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
Dear Denny … (8/4/10)
Ah, the magic of Facebook. Denny Emerson and I are “friends” on Facebook. Now, to be fair, I’ve never been formally introduced to Denny, but I have always admired his long-standing dedication to both distance riding and eventing. During Ned’s first 100 in Vermont, we...
Ride Between The Rivers (WV) 8/9/10
This weekend was the Ride Between The Rivers near Elkin, West Virginia. We’ve been told over and over again what a FUN ride this was, how tremendous the hospitality, how tight the parking, and we might have also heard something about the moonshine. So we packed up...
As Roseanne Roseanna Danna says … 8/13/10
… “it’s always SOMETHING!” I probably jinxed my horses’ ongoing welfare when lamenting the rocks at last Saturday’s ride and miserably noting the likelihood that someone would get a stone bruise. While he finished absolutely sound, Ace was dead lame on Tuesday...
Twelve Step Program for Diet Pepsi Addiction? 8/13/10
Okay, I have a problem. A monkey on my back. I am addicted to Diet Pepsi. I don’t drink a lot of the stuff, but at around 1 or 2 in the afternoon, I can hear the Diet Pepsi calling to me from the downstairs refrigerator. “Patti, Patti!” it says, sweetly whispering at...
The Balancing Act of Work, Life, Fun and Endurance Conditioning 8/17/10
Non-endurance riding friends, especially my dressage friends, marvel at the fact that I was able to get two horses fit for a hundred mile ride this season. Now, I will concede that in many ways, I am blessed with the perfect career, the perfect farm, and a workaholic...
Now THESE people are truly nuts! (8/23/10)
We had a weekend visit from Natty, a friend from Canada (and a “booger” for those of you who know the reference) and her new husband, Jeff, as they were interested to come to our home conditioning trails at Allegany State Park to do a conditioning RUN (yes, on their...
Re-awakening my inner dressage queen …
… from a lengthy coma. Truth be told, I was never much of a dressage queen, even when it was the primary type of riding I did. Too chunky, too willing to settle for “good enough”, too averse to wearing white breeches or gloves. That said, I’ve really neglected my...
If you want to test God’s sense of humor … (8/29/10)
… pre-enter all three of your competition horses in the same Competitive Trail Ride, and watch the fun begin. Ace has been struggling with stone bruising and abscesses in his front feet since completing the very rocky Ride Between The Rivers a few weeks ago without...
Oh Canada! (7/3/10)
It’s a long one, ladies and gentlemen. Be sure to click on the photos to see the entire image. (I’m still figuring out this blog thing!) Rarely does one get through a 100 without some bit of misadventure, but we had more than our fair share at the Canadian National...
Who, me? Without A Mission? (7/25/10)
I’m the sort of girl, I’ve been told, who needs a project. I was pleasantly surprised to have a couple of friends tell me they’d been checking in on the blog and were surprised to see I hadn’t been posting. Getting two horses through a 100 mile ride = project. That...
Post-100 Vacation Ends For Ace
No one was more shocked than me when my husband, Richard, and I sat down to talk about which rides we’ll try to hit for the remainder of the season. Certainly the WV ride on August 7th is a no-brainer. Not too terribly far from home (~7 hours), lots of friends...
Still on course! (6/7/10)
Friday was muggy and hot but I took Ace for a very fast hill workout in the morning. Just five miles but we did it in 30 minutes, largely to outrun the flies as the human brain behind the operation forgot to liberally fly spray Ace and the little buggers are brutal...