Ron and Ruth Waltenspiel of Healdsburg, CA come to mind
of a couple who has successfully done crossover. I'm fairly certain they
started with NATRC and embraced endurance later on. Ruth was National
Champion on an Arab gelding named Kandar, who once belonged to a neighbor here
in Swanton. The horse was a bit much for our neighbor, but Ruth ended up
buying him and turned him into a champ. Somewhere, in Arabian Horse World
of about 25-30 years ago, there is an excellent article about Ruth and Kandar,
with lots of photos. I have it somewhere. Nowadays, Ruth is known
well as the manager of Cooley Ranch ride.
NICE PHOTOS. I ENJOYED THE KIDS' pics the most. Now what is the
difference between NATRC and endurance riders? For me, I could see one
difference most noticably:weight of the riders. The riders did seem to be
trying hard to do a good job riding their horses. Experienced NATRC
riders could do endurance, no sweat!
My late friend,
Helen Logan, was a good crossover example. She managed two NATRC rides a year
(for about a decade), plus managed a NATRC Championship Challenge and an IAHA
National CTR; won the grand champion horse in NATRC, and arned several of her
12 Tevis buckles on the same horse (Bo-Rand). She mentored me through my early
Open rides in NATRC, and while medical problems haven't allowed me to do more
than some LDs (a CTR Open pace is plenty adequate to finish an LD), I enjoy
endurance as a sport and co-managed the Cinquenta Anos AERC ride. I know many
NATRC Open riders that do endurance as well. They are both long distrance
trail sports.
Lynn Kinsky, Santa Ynez,
CA http://www.silcom.com/~lkinsky/ http://www.dslextreme.com/~napha/JoyOfRiding/index.htm
