Duchess47 endurance horses are not all that thinned bodied of horses either, and they seem to do fine on thier rides.
Becky
I think the thing Arabs have going for them in sports like endurance is not so much fat content, but the placement of their veins. They have all their veins right under the skin and when they're hot, they pop out for faster cooling. That's just desert build. And Cyn doesn't have that. Her veins don't pop like Bay's do. It's just one feature that helps them in that kind of work... it's not the only feature a horse needs, and other breeds have other strengths.
Did I share, I don't remember, the story from the trail ride a few weeks ago with the guy who commented on Bay's veins? He was a hiker, they'd all walked to where we were and they were taking a break at the falls when we came in. He said "Look at those veins, cool!" Then he said "I draw blood for a living, so I notice things like veins"..... People crack me up... we all bring a different perspective to what we see :~D
Remember that woman on another thread that thought Arabs were ugly because they looked like they didn't have any skin? :~D I just thought of that.