If You Were Doing a 112 Mile

Lots of material in Tom Ryder's 'The High Stepper':

"He stands barely 15hands, has great bone, good shape, his colour an ordinary chestnut...he trotted seventeen miles in 58 minutes, carrying 12stone."

"...he had trotted 17.5miles on the Lynn road in one hour...carrying 15stone. Mr. Spinks, though he weighed over 12stone, and was not in training, determined himself to ride the horse in which he had an interest."

"Old Driver...got a mare, the great grand-dam of Prickwillow, which trotted 15miles within the hour, carrying 15stone on Leeman Lane"

"When five years old he (Pretender) trotted 16 miles in one hour, carrying 16 stone."

Granted, these are races, however the horses involved were every day runabouts too, not kept especially for the purpose, and presumably their workloads is what kept them fit for the road races? They of course would hack to and from the race sites in those days aswell.

How about this:

"I once ploughed a yacre of ground with her, and then trotted 16 miles to Beverley races and back."

"Little Bill rode the black mare 100miles in 11hours and 48 minutes. She had 13 hours and 15 inutes to do it in. She was only three that spring." "Afterwards he rode the filly back to Bielby"
 
Same source:

"Vivianette...was the best animal I ever owned. A bright bay, 14.3hands...She had nearly every fault of conformation and most unsoundness, but her temper, intelligence and courage were better than most humans. She would stand twelve hours gruelling among the Derbyshire hills and finish on her hinds legs; she would do forty or fifty miles in a day in tireless succession; she would strip her harness if I so much as clicked at her; and she would wait at village inns unattended for hours."
 
"When the hackney breed began to become popular it was subjected to much crticism, mostly on the grounds that thre breed had no 'bottom', i.e: that it had little stamina or power of endurance. Tom Mitchell....offered to drive his registered Hackneys in a '50 mile spin' on the York-Scarborough road against horses of any other breed or crossbreed. He found no takers...in one day, he said, he drove the show mare Go...from Scarborough to Bradford, an 80 mile journey, without ever touching the whip."

"In America the imported stallion County Member Junior...was driven by his owner 100 miles on the public road in three minutes under eight hours. There were five long hills in the 50 mile route and he was pulling two men in a gig."
 
Thank You Dances :)

Was Thinking Of Setting This Bit in Either Late Spring or Early Summer to Cut Down on The Hay I'd Have to Take If I Set it in Winter......
 
Sorry Guys Another Question.....

If I Set This in Summer, Would I Need to Use Hard Feed, If So What? But Remembering that This Only a 9 Hand Pony
Thanks All
X
 
45 days or 4 to 5 days? 45 days is ages! Only about 3 miles a day, 5 days would be do able on a super fit mini horse but more like 7 to 8 would be easier and if it's set in summer would mean you could travel early am and late pm and avoid the heat of the day :)
 
I was involved in a Scotland to Central London sponsored charity ride and we did about 20 miles a day on average.
 
There's still too much information lacking for any kind of accurate answer...what's the terrain? What's the support system like? What is the purpose of riding from A--B? Which time period is this set in? Apologies if I missed these!

For a general, all-purpose rule of thumb, when traveling on a fit but not extraordinary horse, intending to do sustained travel (thus, not a 1d 100-miler followed by an appropriate rest period) I'd guess about 20 miles, up to maybe 30 if the terrain is easy/tracks are good. Thus I'd plan on about 6 days for 125 miles. That also corresponds to average figures we learned in Ancient & Medieval Warfare classes... :D If the horse is tiny (as you say!), then maybe a little bit longer, though I've seen some small ponies do some big miles!
 
I consider myself your average happy hacker rider and I am on an older 14hh pony (so I go a bit slower), today I hacked 23 miles of mostly road and it took me 5 hours. I was pretty tired after (pony fine lol) but I've had a rest now and I could probably ride some more miles now if I was travelling somewhere and needed too...but it's dark! lol
I think this depends on how fit and fast the horses (and riders!) are and if they are going to be carrying on in the dark or not (for the purpose of your story)
 
Thanks Guys :)

I Should Add That This Will Be On A Roads and NO Time Constriction As I'm Just Going To See a GOOD Friend......

So a 9 Hand Pony Would Do 15 Miles Comfortably a Day?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top