Any Endurance Riders out there??

J

jenz87

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 June 2009
Messages
1,055
Location
Yorkshire
Visit site
Hi everyone,
I was wondering are there any Endurance riders on here, or do they have a seperate forum else where? As i cant see why they wouldnt be on HHO somewhere!!

Are you in the woodwork somewhere, come out come out

(also in comp riders)
 
There's several of us on here. Which group are you in?

IMG_6108.jpg


CluthaIMG_6144.jpg
 
Last edited:
Hi there!!
Thanks for getting back to me :)

Its a bit of a long story - but our home bred mare, whom we bred for dressage is looking likely to be more suited to Endurance.
We have never ridden Endurance, and i know little about it myself, i thought id see if there were any riders on here who would be willing to point me in the right direction.
I dont want to just advertise her as i dont want any dressage riders etc coming along, (long story) but id like her to go to a loan home in the endurance field.

Any ideas on where to advertise / start training or perhaps recommend we give it a go first??
she has top class breeding and is 3/4 thoroughbred 1/4 trakhener so breeding is on her side as well!

Thanks for your help, as this is a very emotional time for us considering selling / loaning this beautiful mare!
 
jenz87 said:
Hi there!!
Thanks for getting back to me :)

Its a bit of a long story - but our home bred mare, whom we bred for dressage is looking likely to be more suited to Endurance.
We have never ridden Endurance, and i know little about it myself, i thought id see if there were any riders on here who would be willing to point me in the right direction.
I dont want to just advertise her as i dont want any dressage riders etc coming along, (long story) but id like her to go to a loan home in the endurance field.

Any ideas on where to advertise / start training or perhaps recommend we give it a go first??
she has top class breeding and is 3/4 thoroughbred 1/4 trakhener so breeding is on her side as well!

Thanks for your help, as this is a very emotional time for us considering selling / loaning this beautiful mare!
Click to expand...

no dont ever give anything up until you have tried. have a go at endurance your self before giving someone else the pleasure of your mare, dont put your self down saying you have never done it until you have tried it and if you wanted to start endurance then you can always learn :D
 
Definitely give it a go first :) Of course, I would say that ;) but it's true, it's ruddy addictive and darned good fun. Traks make good endurance horses, too - they have a lot in common with the good old fashioned anglo arab.

Whereabouts in the country are you? Your first stop would be to find your local group. That will put you in touch with a friendly face in your area who will let you know what's going on in your area.

The EGB list covering England & Wales is here:
http://www.endurancegb.co.uk/html/groupsmap.html

The SERC list covering Scotland is here:
http://www.scottishendurance.com/branches.htm

Most people start out with social/pleasure rides organised by their local group - no vetting, all very informal and laid back, just do the ride. Vetted pleasure rides/non competitive rides follow, which are just the same but held alongside the competitive rides and they have a simple trot up at the start and end. Novice level (bronze in Scotland) competitive rides start at 30km (about 18 miles) which should be within the capabilities of any hacking fit horse. At novice level you're not competing against anyone else, you're competing against yourself and the clock. Once the horse is finding novice level easy, you can move on to Open level (silver in Scotland). These are just the same but a bit faster with distances up to 80km (50 miles). Then once you and the horse have got the hang of riding at Open level over a variety of terrain and distances, and you've done done enough rides to qualify, you can ride at advanced level (gold in Scotland). Advanced is 80km plus and is where you start competing against other people (massed starts, racing finishes, etc).

The beauty of the sport is that you can take what you want from it. If you want to do the longer stuff, or if you want to stick at the shorter stuff, you'll have just as much fun. 40km (25 miles) is a very popular distance - it's a bit like 10km runs with humans, it presents a challenge but is easily within the capabilities of someone competing for fun without them having to put loads of extra work in. Harry & me used to do the advanced stuff but now with him being 25 and a bit stiff round the edges we just potter (ahem) round doing group social rides with big grins on our faces. Then when my babypony is old enough we will start all over again.....(not a plan, in case the endurance gods are reading).

I'm on the committee of the West Riding group of EGB which covers West & South Yorkshire. We've got a few videos up on our Youtube channel which might give you a bit of a flavour of what endurance is like: http://www.youtube.com/user/WestridingEGB and there is some more info on our website: http://www.westridingegb.co.uk/

As to where UK endurance riders hang out on t'interweb, both EGB and SERC have forums that are for members only, there are quite a few facebook groups knocking about, and the yahoo 'euroenduro' group is still going strong. Other than that, they're spread out over the regular horsey forums. There are quite a few on here, also newrider, saddle-up & arabian lines have endurance sub-forums.
 
If you're looking to loan her I'd also recommend taking her along to some NCR's yourself. First to make sure she likes it! May sound silly, but if you've not got any experience of the sport, how do you know for sure what kind of horse will suit it? She may well, but find out. I just say that as we suffer as a sport from a lot of misconceptions, from old women bumbling along because they're too scared to jumpt to nutters who gallop for hours.

Neither is true, it is a very technical sport, you need a horse who covers the ground, is sane (you can't fight a horse for hours), well balanced or can be schooled for this (again you can't hold them together for hours, they have to hold themselves), & above all is brave with the most amazing work ethic. If you want to advertise him I would suggest www.endurancegb.co.uk, on the classifieds page. TB's have the reputation for bad feet, so if your horse has good feet (not good for a tb but genuinely good) I would say it in advert. You have to have good feet in this sport, as you get through shoes quicker than most other people due to the miles & the horse has to deal with stoney terrain at times.

Please never consider yourself just 'a novice'. So that's the grade you are at the moment, we all were there at some point. You are in an extremely important stage, teaching yourself & your horse the techniques you will need to enable you to go onto the longer distances. This stage is so important, that's why the most experienced rider has to start every horse at novice stage so it has chance to learn these valuable lessons. Take your time to get things right now (like teaching your horse balance & to drink whenever possible), & you will reap the benefits later. Other grades don't look down on you for being a novice, so give yourself the respect that will give you.

If there's any way Esther or I can help, just ask us. We are always happy to help. We may not be world beaters, but we've made plenty of mistakes & learnt from them!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top