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

[BMcCrary27@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/3/98 5:14:33 PM Pacific Standard Time,
mmieske@netonecom.net writes:

<< I agree with you on most of this though I still don't think it prudent or
sane to
 take any horse, any rider without conditioning on a 25 - 35 mile endurance
ride
 (ctr maybe?) because the risk factors are too great.  This kind of stress
could
 cause a horse to bow a tendon, tear ligaments, sprain joints & muscles,
founder
 (called stress founder depending on terrain, etc.), colic..... who knows what
 else?  This can happen to even healthy conditioned horses, who would want to
do it
 with an unconditioned horse?  >>

Please realize this was my very first endurance ride 27 years ago. I knew
absolutely nothing!!  We didn't have AERC and the educational opportunities
then. I wouldn't do that now, and I certainly hope no one else does! We have
so many people to ask, to learn from now.

<<The statement  "It's nothing to be
ashamed of" almost implies that we should be.. well, maybe I didn't agree with
as
much as I thought I did...>>

Poorly worded in light of the current viewpoint. I certainly hadn't meant to
belittle LD rides and riders. Twenty-five miles is a good effort, and in my
experience, the first 35 is quite do-able. It's the next 15 that is a
challenge, for both the rider and the horse. By 25 miles, I'm just getting
warmed up, by 35 I'm beginning to wish the finish was just around the corner,
and by 50 miles, I'm very glad I've finished. But no matter how any of us
feels about 35, 50, or 100 miles, the by-law definition of an endurance ride
is "not less than 50 miles".

BMc