Some riders are motivated by top ten awards. Some compete for AERC's annual regional or national awards. Some members just like to ride the trails and enjoy the camaraderie at rides.

I've often thought that many of us are motivated by goals with respect to lifetime mileage for our equine partners and ourselves. Keeping your horse happy and sound going down the trail is a good part of the art of horsemanship. In support of that goal, there are horses with many career miles in our records -- but fewer than I would have thought there would be.

High-mileage equines

If we look at the horses in competition this season (about 3,500), 34 have more than 5,000 miles with one at 17,000 and another three with more than 9,000 miles. The distribution of horses competing this season:

1,000-2,000 503

2,000-3,000 153

3,000-4,000 70

4,000-5,000 27

5,000-6,000 14

6,000-7,000 6

7,000-8,000 7

8,000-9,000 3

9,000-10,000 1

10,000-17,000 2

17,000+ 1

This means about 75% of competing equines have fewer than 1,000 miles. While we could compete our horses longer, most of us ride horses with relatively few miles.

The average endurance lifetime mileage is only 866 and the average limited distance mileage is 129 for horses competing this season. About 25% of the horses have done only limited distance rides while another 12% have only done endurance rides. About two-thirds of these horses have done both at some time in their careers.

In our overall records, including horses not competing this year, the statistics show only 675 equines with 3,000 miles or greater. That's surprising to me with the value I believe we put on longevity in our riding. The statistics show that mostÑ355Ñfit in the 3,000-4,000 range with another 153 in the 4,000-5,000 range. There is only a handful (13) in the 10,000-plus mile range, going all the way up to 18,000.

It's surprising that from the large number of horses in our records less than 700 have accumulated more than 3,000 lifetime miles and only 165 have more than 5,000. Your equine joins an elite population once it passes 3,000 miles. It's a very worthwhile goal to work toward.

High-mileage riders

For riders, there are 18 with over 20,000 miles with a high close to 60,000 miles. Another 30 riders have completed from 15,000 to 20,000 miles, and 127 have 10,000 or greater. Only about 440 riders are over 5,000 lifetime miles.

The average rider lifetime mileage is 2,040 for endurance and 212 for limited distance members. The high in limited distance is about 3,400 miles.

About 18% of today's riders have participated in limited distance without doing an endurance ride. That means there's a sizeable overlap in riders who are primarily LD but occasionally ride an endurance ride since more than one-third of our entries are limited distance.

The twin goals of high lifetime miles for you and your equine partner require a good horse, good planning, excellent horsemanship and, for our horses, an element of luck. As humans, we can push ourselves in ways we would never allow for our horses.

My point is to urge you to look toward a long-term goal -- one where your horse and you are a team with the intent of joining the elite group of horses that are still going down the trail over a long period of years.