Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

One of the challenges of the endurance season in Florida is the weather. 
It is easier to deal with the 80 degree days we can get once awhile in 
the winter - you just clip and use water - than to deal with the weather 
in the teens we can get every once in awhile. Steph might recall the 
Osceola ride in 2000 which was sub 20 when we started off.

In the cold everything becomes a major issue. The water buckets freeze. 
The water is cold and some horses don't tend to drink as well in the 
cold. You don't have enough on the horse and they can fail to warm up 
properly and cramp. You have too much and they sweat and get cold from 
loss of heat. They need more energy to stay warm - particularly if 
clipped or if wet when it is in the 20's than in the 60's. Normally cold 
is from a front moving through which is accompanied with Northwest 
winter winds - which add to the problems.

They can cramp if you don't get the blankets on soon enough. They can 
sweat and get cold if you get them on too soon. Some horses do fine in 
cold weather - I've ridden one where it didn't matter. Some just don't 
do well in cold weather - I've been riding one for 12 years that just 
hates cold weather. On top of that none of this addresses the impact of 
the cold on the rider - all the same issues.

Personally I'd rather deal with 80 degrees than 30 degrees any day of 
the week.

Truman

Steph Teeter wrote:
> Sandy - the answer to your question regarding FEI and checking the 
> course - there isn't a committee, but there is a 'Technical Delegate' 
> person whose job it is to ensure a safe and fair course. They 
> typically go to the ride site a little early, and work closely with 
> the manager.
>
> On a personal note - I really don't want to point any fingers though. 
> The weather is such a wild card in our sport. IF it hadn't been so 
> cold the glowbars would have been brighter. Once the sun was up we had 
> no problem following the course. I'm not sure why the first hold was 
> shortened so much - perhaps also because of the cold as well. This was 
> a real problem/mistake in my opinion, but that alone wouldn't account 
> for everything. There were a lot of lameness pulls - but the speed 
> wasn't excessive and the footing was good. It's endurance. horses.
>
> Steph


--

“It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how 
smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong” Richard 
Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics


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