First Ride and I Finished!

[justduckie]

Yep, I did my first Limited Distance Endurance Ride on Saturday.

And I finished! The AERC's motto is, "To Finish is to WIN!"

I did 25 miles in 4 hours, 16 minutes. Not a screamin' fast time, but since it was my first, we weren't really sure how hard to push. But the horses finished with really good vet scores and the three of us that rode together survived, I figure it was a victory for everyone. Here is my official ride photo. My horse's name is Stormie. She's Arab/Paint and 9 years old.

Here is my DIL on my gelding Jax. He is Arab/QH and we think around 20 years old. They did a great job too.

We had such a good time and are looking forward to our next ride in June.

 

[Dawn419]

Congrat's and Way To Go!!!

You're horses are gorgeous!

Ride for me in June...Skip and I won't be able to have any horses until we move out to the family farm in Arkansas (whenever that happens).

I grew up around them and miss having them as a part of my life.


Dawn

 

[Skyesrocket]

Way to go!! Arabs are good horses for endurance.
How was your butt and thighs the next day? Lol.

 

[jeaucamom]

We are from Auburnl, CA where they have the Tevis Cup, so we hear about endurance rides all the time. But not ever having any horses, I have no concept of how grueling it is. Congratulations on your ride!!

 

[kbarrett]

Congratulations! What a great accomplishment!

 

[helmstead]

Congrats! Esp on the good vet score - bravo for having a well conditioned horse!

 

[GwenFarms]

I've wanted to cross over and do some endurance riding. Its very popular around here. Foutain Arabians is just down the road and they have a good name in raising endurance Arabs. He is working with some Arab/TB crosses right now and thinks he has bred a champ, but I don't want to be that competitive, I just want tot ride.

We often do 25 miles in six hours, and thats riding through complicated terrain, so I think it would be fine to give endurance a try. We'll see!

 

[chickbea]

Nice job getting your horse in shape for such an event! It would take me months to recover from such a ride...

 

[patandchickens]

Congrats! I've never done endurance riding, but I've pit crewed some. Better you than me. I am impressed... even "only" a 25 miler is a pretty significant ride

Pat

 

[justduckie]

Quote:
LOL!!! Well.......Sunday, I was VERY stiff and sore. Monday, a bit better and Tuesday I was back to my middle age creeky knees and that's about it.

My DIL compared it to when we first started training and both of us ached after riding just a couple miles. So we felt pretty good about going as far as we did and only hurting for a couple of days.

Now we are getting ready for a ride on June 15,16. So this time we'll try two 25 milers in 2 days.

When we first started this winter, we both were "beginner" riders. Because Sarah is much younger than I am, she picked it up a bit faster and now rides very well. But I'm still an advanced beginner/intermediate rider. But some of the terrain we went over this past weekend would have freaked me out a couple of months ago. We had a couple of straight up and straight down sections of the trail. I know I would have gotten off and walked a couple of them a while ago.

Stormie and I are really becoming partners. I'm very concious of what she is doing and how she is feeling. And she really takes care of me. Sometimes she is a bit marish (think grump) but for the most part, she is such a good girl. Will she ever be a Tevis contender? I don't think so, but that's not why I'm doing this sport.

Because, really, to finish IS to win!