Ridecampere, For those who don't know, the Middleburg Research ride was yesterday, April 14. This is an International study of several different types of feed in research, specifically designed for endurance and event horses, and the effects of an electrolyte formula being tested, as well as the correlation between the changing behavior of the competing horse and how this relates organically to the changing status of his blood and electrolyte levels. This was a once in a lifetime chance to ride over the all privatly owned estates and Biltmore sized equestrian farms of Middleburg. The trails were stupendous but difficult due to the many climbs,mud,heat and humidity. After completing this ride I can honestly say this was the most spectacular ride I have ever been on! Organized by Dr. Kronfeld, Jeannie Waldron and Jeff and Kathleen Crandall, it was well and efficiently run (which was quite a feat considering all horses had to have multiple blood draws, weights and behavioral assessments at each vet check and the start and finish). For anyone who gets to chance to ride this ride, don't miss it! If we want better feeds, electrolyes and other products for our endurance horses, we need to support endeavers like this one, particularly since the outcome will be presented internationally and could greatly influence future research in this area. Lastly, for those who think that this ride would not be "challenging" enough since it was riding over farm and estate lands,let me leave you with this. It was won this year by Stagg Newman on his outstanding horse Jayel Super, a previous Old Dominion 100 mile ride winner, whose ride time was over 8 hours for this "easy" 50 mile ride. Although 45 started the ride, 22 completed so the ride was "challenging" enough for all! Becky Supinger
===== Rebecca Supinger [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
