What To Look For In An LD/Endurance Horse?

[marymane]

I’m sort of, kind of in the market for a horse. I’ve been looking and planning but I’m taking the process slow and probably won’t end up buying for quite a while.

Due to a changing financial situation in the past, my first horse had to be sold. He was a Quarter Horse given to me as a surprise from my parents. So I was not involved in the shopping/buying process, or even the boarding set up. And now that I’m older and have an income of my own, I’ve been planning on getting another horse.

I’m very interested in long distance/endurance, and I’ve seen a few horses in sales ads marketed for this purpose. But they seem hard to find, or perhaps I’m just not looking in the right places? Does anyone have any advice on attributes to look for when considering purchasing a horse with the intent to compete in LD/endurance? What traits would make a horse poorly suited? Is there even such a thing? Reading through some of the literature, it’s often said that any horse can potentially be suitable for endurance. Is this actually true? Or if I want to eventually be placing competitively is there a certain “type” of horse I should be looking for?

[gothedistance]

“Or if I want to eventually be placing competitively is there a certain “type” of horse I should be looking for?”

Just about any well conformed, sound, easy going, happy-to-be-out-on-the-trail horse with good metabolics, good feet, a good attitude, and not adverse to traveling down the trail alone with its rider can do LDs, and in most cases, Endurance.

BUT…if you want to be competitive, try and find something with at least 1/2 Arabian blood.

What to look for then in a horse that you would like to Top Ten on: [LIST=1]

A horse that is eager to see "what is on the other side of the hill". One that goes happily down the trail without having to be pushed. An autonomous horse, one that is happy to have you just sit there and steer. One that is tractable, mannerly, kind, and willing to let you call the shots.

A horse that travels without tripping, without forging, without winging, without interference.

A horse that eats enroute, a horse that will drink water when thirsty out of anything that is presented: stream, tank, bucket, whatever.

A horse that is NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT (have I repeated this enough?) NOT a wackadoodle. NO spinners, buckers, rearers, screamers, high anxiety types. ALL of these spend the majority of their energy just being upset, and thus leave virtually nothing for the trail. These types also seem to be the ones most often at the emergency vet on fluids because they are too wound up by the excitement of multitudes of horses surrounding them. They are prone to colic, metabolic issues, dehydration, lameness (not watching where they are going) and quitting from exhaustion.

A horse that has an energy efficient free flowing traveling gait. Discard all horses that trip. Period.

A horse that is appropriately sized for you to easily get off and on while on trail. You may think this is a small issue, but let me assure you that you WILL be getting on and off in the oddest places, and miles and miles away from any mounting block. So not only do you want a horse you can hop on without having to find a ditch to stand the horse in, but you need to teach it to stand quietly when you are mounting/dismounting NO MATTER WHAT. [/LIST] I'm sure I'll think of more, but this is just my list of what I want under myself to be in the Top Ten.

[Scribbler]

I feel like a lighter weight smaller tougher horse will have more endurance than a larger beefy horse. I had a feral mustang type 14.2 horse as a kid and she could go forever in the mountains. About 800 lbs. Of course she was super fit. My current horse is a tank of a Paint, 16 hands probably 1150 lbs, super muscled. I don’t have the opportunity to put the miles on her like when I was kid. I think she has enough stamina for any trail riding I do. But my guess is that, all else being equal, my old pony would beat her in endurance without breaking down.

That last seems really important, can you work the horse hard enough to get fit without getting soundness issues?

[saratoga]

Your best bet for a horse that is physically and mentally suited for endurance, especially if you want to do 50s, is an Arabian or Arab cross. Luckily, at least where I live, there seem to be tons of cheap young Arabs for sale.

If you aren’t an Arab person, I’d look for a horse that isn’t heavily muscled, and has good feet. The personality traits that gothedistance mentioned are spot on, but I think can be difficult to judge when you are looking at horses.

I got my endurance horse almost 20 years ago. I wanted to get into the sport so I bought a cheap little 3/4 Arab gelding on my street. He was spooky AF in the beginning and I fell off of him more than a few times in the early years because of that, but he has been a fantastic horse.

[marymane]

Thanks for the great replies.

I’d be perfectly okay with going for an Arab. I’ve admired them since I was little, but my mom grew up on a QH farm and always thought they were “crazy”, and most of the other horsey people I’ve been around are all QH people that considered me off my rocker if I ever talked about wanting to ride any other breed.

Sadly, there isn’t much of a “horse industry” in the area I’m currently in. There’s only a few barns to choose from as far as boarding goes and I’ll likely have to do a bit of travelling in order to find the right horse.

[prudence]

Out west here people have been top-tenning with mustangs (“stangs”). I would consider one, especially with the need to find homes for these horses. My neighbor has one and is very pleased and competitive with his.

[Toblersmom]

I think the biggest thing if you are new to a sport and really want to be successful competing in short order, is to get a horse that is already doing what you want to do, successfully, and has been for at least a year or so and stayed sound with it. If you have a longer time line or low expectations and have good trainers/coaches to work with, you can muck about with young prospects and horses that are currently doing other things, but you are more likely to be ultimately unsuccessful in the new field and/or hit a bunch of roadblocks as compared to starting with what is the equivalent of a “schoolmaster” in the area you like. As far as where and how to shop, I’ve noticed over the years that endurance seems to be largely its own world and they don’t advertise in the more general-purpose venues like Dreamhorse very much. You are more likely to find horses looking in the endurance magazines and websites. Look at the ads, and also the articles for tidbits like “Samantha got Raydar +++ five years ago, from FireFox Farms.” Then you can look up FireFox Farms to see if they have any current sales you are interested in. Doing web searches, if you search “Endurance horses for sale”, and bypass the general purpose venues and dial in on the individual farms, you will find places like this: http://www.dealarabians.com/

Endurance has been dominated by Arabians and Arabian crossbreds for many, many years in terms of those competing to win, although there are certainly exceptions. I think there are also a large number of competitors, like marathon runners, who couldn’t care less about “winning”, they are just looking for a venue to give them goals for getting out there and riding/conditioning their horse, enjoying themselves, and getting a sense of accomplishment that they finished within some kind of reasonable time frame, and they and their horse are happy and sound at the end of it. Maybe as they go along they set a goal to beat their own time. Maybe their highest aspiration is a 50 rather than a 100. There’s a lot more variety of breeds and types of horses at that level. At that level, any equine you enjoy spending that much time with who is sane on the trail and sound of body would be suitable, and you can look a lot more broadly at horses that are in other fields but roughly similar exposure and workload (horses that are now doing Eventing, horses that are active working ranch horses, maybe even kids’ summer camp horses with some close vetting).

[SonnysMom]

A friend of mine had an ex-racehorse standardbred trotter she did a ton of LDs with. That horse would just settle in and trot forever, covered a ton of ground, was calm, quiet and had seen everything at the track. I have no idea how he would have done in endurance but she did great at LDs. He was a cheap old warhorse. She adopted him from a local rescue.

[Leather]

I’d look to see if there’s a local/regional club affiliated with the AERC and join. Mine has a FB site where people often advertise horses for sale or horses wanted.

Endurance/LD folks are some of the nicest horse people around, and are always willing to help newbies out.

[marymane]

Yeah, everyone I’ve talked to so far seems really nice. I especially like that there isn’t any “dress code” besides what’s functional.

[gothedistance]

Oh, the clothing and tack one gets to use is soooooo much fun!!! Colors everywhere! Biothane and soft synthetic Beta that can be thrown in the washing machine to come out sparkling clean, or dunked/soaked in a bucket of water to be cleaned. Running shoes rather than hard boots. Colorful tights, shirts, helmets, gloves. Halter “bridles”. No bits if you want. Tireless saddles so soft you want to sit in them all day. Horses can be barefoot, booted, glued on shoes, nailed shoes - whatever suits your horse.

Rules are simple, the terrain challenging, rides go in all but the most extreme weather. You are out there alone, or with friends, following miles and miles of ribbons. Lots of time to get lost in your mind, relaxed with the rhythmic trot under you. Reins loose (usually after the first 20 miles) and the natural life all around you makes you so much more aware of you and your horse out there, riding the distance.

it is AWESOME!!!

[Guilherme]

I don’t ride endurance, but three Marchador foals we’ve produced do. One is at 25, moving up. Two are at 50 moving up. All our foals start with outstanding temperaments. They have comfortable and efficient ways of going. Their conformations are practical and functional. At least two have passed inspection by Brazilian inspectors for registration with the Brazilian registry. At last count there was at least one first, several placings, and multiple “best conditioned” awards.

There are at least three others that are not of our breeding that are performing well, also. For a very small breed like ours that’s not too shabby!!!

So start with temperament. Then look for efficient movement produced by a conformation with no “alibis.” You don’t need a perfect horse; you need one that is optimized for this activity. Good luck in searching for this Holy Grail!!!

G.

[tabula_rashah]

I’m sure it’s a little different for everyone but in general, I want

• sound (and conformation that's going to help them stay that way)
• good, solid feet
• a desire to move along and boldness
• a total chow hound (this may sound silly but it's important)
• surefooted

I personally prefer a horse with a bit of spice and sensitivity but I also want something with a brain. I also prefer buy something that has not yet been started and I'd rather it have had no handling than crappy handling.

[tabula_rashah]

@gothedistance

Oh, the clothing and tack one gets to use is soooooo much fun!!! Colors everywhere! Biothane and soft synthetic Beta that can be thrown in the washing machine to come out sparkling clean, or dunked/soaked in a bucket of water to be cleaned. Running shoes rather than hard boots. Colorful tights, shirts, helmets, gloves. Halter “bridles”. No bits if you want. Tireless saddles so soft you want to sit in them all day. Horses can be barefoot, booted, glued on shoes, nailed shoes - whatever suits your horse.

Rules are simple, the terrain challenging, rides go in all but the most extreme weather. You are out there alone, or with friends, following miles and miles of ribbons. Lots of time to get lost in your mind, relaxed with the rhythmic trot under you. Reins loose (usually after the first 20 miles) and the natural life all around you makes you so much more aware of you and your horse out there, riding the distance.

it is AWESOME!!!

What a fantastic description of endurance!!

[irish_horse]

All of the above advice is great, but I do love one thing I read when starting out: Get a horse that you LIKE to be with. You’re going to be spending a lot of time (training, caring, traveling, camping, competing). Don’t buy a horse because it is already competitive, looks great, etc, unless you like the personality already. Competitive horses come in lots of packages, my puppy-annoying, chew everything, super mellow horse is a bit (no, a lot) of a dragon in a competitive setting (which is why we’re not doing much until I can instill some better behaviors). I love him for all his obnoxiousness, but others would be so annoyed!

[AshleyandAnnabel]

@tabula rashah

What a fantastic description of endurance!!

I agree!!!

[AshleyandAnnabel]

Everyone had great advice. I also want to throw out there that the “Rider Handbook” on aerc.org has a detailed description on what to look for in an endurance horse.

I actually compete on a TWH mare. She’s completed a 75 before, top 10’s in almost every LD we’ve done, and has won some Pioneer awards. I’ve owned Thoroughbreds my whole life prior and was definitely looking for something more mellow than a hot-blooded horse. I was so envious of my friends who ride gaited horses and look like they are having the time of their lives while everyone else is slathering on diaper rash cream between their legs, popping pain reliever, and getting chafed by their clothes. My friends’ gaited horses were so laid back I was convinced I had to have one too. Arabians are definitely more competitive in endurance but you don’t have to have one to still enjoy the ride. Gaited horses are starting to show up more and more to endurance rides, there’s even several other TWH’s that have completed Tevis. A sound, healthy horse that loves to go is an ideal endurance horse. When I was searching I did call up on some nice gaited horses but the owners admitted they didn’t necessarily have the desire or stamina for endurance.I got very lucky with my mare who’s out of a very athletic sire. I will admit though, they are probably better for riders who like to compete rides alone as they are harder to find horses to pace with. I can’t put my mare behind a trotter, she just gets frustrated.