RE: [RC] Winter Conditioning- Advice From San Diego- Ha ! - Juli Jakub
Thanks everyone! Just for a little more info...I live in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks in New York...Lake Placid to be exact. We can get feet of snow regularly and have stints that the temperature never goes above zero. I would probably not ride in the extreme cold for my comfort as well as the horses, but we do get alot of 10 to 25 degrees. My main mare is a 6 yr old Morab who goes barefoot. She is a monster ( in a good way) and never seems to get tired. In fact it takes 5 or more miles for her to get started and click into gear most days!! She was saddle broke around two but not really ridden until she was four. ( i bought her as a yearling and no one else has ever been on her!) This past summer she did dressage, learned to jump...very low jumps as I believe in taking it very slow, and did some trail riding and basic conditioning. I also spent the summer with her trying to figure out what to do with her feet as we do not have any farriers in the area. I decided on keeping her barefoot for now since it is better for me to work on them myself regularly. She has almost a five mile an hour walk on most days ( occasionally she is slower), loves the trail and seeing what is around the bend, and her trot is extremely huge and fast if you give her the decision on how fast to go. I spent alot of time this year waiting for my riding companions whether we were walking or trotting. many of them had to canter to keep up with her trot that she is most comfortable in! The dressage work has provided me an immense amount of control over it however and I can get her to a slow collected trot on the trail now as well as everything in between that and the huge extended trot. My goal with her is to finish and get some good mileage. If she shows talent I would love to someday qualify for nationals. I decided this summer to not event her for a couple reasons. A) she seems to not enjoy jumping very much. She does it and is quite cute and has never refused but there is no passion for it like my TB has. If I am eventing I want a horse that loves it! B) I think eventing has become prohibitively expensive and i really want to try something different and expand my skills and horsemanship beyond eventing which I have been doing since I was 16. Since she seems to love the trail it was an easy decision!
I really appreciate the advice so far. I know I will have to trial and error and find something that works for me and Be, but being a spoiled eventer that never went outside an indoor in the winter ?i wanted to get some experienced people's opinions. I think this endurance thing is going to be a grand learning adventure!!
Namaste.
Juli
Juli Jakub?
I've spent most of my life riding horses. The rest I've just wasted.
~Anonymous
??Where exactly do you live ?? -
Heidi Helly
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