Why Ride Fifty Miles?

In three hours I will set out on a fifty mile ride. I will have eight or ten riders with me who have never done a fifty mile ride. I will have teenagers and young adults riding with me who trained their own horses. There will be at least one stallion on the ride. The majority of the horses that we will ride were either born wild or are one generation from the wild.

If it rains heavily we will not complete the ride. Wet pants lead to saddle sores that can turn a kid away from hard riding.

Throughout history the horses have been the victims, not the beneficiaries, of competition.  The established horse world's economic foundation is competition. Shows, races, and riding programs based on learning to conform to whatever fad currently exists to define balanced riding keep those credit cards scanning.

Horses, and humans, benefit from competition that is inner directed.  It is the only form of competition that only produces winners. Riders who constantly compete against themselves to see how light they can possibly handle their horse are winners. Riders who constantly compete against themselves to see how well conditioned they and their horses can become are winners. Riders who constantly compete against themselves to see how they can better bring security to their horses by use of control and affection are winners.

The Mrs. Drysdales of the horse world will never understand such simple truths. The Ellie Mae Clampetts of the horse world seem to knw this instinctively