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Okay, I'll bite.
What makes a tough ride?
There are many things that can make a tough ride, and an easy ride can
quickly become a tough ride depending on weather. I believe that items of
the follwoing list make the ride tougher - and increase the risk - on
horses:
Deep sand
Deep mud and muck
Slippery conditions
High humidity
Tired - out of balance rider
When a horse is going to a ride in conditions for which he has little
training - e.g. taking a horse who normally rides in good "truf" footing
to a ride that is very rocky with very hard ground - then that will be a
tough ride for the horse. I also believe that you cannot completely
separate the rider from the horse. If the rider is tired, then the horse
will have a much harder time with the ride.
I also believe that there are psychological factors that impact the rider
that won't impact the horse - that will cause the rider to fell it is a
hard ride when in fact it is not at all stressful to the horse. For
example, having to walk for long distances in the dark in the rain.
As far the rider. The toughest ride I have ever done was the '96 Gunninson
ride. I lost one hind shoe at about mile 15 and had to get an easy boot
on. I lost the the other hind shoe at mile 20. I am trying to adjust easy
boots while sitting on a rocky ledge. Since I don't normally use easy boots
on the rear, I had to adjust straps on the fly.
They were too large - I had size two and needed ones- and kept coming off.
At thirty miles, I just gave up and got off a and walked. I came into the
last check at 35 miles. My wife had gone back to camp and picked up every
easy boot we had and we had two size ones. I was hoping against hope that
the vet would pull the horse. Alas, no such luck - the horse looked great.
In fact she sort of laughted when she Misty looked like she hadn't done
anything. I sent the trailer back since I decided to ride in.
We had an hour an and half to make 15 miles over hill, dale, sage bursh and
rocks. The horse trotted and galloped the last 15 miles and we made before
closing. When we toped the last hill a mile or so from base camp and she
saw camp and took off. I did not have the strength to hold her back. The
horse was fine - met parameters five within the 200 yard walk from the
finsih line to camp. I was absolutely dead.
Was this a hard ride on the horse - absolutely not! For me this is the
hardest ride I have ever done - of any distance.
Truman
Truman Prevatt
Mystic "The Horse form Hell" Storm with a lille hellion on the way
The Rockman, a.k.a Misty Jr.
Jordy - Finaly getting his shot
Sarasota, FL
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