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Competitive trail riding and endurance rides

Endurance riding is based on controlled long-distance races. It is one of the international competitions recognized by the FEI. There are endurance rides worldwide.There are two main types of long-distance riding: competitive trail riding and endurance rides. In an endurance ride, the winning horse is the first one to cross the finish line while stopping periodically to pass a veterinary check that deems the animal to be in good health and fit to continue. In the United States, most endurance rides are either 50 or 100 miles (160 km) long. Shorter rides, called Limited Distance rides (LD), are organized for new riders to the sport or young horses being trained. However, LD's have evolved into a competition of their own, in which more experienced riders and horses also participate. There are also longer, usually multi-day, rides as well. As with human marathon running, many riders will participate to improve their horse's personal best performance and consider finishing the distance with a proper vet completion record to be a "win".

Working terrain

All terrain.

Rest place/daily stay

Often in pastures and paddocks, also in stables.

Horses behaviour

Mostly light Arabian horses or other small and light breeds. These are mostly very gentle horses.

Shoeing location

This can be everywhere, sometimes during a race.

Advice

The hooves are usually small, shoeing size 2*0 is average, sizes above 1 are rare. This is a very demanding sport for horses. When shoeing, the difference in terrain types must be taken into account. The use of pads for both front and hind is recomended, because the terrain can often be rocky or the underground unstable. The shoes must offer a perfect balance between weight and wear-out. Every bit of overweight on the shoes will mean an unnecesary ballast for the horse.

Tips

A good method of avoiding wear-out is to use tungsten pins.

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Rider in an Endurance race

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