Re: RC: RC: Re: CTR before endurance

[Dbeverly4@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/14/99 5:07:11 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
JANUSTUDIO@compuserve.com writes:

<< 
 >I know a lot of people do both endurance and CTR.  I'd be interested to
 know
 from them whether they think CTR helped them to learn to rate their horse=
 s
 and some of the fundamentals which might have helped them to compete more=
 
 successfully in endurance?  Not to mention giving the horses a "heads up"=
 
 about competition expectations such as manners. >>

I definitely believe NATRC helped me when I started riding endurance (not to 
mention a great friend and mentor who taught me the ropes--Thanks, Helen!).  
My first endurance horse, Harca, is pretty hot and would love to be "racing", 
NATRC forced both of us to discipline ourselves and slow the heck down, to 
pay attention to things like standing for the vet and negotiating difficult 
trail.  The horsemanship aspect of NATRC helped me immensely, kind of like 
having a really long riding lesson each ride (not that I always agreed with 
the juges :)  Harca started in NATRC and has 2 NATRC national championships, 
5 Tevis Buckles (they don't fit him), and a bunch of other stuff to his 
credit.  I'm now starting my 5 year old in NATRC as well as endurance LDers.  
At the LDs though, we practice NATRC fundamentals (we were the drag rider at 
his first one).  I enjoy competing in NATRC and "finishing to win" in AERC.  
Not everybody "needs" to learn what NATRC teaches -- I sure did though, and 
I'm glad for the experiences.  Happy trails!

Sylvia


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