Never heard of this race in Crossmaglen before, but it looks really cool!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=fvwp&v=5-lBTfCi1wE
Have a look folks
I have to admit - I am not super stoked about the idea of racing on pavement for 3.5 miles.
Dittos here, Appsolute. Weird that that’s a field of pacers and trotters – that’s not usually done, right? Of course the Irish are different and I betcha those were Romani or Travelers or Gypsies or whatever they are called there.
Only watched about ten seconds worth. Not what I would call real racing, looked like the yahoos around here. And the music?
It was fun actually but I don’t care for racing on pavement either. Although it isn’t that much harder than what harness horses usually race on! The race was for partbreds and coloured horses (purebreds too? they come in pinto) so it was a “fun” race not official. They seem to have a lot more opportunities for the regular person to get out and compete with their horses (not necessarily purebreds) over the pond! The bay didn’t look very part bred though!
[QUOTE=Profidia;6810959]
Never heard of this race in Crossmaglen before, but it looks really cool!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=fvwp&v=5-lBTfCi1wE
Have a look folks[/QUOTE]
I’d love to be a spectator, or better yet, a driver 
The pavement issue is not really a big deal to a seasoned horse - I know a CDE driver who exercises and trains on pavement all the time.
This is interesting, from a 1903 book I am reading currently on Kindle:
" The average horse in the private stable should be out two hours a day, and should do ten miles. With one day’s rest in seven, seasoned horses can do more than this — up to fifteen, and even more, miles a day — and be the better for it. Their muscles harden, respiratory organs are less liable to disease, and, strange as it may sound to the uninitiated, their feet and legs do better, even when the work is on hard roads. Swelled legs, founder, azoturia, colic, and the like are more often the result of overfeeding and under exercising than the reverse."
How fun!
