Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

 First of all, I congratulate our US riders for reaching deep inside 
themselves, and striving for greatness in their riding and their horses, 
and in representing our country in doing do. Thank you all for your 
efforts, and I hope it was fun and challenging.
As far as the horses misbehaving, I think it's unfortunate, but very 
understandable. In fact, if I had a group of the world's best behaved 
horses, who never spooked, ran off, or dumped their rider,  or otherwise 
misbehaved, and someone asked me what kind of scenario it would take to 
actually cause them to do so, here is what I would say: "First of all 
ship, them 12,000 miles away from home and anything familiar, transport 
them in an airplane, and don't bring any stable buddies along. Have 
strange new people handle them, and expose them to a 12 hour time zone 
shift to throw off their sleep/waking cycles. Have them go through 
quarantine on their arrival, and repeated vet inspections throughout 
their stay. On the day of the race, surround them with television 
cameras, and fast moving people who aren't horse oriented. Then throw in 
some lightening, thunder and heavy rains.
   Then watch the fireworks.
I would have been very surprised  if all the horses HAD behaved under 
those circumstances, and I applaud  any and all riders who had the  
talent and courage to climb aboard and stay aboard a horse in that frame 
of mind. I will get off my Arab gelding on a  familiar trail near my 
house if he starts to get racy or misbehave.
These horses are possibly conditioned far more than trained, although 
that may not be true. I know I condition a hell of a lot more than I 
train. In addition, they maybe charged up on carb supplements (if 
they're still using that technology) which can make a horse feel like 
Godzilla.
Nope, I'm not confused by it at all. And, IMO,  for many horses, no 
amount of training would overcome the horse's connection with his primal 
fears under those circumstances, and cause him to stand calmly at the 
finish line.
 Bruce Weary

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