Re: East vs. West riding

I've been sitting back reading all these posts and chuckling to myself about the arguments of what's tougher - riding in the East with the humidity, or riding out West. Well, I've lived in South Carolina and ridden AERC ERs in SC, GA, and FL. I've also lived in AZ and ridden AERC ERs in AZ and NM. Now I live in CO and am conditioning my horse in the mountains at >7000 feet. I know what it's like to ride hard in 85 F and 95% humidity, and in 110 F and 10% humidity. It takes time to acclimate to each different condition, but my horses have not had too much trouble. Not as much as me anyway... ;-) The point here is, we all have different condition in which we train and ride. One is NOT more difficult than the other, just DIFFERENT!!!! So we should each appreciate the differences, applaud the riders willing to endure for the sake of conditioning and competition, and RESPECT each other.