> her new mare is a terrific drinker - eater too. Those are my two > favorite > attributes for an endurance horse I think. Mine pees on command, > though, > and that helps to drop his heart rate in vet checks.
The helmet usage was sort of standard procedure when I was riding Open in NATRC. The rules say that any food you want to feed your horse during the ride (aside from natural forage or hay that management sometimes provides at the lunch stop) must be carried with you (no crews in CTR). So the Open riders, who were doing 30 miles briskly, usually filled a freezer baggie with bran and some grain and carrot slices, tucked it in their cantle bag, and then at lunch plopped the bag in their helmet, added water and gave their horse his lunch. Keeps the gut sounds going. PS: Santa Barbara/Goleta has a fire now (http://www.keyt.com/news/local/22803699.html), so I expect we'll be getting our share of smoke. Bummer. Lynn Kinsky, Santa Ynez, CA ranch: http://www.silcom.com/~lkinsky/
