Wow, I'm so sorry to anyone who actually reads my blog that I have not updated it in a bazillion years. I may or may not.. have forgotten my password and therefore was unable to log in...
SO, I have been trying to think of something I can rant to you about, that is a decent sized topic, and not something I'll get half way through and realise I have nothing to say. For example, I was going to rant to you about Rebecca Black and how amusing, terrible and embarrassing the whole situation is all at once, but I figure enough people have ranted about her and her terrible song and I don't think I need to add to the giant mass of giant ness.Everyone who has access to the internet has an opinion on Rebecca Black, even if they haven't seen or heard her terrible song/music video. (By the way, if you haven't. Get on that. - Or don't up to you.)
ANYWAY, What I actually decided I would rant about today, is something that I've been thinking about for a while, kind of off and on. You know, those things you think of every now and then, forget about and continue living your life, until you remember them again and then think about how awesome it would be and then forget about them again and so on an so forth...
That subject is Endurance Riding! - For those of you who aren't horsey people or affiliated with the horsey industry as obsessively as I am, Endurance riding, is pretty much a marathon on horse back. There are shortish rides and rides that can go on for multiple days. Horses need to be super fit and healthy to do these kinds of rides and so do their riders.
Now, coming from a family of people who actually ran marathons, like.. not on horse back. I find this interesting.. I enjoy running to an extent but I enjoy horse riding endlessly. This is possibly the perfect Equestrian sport for me!
I've always thought endurance riding would be pretty cool. But I've never really looked into it that much. I've only ever gotten as far as seeing photos from it, reading a tiny bit about it in horse encyclopaedic and reading about recent competitions in The Australian Arabian Horse News magazine.
Part of the reason I've never really looked into it that much is because I don't own my own horse, let alone a pure/part bred Arabian that can go for days.
BUT, yesterday I was looking through one of my issues of Arabain Horse News magazine and I decided that I want to look into this area of Equestrian competition.
Endurance riding is not as mainstream as some other Equestrian sports such as Eventing, Show Jumping or Dressage. Because of that, it isn't as common knowledge of how to enter or start out in Endurance riding. But, via a quick Google search, I found the website for the Australian Endurance Riders Association (AERA). Of course, on their website, there is a special section for people who want to start out in Endurance riding. This section includes information on feeding and training a horse correctly to enter it's first Endurance ride while being equally prepared yourself as a rider. Though the article is not exessively detailed, it does have a Further Information section, which gives you some general information to help you start out your training for endurance riding.
Other things included in the Starting Out section are the history of the AERA and information on Vetting, Strapping and other general information.
Okay, I don't want to simply be a guide to you people on how to go about starting out in Endurance riding. I'm sure some of you don't even want to start endurance riding! So, now I'm just going to talk to you about Endurance riding in general, and show you how incredibly awesome it is! Are you excited? You should be.
So, I thought I'd outline some of the basic rules of Endurance Riding for you. There is a link on the AERA website, that brings up an index of all National rules of Endurance riding. (So if you don't live in Australia in and you're reading this, the rules in your country may differ from the rules outlined in my blog.)
There are a lot of rules, so I'll try and sum them up as briefly as I can without losing to much detail. Obviously, not only do the AERA rules apply to Endurance riding, but there are also FEI (Federation Equstre Internationale - that's French. So, they're The International Federation of Equestrian) rules and regulations that outline the rules of Endurance Riding in Australia, just like any other Equestrian sport.
Okay, first of all there are different 'types of rides' in Endurance riding outlined in the Rules and Guidelines of the AERA. Here's a brief description of each of the different types of ride:
- Endurance ride; a competitive horse ride of at least 80 kilometres. Successful riders in each section of the competition receive awards and points.
- Marathon ride; a competitive ride where 80 kilometres or more are ridden each day over three or more consecutive days. It is conducted as a single event, there are no sections.
- Mini-marathon ride; a non-competitive ride where less than 80 kilometres are ridden each day over three or more consecutive days. It is conducted as a single event.
- Training ride; a non-competitive training ride for both horses and riders over less than 80 kilometres in one day. Some rules are different from those of normal non-training rides.
- Introductory ride; a non-competitive ride over a distance of less than 40 kilometres which provides an introduction for horse and rider into the sport of Endurance riding. Like training rides, there are some rules that apply specifically to introductory rides.
Obviously, like any other Equestrian event, all horses must pass a strict veterinary inspection, before, during and after competing to ensure they are in an appropriate condition to compete.
If the ride goes over multiple days, each horse must have a veterinary inspection before and after each day of riding including a temperature, pulse-rate and respiration check (Commonly known as TPRs). Each horse is monitored for recovery time and their temperature, pulse-rate and respiration must be below the maximum set for the ride by officials . Understandably, such excessive distances of exercise can be strenuous on horses and therefore the veterinary standards are very high in these kinds of competitions.
Because Endurance riding obviously requires a lot of.. well.. endurance. Most riders choose to compete on Arabian bred horses. Either pure-breds, part-breds or sometimes Anglo-Arabians. However, there are no rules against any breed competing in endurance rides.
There are basic rules for the identification of different riders i.e. novice riders must be identified, so must training riders in training rides. Because stallions are allowed to compete in Endurance rides, they must be identified as well, usually with a blue ribbon in their tail.
Similar to marathons for people, horses and riders have a time limit in which they have to complete each leg of the ride. Therefore, riders need to pace their horses so they don't get too tired, but also keep them at a speed steady enough to come in under the time. (Similar to Cross Country in Eventing.)
Most riders choose to either walk or trot majority of the way of the ride. In some cases riders have to get off and lead their horses, either to navigate rough terrain or to give their horse a break from carrying them over such long distances.
Something like horse racing, each rider must 'weigh-in' so they can be organised into a specific division. Either, heavy or light weight. The weight of the rider is taken into account so that time can be allowed accordingly as it is understood that a heavier rider by logic, would mean the horse moves at a slower pace.
There's some information about how points are scored and such. I don't think I really need to tell you about that. All you need to know is that winners and runners up of each sections receive FEI points, that can go towards qualifying for state and national events, like any other FEI recognised Equestrian competitions.
There's some other rules, that are more for officials, and then there is the specific rules for Training and Introductory rides. Most of it is common sense. The requirements to be able to enter a training or introductory ride are based on how many official rides both horse and rider have competed in. Obviously it needs to be close to none for an introductory ride.
Something I thought was cute and nice, all riders who participate in a training ride receive a certificate of completion. That's a nice little thing to have after your first training ride! ^.^
Wow, that felt like I was doing some kind of school project on Endurance riding. - Which.. was actually fun. If you're still reading after that huge eye-full. Congratulations!
Now who wants to start endurance riding with me?
