You don't learn as much about the local plants and animals going down the
trail at a canter as you do at a walk or slow trot
It costs more per mile when you go fast
Your horse is starving at the end if he's not quite coordinated enough to
grab stuff at a canter.
You are more likely to loose water bottles trying to put them back in their
holster at a fast pace - had my first bottle fatality on this ride.
If any of your equipment is bothering you it doesn't bother you for as long
You don't learn as much about your riding partners - at this pace you only
have time to go thru the superficial stuff - name, where each of you live,
how old is your horse, how long you been doing this. Riding slower you have
time to get more personal - kids, horse's history, how many horses each of
you have or have had, how many years married, etc....
You are more likely to catch tree branches with your face as you cut
corners to keep up with the horse in front of you. Riding slow you have
time to push the branches out of the way.
It's just as tiring to ride fast as it is to ride slow
You learn that all those reasons/excuses you come up with for not riding
faster (I am just here to enjoy the trail, I am not that competitive, I
want my horse to last, all A's on my vet card are more important, etc, etc)
don't necessarily hold water. Embers vetted in with all A's and vetted out
with A's and _A+_ and looked like he could do another 50 when he came off
the trailer Sunday - so riding at that speed does not mean I will kill my
horse and does not mean I am a bloodthirsty competitor and does not mean we
will ride like this all the time - we just happened to have a good day that
day.
You have time to start packing up Saturday afternoon.
Having only 3 loops can be a blessing or a curse depending on how you look
at - 20 miles is a long waaaay when it's the last loop BUT we got 2 45
minute holds which meant you had time go to the bathroom!!!!
============================
This is a great ride - everyone there except for me (or so it seemed) had
ridden this trail before. So the pre-ride meeting was kind of funny...It
went kinda like this most of the time:
Raymond (ride manager) - We've changed the trail this year. So....after you
go by Jim's old cabin, take a left by the red gate
Suzie Q. Rider - you mean we don't go over the old culvert, around the barn
and then take a left like we did last year?
This went on for half hour or so with me sitting there clueless - that's
okay - the trail was so well marked even I could follow it without any
problem <g>. The other good part about this ride is it's only 4 miles from
a town with a Wal-Mart and fast-food!
Tina - hoping she can get away from work to go to another ride this century
Embers - hoping just the opposite
hickst@nichols.com