Finally a multi-day ride in the NE and in Maine always buggy but not
usually hot in August...
We vet in with a resting pulse of 36 I told Art that's the lowest it
will be the rest of the week...
Day One: Frying in Fryeburg ...One could not have asked for a better
partner as her horse Prymtym was happy to follow along. Of course being a gray
Arabian he walked right in and pulsed I hosed Hawk 6 minutes and he's
down. It was a long HOT 50 with not enough Morgan water...
We finished 10th and turtled at the same time...I often said if it's hot
enough I need to be running the AC Hawk has no business being rode...the next
problem is finding a riding buddy who agrees to go Morgan heat pace...
Day Two: Deja-Vu: Same trail as day one maybe a little less humid but
Hawk's fun-meter is getting testy. Kim's horse is fresh and fights to stay in
front and Hawk hates following. He's pouting ...
we are holding Kim up we now another rider Cecily from RI ...I keep
telling them to go on in I have plenty of time to finish but they would not so
we all crossed together tied for 10th (out of 15) and turtling again at 4:11.
Thursdays forecast is the most Morgan unfriendly I have ever seen so
I reluctantly cry uncle...
Morgan Power! (Hawk is now 180 miles short of 5K AERC I had high hopes of
knocking out a big chunk of that in Maine but alas it was not to
be).
Margaret Gardiner--Maine native and extraordinarily smart lady whose
homebreds
Kennebeck Count and Kennebeck Russell were the first Morgans to ever
make a USET FEI team (in 3-day driving) and compete in Europe--used to
make
the following observation:
"Morgans will never be competitive in endurance riding until
they start running
endurance rides in the middle of a sub-freezing
winter."
Note she said competitive, not capable.
Sue Greenall has said essentially the same thing on Ridecamp many
times: