To Finish is To Win!

Endurance riding is all about your crew. Even if you´re only a crew of two, you and your horse, you need to have built a good relationship over time so that you are both prepared for your endurance race.

The beauty of any equine discipline is that you can start at any age. It´s not limited to the young and it´s not like other sports where you feel the spot light is on you (if you´re not comfortable with being in the limelight) and it most definitely can include the whole family or friends.

As I already mentioned (!) I have an Appaloosa stallion, the realisation of my childhood dream. These horses come with history, lots of potent history of great runs across the plains being chased by cavalry for days. (You can learn more at History of the Appaloosa ) So why could this horse not compete in Endurance? Hey, the question is rhetoric, I´m not one to be told no!

The sport is dominated by Arabs, because there are lots of them. But any horse, with the right training and diet can compete. Heck, even Mules compete and do very well.

I started on an 18 year-old Pure Spanish Mare who I had rescued 7 years earlier and who has major stifle problems due to bad treatment. People laughed at me when I told them what I was going to do. Chiclanera, my horse, had been fed on stale white bread and bad treatment for years before I rescued her. She freaked at her own shadow and had a completely disjointed canter due to her old injuries.

We completed a 40 kilometer introductory competition in 3 hours 25 minutes, barefoot. A very respectable 9th place out of 36 starters and 28 finishers. But most important of all - good to go on.

Chiclanera´s endurance career was only ever going to be limited and short, but unfortunately it was bought to an end sooner when a completely unrelated ligament injury, 6 weeks later, took her to early retirement. Retirement from competition yes, but she will still happily, soundly, do a casual trek out of 50 to 60 km´s in a day! Out like a tank and back like a tank, going barefoot and bitless has given her a new less of life.

His first competition was 45 kilometers. I hoped we´d come in around 3 hours 45 minutes. It was a lot to ask of a young stud in a new, and charged, situation. Lots of unknown horses milling around and calling to each other had Heart dizzy and using all his energy ´answering´ everyone before I´d even tacked him up! The winner finished in 3 hours 7 minutes. We came in a very respectable and proud 16 minutes later. But more importantly with a horse ´good to go´. We also did it BAREFOOT.

This event takes place with teams of 6 horses/6 riders covering 230 km´s in one day. For all of our team it was the first time of entering this event, so to finish second was a fabulous result. Paste my blog page in favourites to keep updated as I am now, with the help of my husband and others, organising resistance events in our area . It is a great sport for the whole family to enjoy and with enough interest we will form an endurance club with other equine related events.

Our first event is on March 27th - the VII Homenaje de los 101 Km´s de Ronda. It is a social event in the true spirit of endurance. Everyone that passes the final vet get with a horse good to go will be a winner. 63km´s at lower speeds than is usual in competition to give newcomers a taste of resistance riding. If all goes we this will become an official yearly event. Still to confirm the dates but we are hoping to have another two events up and running this year.

So if you don´t like the spot light of jumping or dressage but wanted to do something more than just hack out with your horse, now´s your chance!!