Monday, March 23, 2009

Cron Raid de Promocio







Sunday March 22 2009

I got a rather unanticipated treat of visiting the site of the CRON raid again - this time for the Raid de Promocio, a 20 km, 40 km, and 60 km ride day.

It was double the size of last week's 120 km** Raid del Cron: 117 horses, of all ages and sizes, various states of fitness and experience. For many horses (and riders) this was the first outing of the season, and for some, the first raid experience ever.

Some of the horses just looked physically young; some of them were definitely mentally young, and got their first taste of 'ridecamp', the vetting ring, trotting out, actual 'competition' with other horses, starting in a group, and going out on course a second or third time after the vet checks.

All the loops were under a control speed of not faster than 15 km/h, but not slower than 10 km/h, and pulse criteria was 56 bpm.

I happily ran into some old friends, met some more new ones, and generally soaked up the relaxed family atmosphere on another pleasant and picturesque spring day in Catalonia.

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