I did pretty good, and had a great time. I was never going to be a champion, because I was too big for the sport. Most of the horses were half the size of Tucson, and most of the riders were half my size.
Arabian horses dominate the sport, and other breeds that do well are the appaloosa, or the mustang. Most of the riders were females, or smaller males than me. I was buffed and at my fighting weight, and could run 5 miles of the most rugged terrain, but more mass and muscle is going to slow you down, in this sport. At my most lean, I was 195/200 and my competition was mostly 100/110.
I needed an exceptional Arabian horse to handle my weight. Most Arabs are 14.3 which is pony size, and they were the ones that did the best. Same deal, the bigger the horse, the more it works against you over long distances. My Arab was a Polish Arabian, which was bred for the Polish Army, and were much bigger Arabians. Tucson was 16.1 hands which would be a small Thoroubred size horse. He was a perfect match for me.
I had a lot of prior experience with horses, and was an excellent breaker/trainer. I was good with horses, and tried all the equestrian sports, but was a cowboy type and most comfortable with the Rodeo type horse people. I got involved with the Show Horse crowd, and some of the Race Horse crowd, but saw these people as unfit to own any animal, not even a hamster.
I got introduced to Endurance Riding through a girlfriend. I was lucky to have been in with the right crowd to begin with, too. These were world class riders, and I got to train with them, and learn the sport through them, and I fell in love with trail riding.
I broke up with that girlfriend, but had helped her and her horse for a year going to several 50 mile Races and the 100 mile Tevis Cup, and felt this was what I wanted to do, too. I set out to find my perfect horse, and it took me 10 months of hard searching, and looking at hundreds of horses, until I found Tucson. He had the size and the most perfect confirmation of a horse I had seen. His feet were perfect, and that was the most important part, to start with. Also his age was perfect. He was 4 1/2 years old, and that is the perfect age to start breaking and training an Arab. You shouldn't mess with them until that age and maturity. The people I got Tucson from had tried to have him green broke before they sold him, but had a couple trainers quit, telling them he was too rank, and unbreakable.
hahaha… I got him cheap because of that…. but when i first met Tucson (his name at the time was Dill) he was raggedy from fighting with all the other horses, and had most of his main and tail hair torn off, but his legs and feet to me were so beautiful, and he seem to like me like love at first sight sort of thing. The owners had a couple guy's bring him in, and were cautioning me, but I looked this horse in the eye, and knew he was fine. We spent a little time together, and he was calm with me the whole time. I bought him immediately, and felt like I just won the lottery.
I spent a week with him just leading him around in a closed arena. When the day came to saddle him, he was calm through the whole deal, mounting and riding, everything. A week or so later is when WWIII started, and he began to challenge me. His spirit was everything I had hoped for, but we had to go through hating each others guts, and hurting each other for a long time. Then the love came back, and his bucking became "happy bucks" and when we would go to head out on the trail, he no longer resisted going out… he started to resist coming back in.
By the way, I never put a bit in this horses mouth, ever. He wore a Bosal, and after training, he was the lightest touch, and I mostly commanded him with my legs.
He was a gelding, but his spirit was so feisty, he would always be picking fights with other horses, so I had to keep him separate like if he were a stud.