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RE: [RC] readiness vs. age "requirement" - heidi
I have no problem with 5-year-olds doing some 50s, given the following
considerations:
1) It DOES take three years for a distance horse to reach his full
potential. A 5-year-old is clearly in Year One and needs to be paced accordingly.
2) They are not fully mature, and so need plenty of R&R
post-ride. My protocol for ANY first-year horse is at least two weeks of turn-out post-ride, and at least 6-8 weeks between rides. With a 5-year-old, this is even more essential, IMO--and I'd look more toward an 8-week minimum between rides, and a limit of 3-4 rides in that first season.
I've known many horses started at age 5 that have gone on to have great
longevity--perhaps one of the most prominent being Hall of Famer RT Muffin, who still holds the all-time career win and career BC records in AERC.
Heidi
A friend and I were talking about distance riding the other day. (She advocates riding 4 year-olds as though they were mature horses-- that's a different and disturbing conversation.) Our talk left me wondering: the rules say that one can ride a 5 year-old in 50 milers. I won't be doing this with my 5 year-old because we won't be able to train enough this summer. However, hypothetically, were we able to train slowly and consistently throughout the summer, is it be healthy for a horse this age to ride a slow 50 miler? I don't need to hear about the need to do LD's first as one would be doing long rides occasionally as part of training. I'm just curious what some experienced people think about riding any 5 year-old 50 miles--rules or no rules.
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