For information about the American Endurance Ride Conference, visit AERC.org. To find out about the 2019 AERC National Championship rides, visit 2019NC.com. The 2019 championship rides will be held in Ridgecrest, California, on October 31 (50-mile ride) and November 2 (100-mile ride). Qualifications are in place for the championship rides, but open rides will be held at the same time, including limited distance rides, so all are welcome!
40 / Sport and Trail Magazine
Endurance Riding Enabled Me to Know My Horse
October Cover Story
Chacofino San Rose’ (Chaco) is a 12 yr. old pinto Paso Fino gelding. After a difficult first year together of mysterious back pain, followed by a year of progressive rehab for pain memory, anxiety from a former nervous rider and incomplete training, Chaco is finally maturing as an endurance competitor.
Chaco loves to fly down the trail, making up for lost time when he was only allowed to walk. He has a lovely smooth corto (like a walk with a little suspension), but also a long extended stride which enables him to cover ground quickly with his trot and canter. Trotting takes fewer steps, conserving his energy. He’s developing an easy canter rather than a full gallop, and likes it because I let him canter longer then. Chaco is fearless on trail, confident, sure-footed and trustworthy. He isn’t fazed by deer, turkeys, Sand Hill Cranes, hikers or dog walkers we often encounter. Although he rides well alone, he’s learning to ride with a buddy and likes the mental relief of following.
Like Chaco, I, too, am making up for lost time, for years when I didn’t have a horse due to family and career priorities. My parents bought me a half-Arab gelding when I was 16, and our first ride was bareback all the way home. We roamed the dirt roads from one end of the county to the other. He loved to “go,” and go we did. We rode miles and miles without knowing about endurance riding.
Horses re-entered my life 11 years ago with the purchase of a Paso Fino mare for trail riding. After two years of recreational park riding, we tried Competitive Trail riding (CTR) to add purpose to our wanderings. We both loved it and earned CTR Rookie of the Year in our first season. I was thrilled to discover endurance riding as a sport and even more so when she enjoyed it, too. We switched to LD the next season, and two years later, I purchased her half-brother. They both competed on weekends earning top PFHA awards 2015-2017. Chaco is doing well following in their tracks.
We compete in AERC Limited Distance (LD) events (25-35 miles), and Chaco earned the Paso Fino Horse Association’s (PFHA) High Point award for endurance events in 2018, his first full year of competition. He has almost 500 AERC miles to his record, and my AERC record indicates over 3,000 miles with additional regional miles in the Upper Midwest Endurance and Competitive Rides Association (UMECRA) and local MnDRA miles (Minnesota Distance Rides Assn.).
Endurance riding has enabled me to know my horse in ways that might not have been possible otherwise. Not only do we ride in the competitions, but we spend hours together on a planned fitness schedule. A hands-on competitor, I manage Chaco’s care, nutrition, hydration, electrolytes and energy to ensure a successful completion. All three of my Pasos have been competitive athletes and would run themselves out if I didn’t take care to conserve their energy. Experience has taught me how to pace them so they can quickly meet the finish criteria. Horses must be judged “Fit to Continue” without any lameness, dehydration, fatigue, muscle cramps, etc. to earn a qualified completion. LD is more a race to pulse down than a race to the finish line.
Horses learn and master other new skills becoming a successful distance horse, aside from physical fitness. Behaving well for Vet checks and pulse takers, learning to eat and drink on trail, passing and being passed, resting in Hold periods, trailering to new places and camping overnight all benefit from advance preparation, not to mention trail challenges such as water crossings, bridges, deep mud and steep slopes. Practicing at home or introducing them to Ride Camp before entering competition are good strategies to alleviate the sensory overload of that first Ride. Riders can prepare themselves by volunteering in the vet area. If the rider is familiar with the routines, the horse will be less stressed.
It’s rewarding to watch your horse learn, get comfortable with the sport, behave and perform well. It deepens your relationship, and enables you to succeed together as a team!
By Lynda Zimmerman, M.S.
President, Mid-American Paso Fino Horse Assn.
Horse Lover and “mom” to Nevado, Chaco and Tori
Photos by Robert Zimmerman