Appy mare for endurance?

[CrazyDaisy]

I use to have a polish arabian I used as a endurance horse. I am interested in doing the same with my appy but not sure how common it is? I may or may not compete with her but this mare does have the personality of my polish only calmer. Another catch with my appy is she is mostly blind not that it stops her in any way only thing she can't do is judge a jump. I have had the vet look at her and they said she is fine to do anything with. I am still getting her in shape and she is coming along nicely. I have gotten some people angry just by the fact I even am riding a horse that is mostly blind and I hate putting up with such folks. Do you think I would run into alot of this if I raced her? I have showed her but its just not my thing.

[jinglejoys]

http://photobucket.com/albums/y190/jinglejoys/?action=view&current=MuffinEndurancetogonow.jpg

:D

[CrazyDaisy]

my goodness what a great looking horse. :) I love him. :)
Here is my Daisy
http://www.fagerlund.addr.com/Daisy%20rehab1.jpg

[jinglejoys]

Only Half Horse (He has proper length ears ;) )
Daisy's Great--if she has the faith in your judgement to lead her down the right path go for it (Thats if you can get through the initial vetting)other than that how about trying Le Trek? It's less of an race.

[CrazyDaisy]

After I had wrote horse I knew it was wrong but never got back to fix it. :o Ah well. Never heard of Le trek? I will look into it. She is one of the horses that doesn't act blind so I would think she could pass the vet check. Her right eye is roled up so that would be the only give away. She is really trusting nothing gets to her. I had her out yesterday and two huge dogs came at us (they were fenced in) but I jumped and she didn't give it another thought. lol

[EnduranceAli]

What a lovely looking horse - and obviously a complete sweetie. If your vet is happy with her fitness/ability to cope with reduced sight, then certainly she is perfect for endurance. I used to ride a Quarter Horse that only had one eye, and she was fine except traffic coming up on her blind side could make her jump sometimes.

[Gabrielle]

I must admit that both ponies/horse look absolutely gorgeous.

Good luck what ever you decide to do. :D

[raingodz]

Sorry, don't know enough to say about suitability for endurance, but Daisy does look very nice.

I thought Appaloosas, as a breed, were usualy well suited to endurance riding.

[cvb]

jinglejoys - wow thats a handsome chap and a half !! almost let out a wolf-whistle !!

CrazyDaisy - if you strip this back to simple biomechanics, its about whether the horse has the heart, lungs, and joints to cope with what you will ask. (and temperment but you've covered that).

My appy doesn't have the temperment to do endurance - the world is far too scarey for her ! :eek:

but physically there are some things I would watch as well

http://groups.msn.com/NRphotos/cvbfifi.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=5009

she is pretty much QH build so has little upright feet with a biiig body on top. She already has one slightly puffy hock and when her feet grow I suspect she needs more support at the heel. So if I was going to do "serious" endurance I suspect I would have to watch her shoeing and her weight and get her fit slowly.

I have done "pleasure rides" with a previous pony - up to maybe 20 miles long. And thats pretty much do-able for most horses if they are fit enough.

Plus they don't tend to time those kind of rides. So it does depend how serious your rides would be.

[CrazyDaisy]

She is wary with new barking dogs. Traffic is fine not even the big scary semi trucks get to her. Thanks for saying how nice she looks I really love her. She is a completely different horse then from when I first got her. I have gotten her a another farrier since that photo was taken and because he knows my plans are for endurance he is really carefull with her. Right now she isn't shoed because I use the ezboots on her like the vet said. I don't like to shoe horses if I can help it. She really does have the heart. I have never seen a horse like her. I have invested myself fully into her. And have fallen head over heels for her. lol. God knows I would even give my life for her if I needed to. I think she would enjoy endurance she has the spirt and energy. She is in lots better shape now then when the photo was taken. It is about oh four months old when I was just starting to think of endurance. I have her on really nice suppliments for joints. And I REALLY watch her. :D
Your baby is so pretty. I love appy horses the more I am around them almost as much as arabians. :)

[sidesaddlelady1]

I use to have a polish arabian I used as a endurance horse. I am interested in doing the same with my appy but not sure how common it is? I may or may not compete with her but this mare does have the personality of my polish only calmer. Another catch with my appy is she is mostly blind not that it stops her in any way only thing she can't do is judge a jump. I have had the vet look at her and they said she is fine to do anything with. I am still getting her in shape and she is coming along nicely. I have gotten some people angry just by the fact I even am riding a horse that is mostly blind and I hate putting up with such folks. Do you think I would run into alot of this if I raced her? I have showed her but its just not my thing.

My endurance riding friend says that unless you are doing it at a very high level any horse is OK if they are up to it and enjoy it. As a spectator I've seen everything from a pure-bred Arab to a Shire-type doing endurance.

[Chirsti08]

I see many western saddles in western racing. I have also seen endurance saddles but they look just like my english saddle. I'm comfortable in the western saddle and I know it depends on the horse, but does it really matter which saddle to use? What is the weight requirment or limit? I'm new to the sport and I'm trying to find out everything I can.
Thanks,
Christi

[sidesaddlelady1]

I see many western saddles in western racing. I have also seen endurance saddles but they look just like my english saddle. I'm comfortable in the western saddle and I know it depends on the horse, but does it really matter which saddle to use? What is the weight requirment or limit? I'm new to the sport and I'm trying to find out everything I can.
Thanks,
Christi
From what my friend tells me I don't think you need an endurance saddle right at the beginning until you have decided that you want to do it regularly. Her endurance saddle looks as if it is based on an Australian stock saddle, which was developed originally for cattle herding etc over large areas.