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Re: [RC] Endurance horse/rider sizes - waldruffHello all, Thanks for your replies. They has been most helpful. My plan as of now is to start her in competitive trail until she is old enough and fit enough to try endurance. I don't mid her height at all. I grew up riding smaller horses, but living in an area where Arabs are a bit unpopular I have at least one friend who insists that Bashirah make a better pony clubbers horse. We ARE still friends but she was certainly pushing it! few other horsey-people that I know have suggested that she is just too short for me, but when I ride her I'm comfortable, a saddle would be nice though, she's so slippery from all the black oil sunflower seed she gets in her feed. I do have a couple saddles lined up to try out next week. I want to be able to keep this horse healthy and happy. She has been through enough suffering in her life already so I don't want to compromise her health and like with Simah, my gelding, I just want to see how we can do in endurance;Bashirah & I. I really love camping out in my one person tent and waking up in the morning to a whole day that I know that I'll get to spend with my horse, uninterrupted.I really like be to out in the woods and on the trails so much that just being there is enough. I have a fascination with identifying wild plants and mushrooms so I get a little side tracked at times so Bashirah will have plenty of breaks, because of this. Winning isn't necessarily a goal yet, but who knows? Thanks for the encouragement. I feel like we are on the right track. Since the day is sunny and warm I'm now going to get my swimsuit & my horse and head for the pond.Somehow I've ended up with a Polish, Crabett,Egyptian mixed horse with a large dollop of dolphin breeding apparently. She lives to submerge her head to her eyeballs and blow bubbles. :) She will probably always be a good drinker,too- she likes to taste many puddles that we pass on our walks. Thanks again. Stacey PS: Here are a couple photos of the filly. In the first one I'm riding and we have 1/2 our endurance emu posse with us.:) The two birds are her companions.They follow her everywhere she goes. http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q199/StaceyMWaldruff/Mailed%20photos/MVC-035S.jpg http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q199/StaceyMWaldruff/Mailed%20photos/MVC-054S.jpg -----Original Message----- From: waldruff@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Apr 26, 2007 9:36 PM To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Endurance horse/rider sizes Hello all, As this is my first post I'll introduce myself and then get on with my question. My name is Stacey Waldruff and I live in Virginia, not awfully far from Fort Valley, home of the the Old Dominion 100. A few years ago,after having been horseless for 15 loooong years I was given a wonderful Straight Egyptian gelding by a lady who just couldn't find anyone to buy him. Their loss was definitely my gain and Simah was a dream come true for me. The first couple of years together we rode the roads and woodlands near my home until the day came when I finally got a horse trailer. Then we began to venture out a bit. Soon after that I happened to see a notice in the Virginia Horse Journal that The Old Domion Ride Group was sponsoring 3 training rides during the summer to introduce people to endurance riding. I didn't know a whole lot about it but went ahead and signed up because it sounded so wonderful to me. Simah & I both loved these rides. I had never seen him happier. I had great plan that we would begin to do limited distance rides and work our way up from there starting this spring. Unfortunately back in December, Simah went suddenly lame on the hind left leg. After having the vet ultrasound him it was found that he had a grapefruit sized tumor on his aorta that was likely restricting blood flow to his leg. I had to put him down. It was one of the hardest thngs that I have ever had to do, but I could not allow him to continue in discomfort and risk him falling in the pasture. He was the most incredible friend and I miss him terribly. A year after I was given my Simah I found a severely neglected Arabian filly on a farm near Warrenton, Va. I had to buy her. I don't think she would have lasted much longer, otherwise. She weighed 345 pounds when I brought her home just a few days after her first birthday. She had lice,worms and badly overgrown feet. She is now 3 1/2 years old and has made it to 752 pounds according to my weight tape and is 14hh in height. She is very intelligent and really keeps me on my toes as I am beginning her training. I have been on her about 4-5 times with a halter and rope reins, bareback ( I have no saddle for her yet :( ). She is very responsive and has most of the basics down from our ground work. As far as conditioning is concerned I was worried about too much lunging at her age and so I walk her 2.5 miles 5-6 days per week over long winding hills. Last week we "discovered" a small pond on our walk and so I worked with her on crossing water. Before I knew it I was the one crossing it as she learned to swim. The next day I wore my swimsuit. :) She is nearly fearless and is willing to try almost anything I ask. Anyway she is a great little horse and I'd like to use her in endurance someday. We are now doing lots of stretches and I'm working on developing the loin muscling with belly tuck ups as I've read that helps to prevent sway back in the future. She is fed 4 pounds of 16% feed with cracked grains, alfalfa pellets, beet pulp and bran in it daily. She also gets 2 tablespoons of kelp meal, 1 cup of corn oil, 1 cup of vinegar, 2 cups of black oil sunflower seeds, a dash of garlic and 2 tablespoons of paprika for her bay coat. She also gets a flake of alfalfa and free feed of timothy hay. She gobbles all this food and still checks me over for signs of peppermints and apples.As I said, I am 5'7 and weigh 145 pounds. Bashirah is 752 pounds and 14hh. I am hoping for maybe a little more growth but with the early neglect, I not sure she'll have it. Is she too small for my frame in such a rigorous sport as endurance riding? What else can I do to increase her strength? Thank you for your help.I have enjoyed following the other Ridecamp threads for some time now. Regards, Stacey =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. 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