Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Horse size, Rider Size, weight, trivia, training and observations

While out on my new 15-3 Anglo Arab this morning I had some thoughts on
horse size and soundness.  There are quite a few larger horses that seem to
do well for a great many years.  I have 1020 AERC endurance miles on Ranger
(plus 445 LD and CTR miles),  I checked the record of a friend and found
over 3200 miles on record for her NSH.  And there are others.

I submit for your consideration that there are reasons why these horses have
lots of miles and are still going strong:
1. They were brought along slowly.  Lots of LSD.
2.  They were allowed to mature before starting their athletic training.  I
do not believe that Arabian horses mature more slowly than other breeds.  I
think that other breeds are just started on heavy work to young.  5 to 7 is
plenty soon to start endurance training.
3.  All these horses have good conformation, relatively short cannons etc.
I suspect that it is easier to find good conformation in a horse that is
near average size for the breed than in one that is tall for the breed.  By
the way while Ranger has some conformation problems, the other NSH with 3200
miles is about the most correct distance horse I have ever seen.  The only
thing one could falt is his total size of roughly 16 hands.  I intend to
stick him at my ride next week to find out exactly.
4. There may be an advantage in getting some new genes by an outcross that
produces a half arab.  There are certainly a lot of successful part arabs on
the endurance circuit.  The average size is probably bigger than the average
arab.
Ed.
Ed and Wendy Hauser
1140 37th Street
Hudson, WI 54016
715.386.0465
sisufarm@xxxxxxxxxx


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