Re: Judging how to "move up a level"...

[Lucy Chaplin Trumbull <elsie@calweb.com>]

Maggie Mieske wrote:
> 
> ...I placed
> dead last on my first 50 and was pleased as punch... I also knew that I
> needed to do some more 25 LD before we go on to 50's next year.

I'm curious as to why you felt that. Why did you decide to drop
back to LD after successfully completing a 50? What wasn't working
at the higher distance?

I worried a little when you said that you let Jonathan pick the
speed - crums, if I let Provo pick the speed, we'd gallop the
whole way (and he'd kill himself in the process). But you also
mention that you rate him and poke him as necessary, which 
changes things.

But still, what was it that made you feel unhappy about 
doing 50s?

Like Glenda, doing 50s showed me the areas we need to work on -
more obviously than doing LD, where the horse hardly worked at 
all. 

We can manage 50s while still adding to our learning curve. 
LD didn't show me much - except initially to prove to me "hey, 
that wasn't so bad, was it? Get on and ride 50s, girl".

> Can't rain on my parade!!

On the contrary, that wasn't the intention at all. Sorry if
it came across that way.

It's a case of each to their own goals. 

And that's the main crux of the whole LD argument - what 
*are* people's goals? 

* To train for longer rides? (the initial point of LDs)
* To whet the appetite, when they find out that 25 miles 
  "isn't so bad"?
* To practise with a new/young horse?
* To ride that distance because training time constraints/
  physical limitations of rider/horse mean they can't do more?
* To ride a fun ride?

-- 
**************************************************************
Lucy Chaplin Trumbull - elsie@calweb.com
Repotted english person in Sacramento, CA 
http://www.calweb.com/~elsie

with Mouse and Provo
**************************************************************