Endurance Introspection
"To Finish Is To Win"About the Site
Authored by Patti Carey (formerly Patti Stedman), Endurance Introspection is a website for endurance riders, aspiring endurance riders and other sport horse enthusiasts interested in the cross-training aspect of endurance conditioning and training for horses. Patti’s vision for the website is to provide a place for endurance riding enthusiasts interested in the philosophies, training, conditioning strategies and life lessons learned during the act of enduring.
Patti is an AERC (American Endurance Ride Conference) endurance competitor/Ride Manager/former BoD member who truly embraces the sport’s motto of “To Finish Is To Win”.
About Patti
Patti was raised in rural Western New York. She started riding at the age of seven and eventually showing in various disciplines, until she discovered dressage (the art of riding and training a horse in a manner that develops obedience, flexibility, and balance.) in her late teens. She attended Cornell University and received her BS in Animal Science.
While she taught and trained professionally for a few years, it became apparent that a career outside of horses allowed more financial security (and that wackily practical health insurance), so her love of teaching took her in the direction of occupational safety and environmental compliance. She owns two successful businesses, one providing live training and consulting, and the other providing web-based safety training.
Patti began to compete in endurance rides in the mid 1990s. A couple of decades and a few thousand miles of competition later, she has acted as a Ride Manager for the Allegany Shut Up and Ride and was formerly a member of the AERC Board of Directors, Ride Managers’ Committee, and Education Committee. She developed materials for and insurance coverage for AERC Endurance 101 Clinics and has taught dozens of clinics, and encourages others to do the same to give riders new to our sport the skills needed to succeed and a sense of community with other local endurance riders and mentors.
Her passion for sharing her sport led her to creating a web-based course for new and aspiring endurance riders, Endurance Essentials, which can be found at horselearningonline.com
Patti loves combining the disciplines of endurance and dressage, and observing and writing about the inside world of endurance riding competition. Patti currently lives in rural South Carolina, with her horses, dogs, cats and various vermin.
Header photo by Carien Schippers @imagequine
Just like childbirth …
… or so I’m told, you forget the pain. So my husband and I, after two years off, are resurrecting the Allegany Shut Up and Ride endurance ride. October 1st. 30/55/75 mile distances. I sent in the sanctioning applications today. Hope to see many of you there! –Patti...
Somehow I need to etch in my memory banks …
… just how good it feels when I drag my carcass on to the treadmill or haul my layered-in-clothing butt out to the barn to climb on a horse. It is safe to say that I never regret the time and effort it takes to do so. I’m sure I’m not the only one who procrastinates...
Resolution for 2011
Well, I know better than to establish any hard and fast resolutions for the New Year, so I am going to keep it simple. I am going to try to do better. Do better with my eating, my activity, my management of my business, my role as a wife/sister/daughter/aunt/friend,...
So if I write this down …
… and all seven of my faithful blog followers read it, I’m committed, right? (Thanks for stopping by, Melissa.) I am a goal-oriented person. (One does not reach half their life expectancy without gaining some self-understanding unless they are trying really hard to...
On track thus far …
My New Year’s resolution of “doing a little better” seems to be sticking pretty well. It gives me some latitude for off-road excursions into the land of watching The Real Housewives or following up a long day of hectic by meeting Anita for Mexican and ordering a...
Rest! It’s not just for endurance horses …
No one was more shocked than me that I was doing pretty well with my treadmill routine — alternating jogging with maximum incline (walking) intervals. That 5k in mid-March was looking very doable. I did a bit of reading about couch-to-5k plans and the cautions about...
Of resolutions and such …
I realize that most folks go with tradition and begin thinking of resolutions and such as the current year closes out and a new one approaches. For me, however, it seems the year is based on the ride schedule. As the Mustang Memorial ride wrapped up in mid-November...
A 100 in 2011?
Who’s in? There’s a rather active discussion on the AERC Member’s Forum at the moment, about the decrease in 100 mile riders in our sport, and whether or not it’s real or imagined and whether it’s fixable or not, and how. As I stated in my response, I think the best...
“I can’t even THINK about bowls!”
Sometimes life gets just a little too stressful. As a self-employed consultant, when there is work available, I work. There are enough lean times that I rarely turn down work, and sometimes find myself with too much travel, too many clients all needing assistance...
Sarge To The Rescue!
Some days can only be saved by a good ride. There are a number of things lately that have left me in a state of kerfuffle, as I like to say. Out of sorts might be a better way of putting it. We put an elderly horse down last week, rather than see him face another...
GMHA 100 Mile CTR Report (9/8/10)
I’ve said more than once that getting to the ride is really the hardest part. Not just for all of the horse and rider preparation, but perhaps because we have a truck that one could kindly call “Old Unreliable.” Arriving at Gene and Dale's in what I hope is soon to...
Links
Inspirations Slow Fat Triathlete Suppliers of Endurance Riding Tack and Equipment Running Bear Farm Information and Resources About Endurance Riding American Endurance Riding Conference (AERC) Eastern Competitive Trail Riding Association (ECTRA) EnduranceNet...