Preparing for Your First Ride

photo by C. Mike Tomlinson, DVM

• Getting Started
  
  
  • Using a Stethoscope video (.mov file) will give you an overview of stethoscope use for endurance riders
  
  
  • Endurance Basics by Genie Stewart-Spears, reprinted from Arabian Horse World
  
  
  • Getting Started: Beautiful Trails & Competition from Equine Canada HorseLife Magazine
  
  
  • Getting Started: Q&A from Equine Canada HorseLife Magazine
  
  

  • Tack and Equipment

    • Saddle Fit
      
      
      • Fitting the Saddle to the Withers by Kim & Karin Baker, from TheHorse.com
      
      
      • The Nine Points of Saddle Fitting by Stacey Nedrow-Wigmore, from Equisearch.com
      
      
      • Check for Back Pain and Saddle Fit by Joyce Harmon, DVM, from Equisearch.com
        
        
    • Bridles, Bits, Hackamores, Breast Plates and Cruppers
      
      
      • The Bit Gallery, from Equisearch.com
      
      
      • A Pain in the Mouth by Michelle Anderson, from TheHorse.com
      
      
      • Cruppers, from Wikipedia.com
      
      
      • Martingales, from Wikipedia.com
      
      
      • Hackamores, from Wikipedia.com
        
        
  • Conditioning
    
    
    • Assessing Your Equine's Overall Fitness by Terre O'Brennan
    
    
    • Is My Horse Ready?
      
    
    
    • Conditioning for Your First Endurance Ride (pdf), from SERAonline.org
      
    
    
    • How Long Does It Take to Complete a Ride? by Deirdre C. Monroe
    
    
    • Is Your Horse Fit? The Physiology of Conditioning, from the Alberta (Canada) Ag-Info Centre
      
    
    
    • Learning to Pace
      
      
      • The Art of Pacing the Distance Horse (pdf), by Sue Greenall
        
      
      
      • Pacing In Competition from the AERC Rider Handbook (Chapter 10)
        
        
    • Other Advice (Note: these are only opinions and every horse requires individual adjustments)
      
    
    
    • Training for Endurance by Jim Holland, from SERAonline.org
      
    
    
    • Glossary of Distance Riding Terms, from distanceriding.com
      
    
    
    • Tips and Hints on Endurance Riding, from olddominionrides.org
      
      
  • Electrolytes
  
  
  • Sweating the Small Stuff by Ken Marcella, DVM, from DVM, the Newsmagazine of Veterinary Medicine
    
  
  
  • Recognition and Management of Fluid and Electrolyte Changes in Equine Athletes by Arthur B. King, DVM, from octra.on.ca
    
    
  • What to Pack
    
  
  
  • What to Pack in Your Endurance Crewbag by Karen Chaton
  
  
  • Stocking the Complete Equine Emergency Kit by Ken Marcella, DVM
    
    
  • Trailering Considerations
    
    
    
    • Right on Schedule: Trailer Maintenance by Sharon Biggs, from TheHorse.com
      
    
    
    • Trailering Articles from Equisearch.com
    
    
    • Horse Trailering Information from the Ontario (Canada) Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs
  
  

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