pain and laughter. It will for me be an experience of a lifetime, and yes, the "Great Adventure on Horseback". Once things get ironed out and everyone knows what to expect it is no longer an "adventure", it is a ride. We have ridden on the Santa Fe and Oregon trail rides; just short 5-6 day rides, not races. They are fun but they also are not an adventure. They are organized to the "T" and they are a ride. Something else just occurred to me: what kind of horsehauling/living> arrangement do you have? Nothing anybody else would want to camp in....especially for an extended time. :-P I'll let others comment on that! Angie, Our 3 horse slant is new. My husband asked if I would like a finished living area in the trailer, toilet, shower etc. I looked in the small empty living quarters of the trailer and pictured a fine mattress in the gooseneck and below a lovely chair and table. I was surrounded by walls with no dust. I turned to my husband and said Jim I lived in the desert for a year on an army cot and to me this place is a palace. All I need is a place to sleep and sit down with a table. I need nothing more. I know what tough living is. I was deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom, One. You probably remember the folks that stayed there forever and ever; 365 boots on the ground. We were the first folks to hit the desert. Believe me it was another "adventure" and it was in its own right the "wild west", as theater was not mature and there were not systems in place like supply etc. We lived in tents and temperatures soared up to 130 degrees with no air conditioning. We drank water that was the same temperature. The water tasted thick and hot. It did not ever cool you; there was no relief, no such thing as cool air or ice. At night the sand would blow into your tent and when you woke up your body had a silhouette of sand and sweat around it. I slept on an army cot in the desert for a year. My quarters did not have a toilet, shower or kitchen. All were located outside quite a walking distance away. You soon developed a new impression of what was clean. There was no such thing as clean in the desert. Even when you did shower your towel was embedded with the fine sands of the desert in which you lived. This in itself was an experience. As the months passed theater matured and soon came air conditioning, ice, better food etc. And with maturity, unfortunately for our deployed troops, came the violence. I know most folks may not choose to live in a trailer the way we do but that is OK. I guess I am probably rattling on to much as this is an endurance list, not tales of my past. Yes, I am a bit different and I do like the sense of adventure. Going on the Santa Fe is probably crazy, but for me, and probably others like me, it is something that is exciting and something we must do; an adventure of a life time. I will try to make this race happen, but I am no fool and know the realities of life. Like I said, I will need a bit of help from the good man that lives above us, a good horse and a good crew. Suzanne bags, and a grill are all we need. I am not sure if showers will be available. I'll bet money you'll just be praying to find a gas station that will let you pay to fill up your water tanks. 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. I go through 55 gallons of water for 2 horses at a one day competition. 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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