So, I had decided I wanted to buy a horse suitable for endurance. I am not exactly a lightweight, and will be riding heavyweight. I need a strong horse. Arabian horses are very strong for their size, their shorter backs do mean they can carry a fair amount of weight. For me, temperament is just as important as conformation, so I accepted that it was going to take me a long long time to find one just right for me. My criteria were, strong, sound, a mare (geldings are too soft), friendly and sensible. I wanted a friendly horse, because when training an endurance horse, you spend many many hours with the horse, and it has to be enjoyable to be around.
For my own personal satisfaction, I wanted a young horse, experienced endurance horses are either very expensive, or being sold for a reason the buyer doesn't want to disclose. Young horses generally have not learnt any bad habits, and if a young horse does develop some issues, there is a good chance its because its owner stuffed up. Where to look for a suitable young horse, I had no idea. I bought a popular horse trading publication. All of the horses I liked were very expensive, or too old. It was well known on some equestrian forums that I was searching for a horse, and out of the blue, I got an email from a lovely lady called Deb, who sent me a copy of an advertisement for some youngstock for sale.
I called the number in the ad, explained what I was looking for, and in a couple of days time, a package arrived in the post full of photos and info on the sale stock. Merry, the seller, explained that she had a young mare that sounded just like what I wanted, friendly, big, strong and well built, and bred for endurance. The horse's name is Bellarine Moselle.
Moselle is an Arab Stockhorse, a cross between an Australian Stockhorse, and an Arabian. She is 4 1/2 years old, un-broken but has her basic foal training. The only thing wrong with her, is she was 2000km away from me, and I couldn't get time off work to go and see her before buying her. Deb put me on to another lovely lady called Dorte, and she went and did the pre-purchase visit for me, and told me I should buy her. So I did. Poor Moselle now had to leave her home of the last 4 1/2 years, and endure a float drip from Atherton to Cairns, a 3 day truck trip from Cairns to Beachmere, and then another 20 minute float ride to my place at Bellmere.
About 3 years ago, my friends and I went for our annual horse riding holiday to a place called Mary Valley Adventure Trails, run by Graham and Gail Ellison. We used to go to another place, but they put their prices up so we got on to Google and started to look elsewhere, and found Graham. We arrived at the stables a little anxious, as Graham had told us all of his horses were Arabian endurance horses. Most of us have had bad experiences with the breed, and to find we would be riding ultra fit horses in full competitive training was a bit daunting. Looking a little closer at the horses, we noticed that the horses were very well looked after, all had near perfectly shod feet, and their coats gleamed in the sunlight, and very well mannered. Sadly, this is unusual for a commercial trail riding operation. This is how my deep respect for the endurance horse was born. The mare I rode carried me for 2 days, covering around 50km a day. We were all very impressed at how fit the horses were. Little did we know, that endurance riders call a 40km ride a training ride, and we were riding at less than half novice pace.That evening, we went and watched the strapping area at the Imbil Sparkler, a major endurance ride run at night. We were all totally fascinated by what we saw. We became regular customers of Grahams, with him sharing his knowledge of endurance riding, horsemanship, and farriery with us, my interest in the sport of endurance riding grew.I went to the Tom Quilty Gold Cup as a strapper for a commercial team in 2008, it was 16 hours of hard work, but I had a ball. In January 2009, I was given the opportunity to do a 40km ride on one of Graham's horses. It was stinking hot, wet and muddy, but we got through. I am very greatful for the opportunity, however, I started thinking about how satisfying it would be to find and train my own endurance horse and get it going.Here started my quest, to find a suitable mount, and train it to become an endurance horse. Its a long road ahead, hopefully it won't be too bumpy.
