Karen's Musings & Endurance Ride Stuff

Endurance Horses & Joint Products

Karen Chaton — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:17:02 +0000

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have found it quite interesting that those turning in their Decade Team interviews recently have nearly all answered this question: Do you give any kind of joint products? with a yes, and then followed by a description. Many are using a feed through product with a large number using Adequan IM. I also answered yes and covered what I use on Chief in our

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Endurance Horse Basic Training: Hoof Boots

Karen Chaton — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:36:11 +0000

If you choose to use ride in any type of hoof boots then you need to prepare your horse for the eventuality that one or more may come off during an endurance ride. Many horses will react adversely the first time that happens to them. Even more-so if it happens during an actual competition; your horse is excited, and there are other horses going by! It’s not fun to be stuck on the side

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Endurance Rider Basics: What to do when….

Karen Chaton — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:33:11 +0000

I was thinking about all of the times I have avoided being run over or knocked down by another out of control horse at an endurance ride. I guess when you ride more than 30,000 miles including a few point to point or long cross country rides you gain that kind of experience. It’s NOT the kind of experience I want to have, but since I do….I thought I might share a few of

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Endurance Horse Training Basics: Saddle Slipping

Karen Chaton — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:06:08 +0000

One of the scariest things to have happen at an endurance ride, is to have a panicky horse galloping towards you with it’s saddle underneath it’s belly.

This has happened to me. More than once. Not to my own horses, mind you; I’ve been in the path of other horses as they run in fear usually back towards camp.

It’s not a fun thing to experience for anyone, least of all the horse or

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Endurance Horse Training Basics: More on Tying

Karen Chaton — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:11:01 +0000

For the start of this lesson, I have tied Chief to a hitching post with a cotton lead rope in a quick release knot. The snap cannot touch the ground.

I want to start to get into more advanced ‘basic training’, but before I do I want to go over the basics of tying and emphasis again how important it is to have a horse that is trained to tie well. This is

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More phone apps

Karen Chaton — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:40:11 +0000

These are not necessarily useful only for endurance riders, but for anybody using a Droid phone. I found that some apps were battery hogs and have done away with those. I have also learned that if I am at a ride and there is no cell service that I can put the phone in airplane mode, which turns off the phone’s ability to try and access a signal. This will keep the battery working

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Useful Android Phone Apps for Trail and Endurance Riders

Karen Chaton — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:44:42 +0000

It seems like a lot of riders these days have smart phones. I resisted for a long time, but then when my phone started to die on the XP this summer I ended up getting a new Android phone while we were in Wyoming. By that point I had already seen how useful they could be from other riders. I’ve added a lot of apps to the phone that are fun, but there are

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Endurance Basics: Training your horse to deal with a vet check

Karen Chaton — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:26:09 +0000

They say that practice makes perfect, and in this case it certainly can’t hurt! The more you can do to prepare your horse ahead of time for what they are going to experience at an endurance ride, the better.

There are a lot of great books and websites that cover the basics for endurance riders. There aren’t a lot of things (that I could find) that deal specifically with the finer points of exposing

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Mischievous Bay Horses

Karen Chaton — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:55:01 +0000

Mischievous Bay Horses

by Karen Chaton

Jan 2012

Pretty bay horses come in all shapes and sizes,

Shy and adventurous, full of surprises,

With a misshapen halo and

Mischievous grin,

Mine pulls out the stall mats and moves the feed bins,

Shakes every bucket and rattles each pail,

He carried me through history on the Pony

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Endurance Riding: Minimizing Wear and Tear on Your Horse

Karen Chaton — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:18:45 +0000

Death Valley Encounter, Day 3. Photo by Steve Bradley.

In my last post I talked about trail etiquette on an endurance ride. Common sense and courtesy towards other riders is very important. I think that another topic that is also very important is about applying some of that same common sense and courtesy to your horse. Many of us are interested in longevity for our horses. We all want our horses to last

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