>>>> But that ride showed me that Rosa, who had been an annoyingly pissy >>>> mare for the slower NATRC Novice rides, *did* have the "heart" for he >>>> longer distances and more challenging trails.
I don't care to put my horses through situations where they are "annoyingly pissy" just to compete in sports that *I* want to do. >>> The obstacles (for example, boulder filled Sierra trout streams in full >>> snow runoff flood) were awful and she kept dealing with them without >>> resistance. She kept her cool, ate and drank on the trail, made the >>> ride time easily, and stayed sound. That's heart. That's not my definition of "heart." I could use those same words to describe an ATV -as in "it was reliable and efficient and didn't cause me any trouble." Maybe she just finally gave up and accepted her lot in life... Look, you don't know my horse and I don't know your horse. Maybe you don't agree with me that Flekka isn't cut out to be an endurance horse - but since she doesn't live in YOUR pasture, I'm not sure how you'd know that. But, whatever, I want more for my horses than that they simply "deal with things without resistance." Karen Thomas, NC
