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Carolyn,
A Tennessee Walker is certainly capable of endurance/competitive
riding, and trail riding. With respect to endurance riding, the
question would be how competitive you wanted to be.
They certainly make for a comfortable ride. My husband was into
Tennesee Walkers when we first met because he had a bad back. And he
actually had a "crazy" Tennessee Walker who was very competitive, but
that was pretty unusual. I have found that TW usually do better on flat
terrain, than on uneven hill climbing. I don't think of them as being
as athletic as the Arabian, or as "go ahead".
As a ride manager, I will see more TW in the 25's than in the 50's. In
a 50 mile ride, if there are 50 horses, there may be 1 or 2 TW, and if
they complete, it has always been in the last 20% of the pack. It's not
that they can't go as fast, but I have found that they are a little more
layed back and don't usually have that drive to go fast for 50 miles.
If they are heavily muscled, they usually do not have as good of
recoveries as the Arabs.
Another consideration is that I have found that, depending on who you
train with, it is not easy to ride with TW and arabs. At least with me,
when the TW gets into their running walk, my arab wants to break into
the canter to keep up and it's difficult to get into a good rhythm. The
TW's walk is too slow, and the running walk is too fast for my arab's
trot.
So when looking for a new horse, you need to decide what your goals
are. If you are planning on doing 50's and only looking to finish the
ride, and are not interested in being competitive or mind being toward
the end of the pack, and want the comfort, then a TW may be what you
want. And that is not to say that you may not find that unusual TW who
is competitive. But generally, if you want to be competitive, you would
probably be better off with an arabian or arabian cross.
Terry Woolley Howe
San Diego
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