In which endurance riders always have the scarier list of stuff

I recently jumped down an online rabbit hole when I discovered the "Chronicle of the Horse" blog posts of Lindsey Long.

This person is my kind of rider/writer:  practical, matter of fact, and willing to embrace and boost the signal on failures in the hopes that others can learn from her experience.  

To be and do all that online takes spine, and lots of it.

photo credit:  Lindsey Long

In my current favorite Lindsey Long post, she lists Riding Fails that she considers essential to grow as an equestrian.  These include:

• Pick up the wrong lead or diagonal
• Lose a stirrup or drop a rein
• Chip a fence or go way too long
• Fall off
• Get bucked off
• Cry on horseback
• Suffer serious show nerves on horseback, with bonus points for throwing up
• Have a major tack malfunction, with bonus points if you completely lose bridle or saddle
• Go off course, with bonus points for jumping an oxer backwards
• Experience a refusal, with bonus points for multiple refusals
• Crash into a fence, with bonus points for actually damaging the fence, and more bonus points if you did it with your own body
• Take a walk of shame out of the show ring after falling, with bonus points if you have to do it sans horse because he got out of dodge after he unloaded you

That's her list.  And it inspired me to start thinking about my own list of rites of passage--stuff that will probably happen if you keep doing this long enough.

Count points for all the stuff you've done, tally them up, and tell us about it in the comments!

Aarene's Top 12 Endurance Rites of Passage (count all the points that apply to you)

• Get lost   (1 point)

** extra credit: Get lost on a well-marked competition trail that didn't confuse anyone else. (2 points)

** advanced extra credit:  do the well-marked competition trail backwards.  (3 points)

• Suffer serious nerves, bonus point for throwing up.  (1 point nerves, 2 points puking)

** extra credit: vomit while riding without splattering any leather.  (2 points)

** advanced extra credit:  wake up with flu symptoms, ride the 75-miler anyhow. (3 points)

• Lost horseshoe  (1 point)

**  extra credit: lose more than one shoe, have more than 1 boot with you.  (2 points)

**  advanced extra credit:  lose so many shoes that you run out of boots.  (3 points)

• Sponsor a junior  (1 point)

**  extra credit:  loan your own horse to a junior for a competition  (2 points)

**  advanced extra credit:  pick up a junior partway through a ride, let her talk unceasingly for 30 miles to the finish line (3 points)

• Experience a tack malfunction, such as a broken rein or stirrup leather.  (1 point)

** extra credit:  repair the broken item with zip ties, duct tape, or baling twine.  (2 points)

** advanced extra credit:  Finish the event without repairing the broken item.  (3 points)

• Fall off  during a training ride or arena lesson  (1 point)

** extra credit:  Fall off during a competition.  (2 points)

** advanced extra credit:  fall off in front of the ride manager/vet staff/your own crew  (3 points)

• Get bucked off (not the same as falling off!)  (1 point)

** extra credit: get bucked off during a competition  (2 points)

** advanced extra credit:  get bucked off during a competition, break a bone, finish the ride anyhow.  (3 points)

• Walk back to camp without your horse  (1 point)

**  extra credit: walk back and have your horse ponied back by a complete stranger  (2 points) 

**  advanced extra credit:  your horse returns to camp more than 24 hours later  (3 points)

• Pick some kind of wild food (berries, mushrooms, etc) while out riding (1 point)

**  extra credit:  gather wild food without dismounting (2 points)

**  advanced extra credit:  gather berries at a trot  (3 points).  gather mushrooms at a trot (5 points)

• Catch a loose horse and return it to the correct rider  (1 point)

**  extra credit:  catch a loose horse in the middle of the night, return it to the correct camp. (2 points)

**  advanced extra credit:  catch your own loose horse in the middle of a ride.  (3 points)

• Use your first aid kit  (1 point)

**  extra credit:  use a splint and/or epipen (2 points) 

**  advanced extra credit:  run or ride to a place where the cell phone has a bar or two and call 911.  (3 points)

• Cry  (1 point)

**  extra credit:  cry at the vetcheck, because your horse is lame and you got pulled.  (2 points) 

**  advanced extra credit: cry at the finish line because your horse is awesome and your crew is awesome and the ride manager is awesome and the vets are awesome....(3 points)

This is my favorite ride photo ever...but you can't quite see that
Fiddle lost a shoe en route:  her RF foot has a boot on it.

Scoring:

0-20 points    Green Bean.  Welcome to the madhouse!  You will find many friends here.

21-40 points  Distance Rider.  You've logged plenty miles and have the t-shirts to show it.

41-65 points  Hardcore Distance Rider.  There's a reason you're bowlegged.

65+ points     Boiled Owl.  Your war stories are the stuff of legend, and everybody knows it.