[RC] 25 mile rides vs 50 mile rides - Question for David - FXLivestock
I don't think the difference between a 25 and a 50 is enough to count. You see, I think it is the 50 milers who want to take credit for doing something special when they're not all that special.
David,
I have to disagree with you on this for what it is worth. I do think there is enough of a difference between doing 25 miles and doing 50 miles. I am not talking about competition. I am talking about just doing the miles say as conditioning miles at home.
I can take just about any one of my horses that has been sitting for a while on a 25 mile conditioning ride. In fact yesterday, I took my mare, Fox, who has been off for over a year on a 25 mile ride. She has done two shorter conditioning rides (both under 10 miles) in the last month. I can guarantee that this mare could not have gone out for for 50 miles in the same conditions and in the same terrain yesterday. Yet she did the 25 miles with no problem. For this 25 mile training ride, I did not have access to water along the trail for this mare or the horse I was ponying. There was also not anywhere to stop along the way and let these horses graze. If I had planned a 50 mile training ride on the same terrain and in the same conditions, I would have had to had a water and hay stop along the way. In two weeks, I am taking one of my lesser conditioned horses to an LD because I want to support the ride. I know that I can safely take this horse through the LD because of his level of experience. I doubt very much I can get this horse through the same 50 mile course.
Would you to explain to me why and how 25 miles is not that different from 50 miles because I really don't understand. I really see a difference just with my training and conditioning rides. Again, I am not even talking about "competition". Just the support (water, food, elctrolytes, legnth of rest stop) needed to do a 50 mile training ride is different from going out and riding 25 miles. Also, the time I give my horses off to recover from a 50 miles training ride and 25 mile training ride is different. I do on occasion do 40-50 mile training rides getting ready for certain rides like Tevis or other 100s so I am talking about practical application not "theory" or what I would do if I did do 40+ mile rides . For me, there is definitely a difference in going out for 25 miles and going out for 50 miles even with a horse that is 100 miles fit.
