Re: Newcomers

["Glenda R. Snodgrass" <grs@theneteffect.com>]

> << need more
>  basic info than nutrition advice and how to ride with a HRM >>
> 
> I honestly did not mean to pick on you.  I tend to have a sarcastic sense of
> humor that gets me in trouble.  However, this is exactly my point.  Why does a
> newcomer have to know how to ride with a heart monitor and know more than
> basic nutrition?  

We're agreeing but you just don't realize it! :)) A newbie does NOT need
to know how to ride with HRM and doesn't need detailed nutrition advice. 
That's what I was saying -- as a newbie, what I needed to know was the
BASICS required for hauling a horse, camping with a horse, feeding a horse
on the road, and riding a horse for 25 or 50 miles, and caring for myself
under the same conditions.  Those things can be learned from a rider with
300 miles -- or even, to a great extent, from a die-hard wagon train
rider, had I known any. :) I don't need to "bother" the experts and
super-riders with those kinds of simple questions, but I certainly needed
that advice from someone!  To me, that's the basic benefit of Ridecamp. 

While I very much enjoy reading erudite discussions of nutrition between
Tom Ivers and Susan G, and I always enjoy Bob Morris' comments and I love
reading reports of all Roger Rittenhouse's one rat research, those posts
are more entertainment value for me at this point in my endurance career. 
Karen Chaton's easyboots primer and Cheryl Newbanks' advice to put Lakota
back in his curb bit for our first ride just in case and Susan G's
suggestion to wear Thorlo socks to keep stirrup leathers from pinching and
Angie McGehee's housekeeping tips <g> ... those are the most useful posts
for the beginner rider IMO.  That's why I think Ridecamp is so great -- it
has it ALL. 

Glenda & Lakota
Mobile, AL
AERC # M18819 & H27310
SE Region