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

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

Maggie Mieske wrote:
> 
> I was happy with Jonathan's performance on the 50 but I felt my own
> inadequacies impeded him... I have diabetes which I am just learning to
> manage as it is (found out about the same time I started doing the rides this
> year) so in OUR best interests, until I can learn to better manage the
> exercise and my body's responses to it and the food I put in my mouth

ah - that one. I have a similar problem - not even impeded by diabetes.
My nerves make me queasy, so I stop eating altogther. So I have to force
feed myself. Definitely can't go 50 miles on half a banana.

I imagine that dealing with that *and* diabetes is an interesting 
one, to say the least.

> ...Jonathan will probably be ready for the 50s
> before I am because he is that kind of horse...

I felt that way too. I was definitely the weak end of the
partnership. But I figured if I could stay on, and keep some
degree of control of things, then my body will learn to cope 
as we go along. It did. Except for the eating problem.

> ...I am unfit (or not as fit as I would like to be!)

Aren't we all (she said miserably, as she watched the rain 
come down, and the darkness arrive before she even gets to
leave work...)

> Apparently you have it made if the 25 LD is "hardly any work at all".

But that was me and my horse. We train on difficult terrain
at the best of times, which is a real help. And I was also 
helped by the fact that by the time I actually got to do a ride,
the temperature had dropped from the high 90s/100s that I'd
been training in, to much more manageable temperatures (brrr).

> I am sure there are plenty of newbies who would also be offended by that.

Why should they? They're new to it. Do they expect to be able to
run before they can walk?

(that would be like me being offended when someone tells
me that their farrier can shoe all four feet on their 
horse while it sleeps tied up.... hey, actually I am
offended by that. I want a horse like that....)

My point was, that for me, even though we weren't travelling
very fast, I was happy with the idea of moving up to 50s.
Doing more LDs at faster speeds wouldn't have taught me as
much as going for longer.

(plus, the longer we went, the more manageable the horse...
which made me think that all rides should start with a nice
long hill, just to settle everything down, and then we could
just get on with a nice ride, instead of fighting for five 
miles... <grin>)

Incidentally, the hardest ride I ever did was only about
18 miles long. But it was a *really* hot day and we'd forgotten
to take any food with us. We were out there for 8+ hours
(another reason I knew a 50 wouldn't be so bad <grin>) in
the hot, hot sun. I remember my friend and I sitting on a
log at one water stop, too miserable to get up on the horses
and go home (the horses didn't care - they were happily 
grazing on nice green grass...).

> That's good for you but for some of us, maybe it comes a little harder 
> and takes a little more time.

well, obviously, which is why it depends on the person's particular
goal - which is different for everyone - hence the never-ending and
repetitive argument about LD v. endurance that pops up every six 
months or so.

> In fact, a lot of
> these posts are getting to be too personal and much less educational...

I disagree. I much prefer to hear about people's personal
struggles. How they came to make decisions about their actions.
Stories like why people chose to pull (or not to pull), why
they weren't happy doing 50s, how they tried 100s but it didn't
work out, how they tried 50s but their horse had gotten used
to 25s and went into shock when he realised he was expected 
to go out and perform again, that sort of thing...

Much prefer to read personal stories, than neverending arguments
about $10 fees.... ;-)
-- 
**************************************************************
Lucy Chaplin Trumbull - elsie@calweb.com
Repotted english person in Sacramento, CA 
http://www.calweb.com/~elsie

with Mouse and Provo
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