Ah my first foray into endurance riding

And probably my last. It was not short and sweet. It was more like long and cold, stressful, pain inducing, and dream shattering.

 

Really not wanting to go started several days ago. I don’t take well to new things, but often I will force myself to go so that I can see for myself if I enjoyed it.

I did not.

 

So now I know.

 

Of course to say I did not enjoy myself is a little off. I REALLY enjoyed getting to spend time with and chat with Mel. If she hadn’t been there I would have really hated it. Plus the people who camped next to me were very nice ( I ended up riding with the daughter for a while since we both had nutcase horses).

Most of the people that were riding that I met seemed really nice. Some were kinda distance and others just sort of ignored me (I am referring to when I was out on the trail), but a lot of them were super nice and asked to make sure I was ok when I was walking Ocean.

The ride staff on the other hand. Well, whats the point of putting on a ride if your going to be pessimistic to the point of where I have to wonder if they really enjoy endurance or not. They were EXREAMLY unhelpful, and I even got yelled at by one (well sort of, she wasn’t being nice lets put it that way).

 

I generally hate being around large amounts of people, even people I do know, and people I don’t know are even worse. Its not that I am shy, I just don’t like it. I knew that in endurance there were a lot of people around, but that once you started going and getting to know people that it was like a big family. I figured I would just have to bear it until it was like that for me, but now I see that I really don’t want to have to go through that.

The last thing that I really didn’t enjoy was something that really surprised me. It turns out that I HATE sharing the trail. I have grown so accustom to having all the trails to myself as a rider that I really hate being on the trail with other riders passing. I was the happiest when I was more or less at the back of the pack and was able to ride Ocean through a very pretty place all by my self. Of course at that point I was desperately wishing I had my wonderful mare.

Not for the fist time either. I think the whole experience would have been better had I had Lucy along instead. I did make me uncomfortable having Ocean since I don’t know him and don’t trust him. And of course Lucy is capable of behaving herself, almost all of the time.

I can’t believe I really wanted to go off an ride another horse other then my study, dependable and wonderful mare. Lucy is one of my best friends, and being out on the trail with her is always peaceful, even when she isn’t doing what I want!

 

I will be in contact with Ocean’s owner this weekend. He is not worth what she wants with all his faults. I am not sure I would pay anything for that brat! He just never got better, just worse. Until I was ready to club him over the head. Then I just wanted to club myself over the head so I could get away from him.

I will not be looking for another endurance horse. Kezi was my attempt, she didn’t work out (although was still very much loved despite that) and that is that. I am happy to go back to riding my trusted steed.

Maybe somewhere down the line I will take her to an endurance ride since I do know that Lucy can be competitive when other horses are around. But my real interest in endurance has always been the conditioning part. Having something to work towards and to keep me on track. But now I am not sure if the rides are enough to get me out there conditioning after all.

Wherever Lucy wants to go or do is what we will do. Even if its just hanging out in her pasture most of the time. Lucy has done so much more, given me so much more, and been through so much more then I could ever believe, she deserves to be my pampered princess.

 

We will see how I feel after the weekend when my body has recouped from having to walk almost 10 of the first 15 miles since I could no longer handle Ocean’s “energy”.