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With that said.....

I got "into" horses because of the love of the horse and the love to ride.  
I started riding when I was young and dumb..  but years got by the wayside 
and I started riding again as-should I say...an "adult"..    I trail rode 
with a endurance rider.  The trail rides then became conditioning rides 
,which became endurance rides.

I don't have thousands of miles behind my belt, but I have thousands of 
miles of fun times spent with my horse.  I started riding 25 milers and went 
to 50's.  Then my horse, 2 weeks after my 1st 50 came up lame.  What went 
wrong??  I took her to the vet.  I X-rayed her whole right front end, with 
no determination.  After several months of intermeditate walking, she was 
fine again.  Then back to conditioning.....we cantered and crashed.. now it 
is my imagination of fear running away with me....

We ride on the trails by the farm, we ride at the park, we ride in the 
arena.. Sometimes, you can tell she is bored with the "now" and other times 
you can tell she is working back into the rythym of the conditioning rides..

But the horse is much like me..  I get bored riding the same old ways, the 
same old trails,  I can cut her some slack for the days neither one of wants 
to ride but we do..  But when she is in the game.... IT IS SOME KIND OF 
FUN...

I will do what I have always said I will do... I will do endurance as long 
as it is fun and as long as she is able..  and if she is no longer able to 
do endurance, then I will trail ride... but whatever I decide to do with my 
horse. IT WILL BE FUN!!!

> From: Nikki McCormack <neyska@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [RC]   Horses and "fun"
> Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2007 17:13:22 -0700
>
> Ok.  I don't know that horses understand the concept of fun.  I am sure 
> they can enjoy things in the sense that a full belly is comforting to them 
> and a romp with a playmate gets the blood flowing.  I did my first 50 last 
> weekend and, as I said on another group, "I could not have done it without 
> my horse, and he sure as heck would not have done it without me."
>
> That said, when we condition on the same old trails, my little Arabian gets 
> bored and drags along and I really have to push him.  He always gets in the 
> trailer and he always does it because that is what he is trained to do, but 
> he does not seem to get much out of it.  At the 50, he was forward and 
> willing the whole ride, even when we were close to the end and he had gone 
> further than ever before, even when we lost sight of all the other horses 
> and it was just him, me, and our usual riding company, my husband and his 
> horse.  I won't say he was having fun, but he sure was willing and eager to 
> discover the new trail.
>
> So maybe they don't have fun, but, at least with my horses, they sure 
> seemed to like it when they have someplace new and different to see.  I 
> would never, ever, intentionally hurt my horses, but I do think one must 
> consider the balance between quality and quantity.  A well managed 
> endurance horse is healthy and fit (doesn't that lead to longer life, 
> barring accidents?) and they sure get more stimulation than most pasture 
> ponies.  I imagine some horses would prefer life without such stimulation, 
> but mine seem to thrive on it.
>
> NikkiAERC M33800 / PNER 3782 / NSS 44146

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