# youth endurance riding iowa



## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

Go to AERC.org, and click on “calendar”. It is available to non-members. If you are under 16, you must ride with a sponsor. If the sponsor gets pulled, you have to switch to another. Most riders don’t mind sponsoring, or picking up a Jr. A lot of rides have reduced Jr entry fees.

Wish I were closer to help! 

Read @phantomhorse13 ‘s journal to find some really good ride reports, check out Karen Chaton’s blog, As she has TONS of information (just keep in mind that MANY of the things she uses and reports on were provided to her as sponsorships, so they may not be NECESSARY), and there is a Redhead Endurance blog that is informative, too. 

Good Luck!


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## QueenofFrance08 (May 16, 2017)

Hi! I'm in MN and do distance riding so I can help with a few of your questions:

1. As for training.... Lots of Long Slow Distance! Start out with lots of walking and add in a bit of trotting. Gradually increase speed or distance (not both at the same time). Spend lots of time on the trails and work on things like getting passed, letting people go ahead of you without your horse chasing them, having them trot beside you while you run with them, having their mouth/back/legs looked at.

2. There was only one ride in Iowa last year and I believe I heard it was moving to a different state (I want to say Illinois) this year. I'm not sure what part of Iowa you're in but we have 10 rides here in Minnesota, Illinois has several and I believe there's at least 2 in Missouri. My friend lives on the MN/IA border and she comes to the Minnesota rides. We have a few other riders from Iowa too at most of the MN rides. 

3. There aren't specific youth rides, but there's a youth award division at every ride. So you might be the 10th person to cross the finish line but if you're the first Junior (that's what they call youth) you'd be first place. You ride with adults and in fact you need to have an adult ride with you if you're under 15 years old on December 1st of ride season (so if you were 15 or under a month ago) you need to have what is called a sponsor. They can be a person you come with or otherwise you can usually find an adult at a ride willing to help you out. I would try to find one before you arrive for your first few rides until people get to know you.

4. Riding is a lot of fun! The people are very nice and supportive. We have a clinic (class to learn about endurance) here in MN on April 20th this year if that is something you could possibly attend it would probably help a lot. 

5. Anything else you should know.... There are usually an intro/novice distance ride at all of our rides which is 10-15 miles. I would start with that!


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## QueenofFrance08 (May 16, 2017)

I like Gopony's blog too in addition to the ones @greentree mentioned!


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

Iowa is not the place for much endurance interest! Too many crops and not enough trails, so to ride competitively, you'll have to haul to neighboring states. There used to be a few rides in eastern Iowa, but those are now few and far between as well. That being said, the miles and miles of gravel roads are excellent for conditioning a horse as long as said horse is ok with traffic including trucks, farm equipment, dogs, busses, etc. When I condition a horse, I vary the ride between left and right sides of the road as they are crowned in the middle and you don't want to always have one side of the horse higher or lower than the other. I also vary between the deeper footing at the edges and the packed footing in the middle. Get your horse used to other horses like he'd encounter on a ride by attending some group trail rides, even if they are just a group of people from the local saddle club walking down the trail a few miles and gathering for a potluck when they're done.


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## lsdrider (Jun 27, 2012)

Not sure what you've done with your horse. 

A cautionary tale: 

My daughters fast / fun 4H horse (mustang x TB) was not hardened for endurance by moderate trail riding and speed events. After I "inherited" him, he received a debilitating injury from improper endurance training. 

Like QueenofFrance08 said - be sure to start slow with lots of Long Slow Distance (that's the lsd in lsdrider) and remember, speed kills.

Lots of good advice here, and there's lots out there to read.

ETA: Yes, endurance people are awesome!


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