Oh, Angie!? That's all way too much work.? I just loan my horse out to the dressage queens and to my cowboy friend and they work him hard all winter.? So, on the first ride of the season I am totally out of shape,? but my horse is in the BEST shape of any horse? in the area.? He's spinning, screaming, rearing, trying to flip the reins over his head and I'm exhausted before I leave the camp.? This is way more fun than all the work you are putting into getting a horse ready :)
Seriously, during the winter in Wyoming when do you people think we're conditioning horses!? If I ride at all during the week (I teach full time and it's dark when I get home), I have to book arena time and take a dressage lesson.? My instructor works us really hard for 1.5 hours.? That means I have to save money to do so.? I'm not always tough enough to ride that intensively for that long (way different muscles than you use in endurance) and so she often rides him half the lesson.? Then, I try to get in one long ride on the weekend.? That's it, people.? The first 50 miler of the season IS often a conditioning ride.? You go slowly if your horse is not in shape.? You start after the pack is long out of sight and you take the full 12 hours if needed.? It is an "endurance" ride, not a hack in the park.?
