Welcome to  Episode 24 of   Endurance Horse Podcast  Created August 21, 2019    Hello and Welcome to Episode 24 of Endurance Horse Podcast! I’m Christina Hyke, an equine photographer based in Southern Wisconsin.     This episode is focused on the non traditional endurance horse.  First, I wanted to share with you something I learned at the Midwest Horse Fair this year. I had a vendor booth there for my photography & it gave me a good segue to also share my love of distance riding with other riders. What I learned shocked me a little bit- here I was at an event that is plum full of riders from all over the Midwest- this is a 3 day horse fair in Madison Wisconsin that boasts over 300 educational clinics/seminars in three days, over 500 vendors and typically sees over 61,000 attendees.  At this horse owner filled event - most (as in likely over 70%) of the people I talked with about endurance had no idea what it was. Let that sink in. At a horse fair. Horse people did not know what endurance is.  The second thing I learned was that when I met riders who did know what endurance was- they thought it was a west coast only sport. Even though there are 56 rides hosted in the Midwest Region.    The third thing I learned was that the riders who did know what endurance was - did not think they could do it because they did not own an Arabian. Some people also felt they were too old, that the sport is for those under 25.    This podcast is to encourage those riders who maybe thinking of trying distance riding- that you can do it with any sound horse that you condition up well.  Some breeds of horses, generally, fair better in higher temperatures/humidity than others and some horse breeds in general do have naturally lower heart rates- though I would like to tell you that here are some horse owners that are riding a non traditional breed in endurance and they are loving it.    To confirm that the Arabian & the half Arabian are the go to horse in the sport I reached out to Mike Maul & AERC. Here are the 2018 numbers of breeds entered at AERC rides. Thank you Mike for providing the numbers & thank you AERC office for always being so helpful on the phone or by emails.    It is easy to see by the statistics Mike Maul so kindly sent to me that Arabian & half Arabian horses are not just seemingly the dominant breed in endurance- they surely out number the rest, easily. However, there are many great qualities to other breeds & this inspiration for episode 24 is to encourage you to try the breed you already have or the one you love.    I am sharing as the first audio in this episode, the before/during and after of my little 13 year old mare’s first LD with me, just over a week ago on August 10th.    I followed a conditioning plan, a few hiccups along the way (hoof abscess) Though much training & prayers- we got there.   I’m sharing Grace’s update on this episode because she was basically a love baby. She is by our Trakehner Karino’s Fire & our of our paint mare- Baily 💖 we intended Grace to maybe be shown in dressage- or trail ride. Certainly never pictured her as an endurance prospect. Though here I am, sharing with you the audio of our non traditional horse, a much adored mare, a big puppy dog personality.....without further ado, here is my emotional moment out somewhere between mile 21/22 when I knew that she was going to finish strong.   Thank you Grace for such an enjoyable ride- and all the rides we rode to condition to get to this point. Thanks for being the horse that added to my record & carried that 25 miles closer to my 1,000 mile goal. Here’s Grace…..as a few hours young filly.  Am sharing this image of Jim walking with her for the first time, as he has been by my side all of the way, and also because this is how I kept seeing her on my ride, that is part of what caused emotion to swell,