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Permalink Reply by jo horton on February 13, 2008 at 9:34am

Hi Barb,
So much for me joining quietly and getting to lurk for a bit before being noticed! LOL.
Endurance is a great discipline and I'm more than happy to tell you what I know about it with one big upfront confession ... I managed to break my leg, smash my ankle and ' total' my achillies nearly 2 years ago & I'm not up for any serious riding yet so what I say is either from the memory bank or a current enduro friend.

Endurance (in Australia) is governed by some VERY strict rules/protocols that have come about to protect the horses and to a lesser extent the riders. All endurance riders know that to cross the finish line on a horse that will not be able to pass a vet check means they haven't satisfactorily completed the event/ride.
The aim is to complete the ride within the time allowed on a horse that could if necessary, repeat the journey the following day. When you think that the top horses / riders will complete 100 miles/160 kms in under 12 hours and on the following be able to represent their horses to show (in hand, under saddle & vet check) that they are ready and able to do it all again.
Being first across the line (& passing the vet check) is big but being first across the line AND taking out the prize for Best Conditioned (horse) is where the kudos lies. :)
To my mind Endurance is about horse management, its about knowing your horse and about your horse knowing (& trusting) you.

Over here 20kms is a Social Ride - most of the larger rides will have some sort
of a social ride to give you a taste of endurance riding without putting too much strain on the rider or their possibly less than fit horse.

Training Rides usually around 40kms - and there will be a strict time limit on these rides ie you cannot return to base BEFORE the pace rider (if their is one) or under xx hours/mins have elapsed. Again the time limit is there to stop a newbie or someone who should know better from racing around the course on an under trained horse.
Worth noting here not all the training is about fitness ... enduro horses need to drink lots of water where ever its found, grab a bite to eat along the way and not waste energy on highly stressed behaviour. They also need to be happy having strangers taking their temperature, counting their respiration, and sticking a cold stethoscope on them to check their heartrate or listen for gut sounds. :)

Once you get past the Training Rides you (the rider) are still a Novice rider until you have successfully completed 240kms in competition ... I think that can be in any configuration provided its more than Training Ride length.

Many people start endurance riding on whatever horse/pony they been using for other disciplines and whilst there ARE some notable exceptions the most popular and successful breed in Endurance are purebred or high % Arabian horses.

Australian Endurance Riders Association inc (AERA) has a good website with lots of info: www.aera.asn.au

Dunno whether it's an Aussie thing or not but lots of non-enduro horse people over here seem to think Arabians are quite ratty / scatty horses ... they aren't - IMnsHO 90% of the people who own them (& don't ride them) are the problem.

and that said I will scurry back under my rock and try and get some shuteye ... (its just gone 1:30am here)
night all.

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Permalink Reply by Tracey Smith on October 19, 2008 at 1:50am

It's not just an Aussie thing Jo as I'm in Texas (cowboy country) and I most non-endurance riders here are kind of anti-arab. I was at a trail ride last weekend and one man commented my arab mare saying how well behaved she was....like he expected her to be a blithering idiot because she was arabian!

I just love to show that kind of person up when my mare handles things that experienced ranch horses would flip out over without batting one of her pretty little eyelashes.

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Permalink Reply by Tracey Smith on October 19, 2008 at 1:47am

I just started a group on BARNMICE for endurance and competitive trail riders so come and join us...even if you've not yet done endurance, but want to learn you are welcome!

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Permalink Reply by Tracey Smith on October 19, 2008 at 1:53am

Here in the US endurance riding is governed by the AMERICAN ENDURANCE RIDE CONFERENCE or AERC http://www.aerc.org/ and there are a lot of similarities to what Jo mentioned.

AERC sanctions endurance rides of 50 miles or more, but also offers something called "limited distance" which are typically 25 miles. Limited distance or LD is a great place to start for someone new to the sport as just about any seasoned trail horse can complete an LD within the allotted time frame of 6 hours. Many riders also use them to season new horses before moving up to the true endurance mileage rides of 50 miles or more.

As far as terrain...that can be anything as there are rides all over the US. I live in Texas where it is mostly flat, but my favorite rides are in the more challenging and hilly terrain.

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