In response to Roger's questions:
>Do you sit the trot, stand in the stirups, post, none of the above?
I mostly post but sometimes stand in the stirrups. When standing (2
point) I try to relax my hip joints and allow them to absorb the up
and down motion of the horse. This is a centered riding technique.
Sometimes I'm successfull at doing it but when fatigued I
unfortunately can be all over the place. I don't sit the trot in an
endurance ride. Sometimes when fatigue is setting in, I get off and
walk or jog to try to loosen up and use other muscles
>NATRC judges in general have in the past expected people to be slightly up
>out of the saddle. That seems to be changing slowly.
One of the comments that Donna Snyder-Smith has had about this is when
you are slightly up and out of the saddle you have all of your weight
in the stirrups. Therefore your weight is all on the stirrup bars,
two small spots on the saddle.
>Do you change your riding style during a 100 miler?
Sort of, but not intentionally. By the end of a 100 miler I'm usually
beat. I've only completed three but they weren't very easy and I was
very tired at the end. I'm sure that my riding by that time is pretty
sloppy. Ideally I would like to be riding as balanced at the end of a
ride as I was at the beginning (wouldn't we all?).
>Do you tail?, and why?
I have done some tailing but one reason I haven't done a lot is my own
physical condition. When I did Tevis in 1993, I was only off the
horse on downhills. With the heat, terrain, distance, and time on the
trail (4:00 am finish), I knew that Warpaint could handle the trail
better than I could. If I had tried to tail up some of those canyons
I don't think I would have finished the ride. As it was, I was
throwing up from Francisco's on in and was able to make it because I
didn't have a headache along with my sick stomach. (I can tolerate a
lot, but that combo would have done me in).
I am planning on doing a lot more tailing in the future and have been
working on my own physical fitness to achieve this. I believe it has
to be easier on the horse to not deal with the extra weight and
imbalances of a rider.
>What does it take to make that leap, or is it just a bigggg step?
I don't know why I want to do 100s. When I'm out there I think I'm nuts.
When I'm done and my horse is looking good, I feel like we've really
accomplished something (I don't know if Warpaint cares but I do know he
likes to go). One thing I find in myself that it takes to do 100s is an
attitude about finishing. I don't quit. If there is a problem with the
horse I don't have any problem stopping, but if I'm tired of riding or just
plain sleepy I ignore it. I think "I didn't come this far and invest this
much effort to give up now". The first 100 I did at Mt. Diablo in Ca., I
was the last rider to finish. I spent the last 20 miles in the dark
(overcast, no moonlight), wondering why I wanted to do this, thinking no
way did I want to try Tevis and throwing up my Chinese food dinner that I
had wanted so badly at the last vet check. But as crappy as I felt, there
was no way I would have quit because then I would had suffered for nothing.
When I finally finished at 1:00 am (with the drag truck practically pushing
me down the trail), I told the vets that if they didn't give us a
completion, I was real sorry but I'd have to kill them. The horse looked
great. In our team, I am the weak link (I'm trying to fix this).
If you are going to take that leap, I would suggest finding a fairly easy
100 and someone to ride with. Riding with someone through the night makes
a big difference. Take care of yourself (hydration, food, etc) as well
as you take care of your horse. If you are interested you should at least
try it once!
Judy Long
Hayward, California