Re: RC: Hot mare and slow 50

[Thiessej@aol.com]

I have a seven year old that did his first 50 this year in 7 hours. I felt 
that was plenty slow.
He won BC. I have my 1st endurance horse still competing after 9 years and he 
won the race in 6 hours and 4 minutes (50 mile of mud and bog but it was 
through gorgeous country). The only time I tied this horse up was in a 100 
mile race and I was leading a blind diabetic rider on a small mustang. HIs 
horse had a much smaller stride and I had to travel his speed instead of 
letting my horse stretch out in his long ground eating trot. The result was I 
forced my horse to slow down and he collected under me and carried his weight 
on his back end. He worn out a new pair of shoes on the back feet and his 
front shoes still looked like new. HIs back shoes were so worn I was stopping 
and trying to re clinch them, as the nail heads were worn off.

What I learned from this is that forcing a horse to go slower than it's 
natural gait is as hard on the horse as travelling too fast. This is just 
from my experience.

Jerald


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