Page 38 midwest horse digest April 09
WELL, HAVE YOU BEGUN
YOUR ENDURANCE CONDITIONING? Part II
By Shirley May
first pass the pre-ride check…then during the ly 40-minutes is not included in the 4-hours).
These questions are frequently asked… ride…the mid-point check and finally the exam With limited distance, you have 6-hours for a
But I’m too old! At last year’s at the end of the race. But yes, bad things can 25-mile ride…less the 40-minute mid-point
annual ‘Hagmania’ (fun games), I got the prize happen, that also happen at parades, horse hold…for a total ride time of 5-hours and 20
for the oldest combined age…(horse & rider). shows and trails rides. If you prefer, you can minutes. My logic…an additional 1 hr. & 20
Ikea will be 22 in May…since it’s not polite to stay home and die in bed. min. to do 25 miles! Also, with competitive
ask a lady’s age…I’ll just say I’m 50 years But why do you do endurance/com- rides – there may be a surprise check (out on
older than she. We started doing petitive rides? Ouch – it hurt when someone the trail) usually at the top of a hideously steep
endurance/competitive rides when she was asked this question. Why do mountain incline where p & r’s can be a killer. Arabians
16. Do you think she wonders what happened climbers climb mountains…
to her former cushy life? because they’re there? I’m
Too young doesn’t cut it either. Yes, competitive and like a goal-
your child will need a sponsor with whom to the sense of completing
ride. If you can’t accompany them, ride something. Others ride for
management will help you find someone. a myriad of reasons…
However, I recommend you join the because I can, because I
madness…unless you have only one horse get to ride in different areas,
(riding double not permitted) or if your second for a ribbon, for the miles or
horse has only 3 legs. There’s Poncho the just for the camaraderie of
pony routinely doing 25’s with the big boys … others also lacking their
and young kids already doing fifties. No couch sanity?
potatoes here! How do I decide
But I don’t have an Arabian whether to do competitive or
(specifically a grey one)? And neither do I… limited distance? I’ll tell you
I’m still riding the wrong
breed and barefoot besides.
The vet at our first ride,
looked at 620# Ikea…
shook her head muttering, are designed with p & r’s that drop into the
“my, those tiny legs will cellar the minute they pull in for a surprise,
never stand up!” Ikea now mid-point or end-of-the ride check! With
has 1725 competitive miles endurance you can slosh your horse with
under her girth! Pieta (a tad water and even get off and walk your horse.
bigger and too plump) will With competitive rides, when you pass the
be 9 has 875 endurance 2-mile marker you must maintain forward
(limited distance) miles motion…and on the trail any forward motion
(conditioning miles would must be astride your horse and sloshing
make it about 3000 and is permitted only with ‘natural’ water. At rare
1200 miles respectively). times when the humidity is 120 and the
Both have placed in the top temperature just slightly lower… ride manage-
10 in UMECRA and DRAW. ment may allow competitive riders to slosh
And there’s their horses. However, if
Atalissa, also 9 but a late ribbons are your motivator…
bloomer who did her ‘first competitive rides have weight
ride’ last year. Felt a twinge of guilt starting divisions…light weight and
her with a 30-mile limited distance, but she did heavy weight = double the
just fine. In 2007, she’d done a 15-mile number of ribbons.. The best
novice ride at Underdown near Merrill and then idea is to give them both a
on Sunday, perhaps not wanting to be left (it try…just not on the same
was Ikea’s day to compete)… I found the pen weekend unless you and your
empty at the mid-ride check and spent the next horse are really in condition!
4-hours trying to find her (50,000-plus acres of Novice rides are run as
wilderness!) No, she hadn’t gone to socialize ‘competitive rides’ with
with the others horses in camp; yes, she was competitive rules.
on the road heading south to home. Was she For safety reasons, I
trying to tell me something? Well I didn’t like invested in a cell phone;
the Underdown trails either…the ride remind- however, I’m now on my
ed me of what Louise Riedel.said about the 3rdcompany but on the trails in
Old Dominion Ride in Virginia- “a waste of a the boonies and even in camp
pile of rocks”. – there’s probably a 5%
But it’s dangerous – you could get chance of being able to use it.
hurt or your horse could die from exhaustion. my logic but I’ll warn you the veterans don’t Don’t understand why cell phone usage is so
You can get hurt crossing the road to your agree with me. The important thing is being much more dependable in Europe – (guess
mailbox…the key is conditioning whether com- able to pace your horse and not get caught up socialized gov’t) at times has advantages) they
peting in the Ironman or skiing the Birkie. At a in the flow. With competitive rides, you have 4- have heavily forested areas and their Alps are
ride your horse gets ‘mini-physicals’; she must hours for a 25-mile ride (the hold-time…usual- a lot higher than anything here in the Midwest.
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