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I was ready for most any kind of weather and was absolutely
thrilled with the sunny 60 degree days. Perfect! I was also expecting
a flat (boring) desert ride. But although there was not a lot of
elevation gain, the course was anything but boring. There were
plenty of flat miles, but also some beautiful canyons, challenging
rocky climbs, wildflowers in bloom, wild mustangs.
The winning horses - and times - were really extroardinary. I've done
enough 50's to know that each day really was 50 miles - the course was
not short. And although much of it was 'flat' the course was by no
means a race track. There were LOTS of rocks and washes and
canyons. Some sand. Total elevation gain on days 2 and 3 was a
little under 4000 ft. And the climbs were quite rocky. Horse and rider
had to be both savvy and brave to *average* almost 15 mph on this
course. Without the heat and humidity and elevation gains, I can
see that the metabolic demands would not be paramount - but the
horses had to be might tough to withstand the stress of negotiating
a rocky course at that speed. A lot of galloping...
The winning time for the three days - 150 miles was 10 1/2 hours.
This is pretty impressive. Plus the horses looked great.
I rode the Damerron ride in October (a *beautiful* ride btw) - and
was just as impressed during that ride at the ability of the winning
horses to maintain speed over such a tough course. Again, the
elevation gain was not great, but the course was extremely rocky
and also had many miles of deep sand. Maybe if I trained in terrain
like this it wouldn't seem so daunting...
I think one of the things that makes endurance so interesting is
that speed alone does not make a great endurance horse. The
horse has to be able to posess agility, courage, strength and
toughness as well. Not than many have it all.
Steph
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