My sport

bay · Joined: 19 Jun 2008 Location: US

although this isn't me... will be me in a couple of decades tho, LOL....

Gran National Triumph

Jun 20 2008

JOCKEY Rachel Dewar, 79, came second in an epic 78-mile race and put it down to being young at heart.

The grandmother-of-two, who was in the saddle for 12 hours, modestly played down the fuss.

She said: "All you've got to do is sit there, it's not that hard."

Rachel, of Duns, Berwickshire, started the circular Hillhead Endurance Race at 7am in Musselburgh, East Lothian.

She finished on her horse Gypsy Cream at 7pm and admiited: "I was certainly feeling it for a few days afterwards."

Rachel, who took up endurance riding when fox hunting was banned, said: "I've got plenty of life in me yet. Horse riding keeps me fit."

faceless · admin Joined: 25 Apr 2006

we used to go on holiday near Musselburgh as kids - it's a nice area. But do they use different horses throughout?

bay · Joined: 19 Jun 2008 Location: US

one horse one rider throughout. you have mandatory rest times for the horses. no one cares about the riders, LOL...

the longest I've gone is 50 miles in a day. My goal is to do at least one 100 mile ride before I hang up my riding boots... (yea, your bum and everything else is sore after that)

Most of the ride is done at a trot, with the rider posting , which is like doing deep knee bends on a moving target.. figure about 250 of those up and down motions in a mile.... really works the quads and glutes! And then you have an excited horse pulling on the reins like a freight train, so your shoulder and arm muscles get a workout.

I sure could use a good rubdown after a ride like that, PMSL! The horse recovers a lot faster than I do

My campaigner and I have 1,500 miles in competition together. We've been at it 11 years.

I know riders who have logged 10,000 miles or more in competition... I'm a wuss, LOL...

you are giving about a 5 mph pace to complete. The elite riders will finish at a10 to 12 mph pace. I'm in the 6-7 mph range, to finish is to win, LOL... I've come in the top 10 a few times, mostly sheer luck, or everyone else quit because of bad weather, haha...