The best advice I was told before starting into endurance was to volunteer at a ride before I ever entered one. A second person told me that I'd learn 10x more from volunteering at a ride than I ever would riding in a ride. I figured it was a good suggestion, albeit slightly exaggerated... Turns out it wasn't exaggerated even in the slightest.
If you have any interest in getting into endurance riding, I really suggest you do it. It was an absolutely eye opening experience. Here's what I picked up (key words are bolded for what you might be interested in):
Prep for the ride: Get there the night before - there's a dinner and the ride meeting. We didn't make it to this, but that'll have to wait until our actual ride. You can get to know your way around and plan for what is going to happen the next day, as well as receive last minute information about trails, conditions, cautions, etc. What I did get to see was the variety of ways people camped overnight. It was a bit cold, so everyone was in their trailers (I didn't see a single tent). There were high-tyes, portable panel corrals, and portable electric corrals, all of which I expected. My pleasant surprise was the availability to RENT a pen from the ride manager (depending on the ride) - which I plan on doing. Here, they generally charge $5-10/night for renting a pen. When I do get my own trailer, I also plan on making the investment for a portable corral - those things are frikken nifty and many people used the panels along with their truck and trailer hookup to make a nice, big corral for multiple horses.
Start of the Race: There was an area where the water troughs were located, the table for checking in and out, handing over your vet cards, and the vet checks themselves were located. It's also where the start of the ride was. It was pretty low key with a smaller ride (Four 75-milers, fifteen 50-milers, twenty 25-milers). When the time came for the race to start, riders came up, told us their number from their horses, got checked off, and took off. Everyone kind of came up at their own speed when they were ready, though of course there was an initial group that took off right on time. The 75-milers started around 6AM, 50-milers around 7:30am, and 25-milers around 9am. The trail riders took off a while after that. Had you been watching without knowing what was really going on, you'd just have seen a table with some people around it and bunch of riders that came up to the table every now and then to shout their numbers and head down the trail - not exactly how I imagined the beginning of a race. On the LD's, quite a few people left 15-30 minutes after the race had begun!
Then we waited. Here's where I learned SO much - since all the riders were gone, I was able to observe and ask questions about everything I'd seen and wanted to know. The vet was able to answer any questions I had about the vet check and I was walked through the process of taking pulses, recording times, and the things they watched out for. In addition, quite a few people had their gear like boots there, so I was able to see what tack the riders were using, then ask the other volunteers to show me theirs and explain what and why they were using what they were. I also got to hear the types of things said about the riders and their horses, so I could get a 3rd person perspective about how everyone was doing.
Vet Checks and holds: THe manager and other volunteers had a good idea about who would (and should) come in when and told me why they were expecting that. They also told me about what the riders were doing as they approached the vet check area. Most of them walked their horses (and many dismounted) between 200-300 feet away from the vet check to allow their horses to start to come down. Some that weren't in as good of shape dismounted further away. As soon as they got to the vet check, I took their pulse (though some asked me to wait until their horse was done drinking). The people at the table recorded the arrival time, the "down" time (when the horses pulse was down to 60bpm), and then the time that they were able to leave, which was the "down" time plus the hold time. Most of the horses were down already or within 1-2 minutes. A few took 3-6 minutes to come down, and one LD took 19 minutes to come down. You're not pulled from the race as long as you come down within 30 minutes, but generally if it takes 9-10 minutes or longer to come down it's a red flag and the vet will tell you to slow down or another precaution. That rider voluntarily withdrew from the race (they'd gone 17 miles). Of course, this all depends on the horse (the in-shape Arabs with good conditioning and light riders were down almost immediately, one black QH with a heavy rider who doesn't have good balance took 6 minutes to come down, but that's about normal for that horse and just fine - with the Arabs, it would have been a red flag). You HAVE to know your horse, inside and out. Again, I got a running commentary on each horse and how they were doing and why, as well as recommendations for what I should be doing with my boy during conditioning. After pulsing down, they went to their vet check right next to the tables and water, got their scores on their vet card, then went to hang out for their holds.
Vet cards and maps: DON'T loose these! And pay attention to them! And keep them dry!!! We had to replace a handful of lost/ruined vet cards either because something wasn't zipped up, misplaced, or wet from.... well, you can imagine lol. And one rider missed a sign and did an extra 7 miles on one of her loops - she'd been in first for the 50 and went down to last when she came in about an hour and a half after we would have expected her. She wasn't too happy, obviously, though she did go out for the second loop to complete the ride.
End of the race: We stayed until a lot of the LD's had come in, around 2pm, as well as the 50-milers. The LD's have to pulse down at the end of the race, and their placings are determined by the order in which they pulse down - in other words, you cannot run your horse through an LD, come in first, and win. Even if you are the first back and pulse down in time not to be pulled from the race, you may get second or worse if another horse comes in and pulses down before you do. This is to prevent people from running their horses top speed through an LD without proper conditioning. The endurance races (50+) were placed in the order they arrived. Each was asked whether they want to stand for Best Condition (though the vet's wife, who was riding, was not allowed to for obvious reasons), then did their CRI and weighed themselves, which must be done within 10 minutes of completing I believe.
The 75-milers still had another loop to complete (all the rides are completed in loops that come back to the vet check, then head back out again on a different loop). The awards were given at dinner that night, which we weren't there for.
All in all, it seemed the 25-mile LD's were completing in about 5 hours (the results for the Tough Sucker I, a month ago, had the winning time at just over 4 hours), the first 50-milers were coming in at 6.5 hours, and I have no idea how long the 75-milers were taking. This was a bit of a surprise because I was basing "completion time" on our conditioning time and speed. Of course, this also accounts for the 1 hour hold that the LD's and 50-milers had to have (45 min for the 75-milers), so I guess that makes it 25 miles within 3-4 hours riding time, plus the hold.
Anyway, I really recommend that you volunteer before riding, or if you have been riding, do it anyway! Volunteers make the endurance world go round, but you also get the commentary and see the differences between all the riders and horses. So, instead of learning about just ONE endurance ride experience (like I would have if I'd just gone out and done it), I was able to take in experience from 30-40 different riders on the same ride and learn a LOT of invaluable information. And now, I'm ready and confident for our first ride, hopefully next month!!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/endurance-riding/volunteering-ride-tough-sucker-ii-121747/#ixzz2J3PDCHGF
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Snickers' weight
Since moving to the stall, Snickers has lost a lot of weight. I don't like how his hip bones stick out and, comparing his pictures from before I got him and even when I got him, he hardly looks the same. I've been trying various things and talking to people about how to get it back up. Janet at DA suggested using DAC in my buckets of food as well, but I couldn't find it at the Horse Expo. Plus, there's so much in his buckets already, I wouldn't want to overload him with nutrients and whatnot.
I was thinking it might be stress. The weight loss was really obvious after our incident with having to rope him. Since then, he's calmed down quite a bit in the stall as well as out with me, so hopefully he'll start to bring his weight back up.
He's been getting extra food from the feeders (I think it's 3 flakes, and they feed 2x a day, so 6 flakes total), as well as my buckets of food. I'm being somewhat more generous with the beet pulp now and have always been with the alfalfa, so hopefully that'll get a little more in him. He's an excellent eater, with all his food gone within an hour or two, including his buckets. I never see any hay left on the ground.
I wormed him (and Flash) with Ivermectin shortly after I got him, but I went ahead and wormed him again just in case. I think it was Zimectrin - either way, it's strong stuff and should take care of just about anything in there.
With all the rain, he's also gotten a bit more of a break instead of putting miles on, even though he's been in the round pen and arena.
He's looking like he's put a little more weight on, but I'm really waiting for that rump to fill in. His belly is looking good though. It's just that bony butt of his that bugs me and makes him look very awkward. He's still doing good on his workouts and is very alert, but we'll see where he goes from here. Maybe it will just take time.....
I was thinking it might be stress. The weight loss was really obvious after our incident with having to rope him. Since then, he's calmed down quite a bit in the stall as well as out with me, so hopefully he'll start to bring his weight back up.
He's been getting extra food from the feeders (I think it's 3 flakes, and they feed 2x a day, so 6 flakes total), as well as my buckets of food. I'm being somewhat more generous with the beet pulp now and have always been with the alfalfa, so hopefully that'll get a little more in him. He's an excellent eater, with all his food gone within an hour or two, including his buckets. I never see any hay left on the ground.
I wormed him (and Flash) with Ivermectin shortly after I got him, but I went ahead and wormed him again just in case. I think it was Zimectrin - either way, it's strong stuff and should take care of just about anything in there.
With all the rain, he's also gotten a bit more of a break instead of putting miles on, even though he's been in the round pen and arena.
He's looking like he's put a little more weight on, but I'm really waiting for that rump to fill in. His belly is looking good though. It's just that bony butt of his that bugs me and makes him look very awkward. He's still doing good on his workouts and is very alert, but we'll see where he goes from here. Maybe it will just take time.....
Trevor's Offer
Trevor has been making more of an effort to support me with the horses. When I have to exercise Snickers (but not necessarily ride him, so Trevor can stay with me or nearby the whole time), he's been offering to come out. He mostly watches, and then helps me with Snickers' buckets, but also asks a lot of questions and interacts with me about the horses. I asked him (semi jokingly) if he wanted to lead on time, and he said he's not quite there - yet. He's trying to get more comfortable so that he can actually interact and help me with the horses.
The best news is that Trevor made me an offer! He said he thinks he'll be ready to learn to ride as soon as Flash is ready. Which means he bought himself another year, considering Flash is not even green broke yet, much less big enough to carry Trevor. However, it's an effort and a commitment. It also gives me the extra encouragement to really make Flash the most excellent horse possible for my hubby :) It's so exciting!
The best news is that Trevor made me an offer! He said he thinks he'll be ready to learn to ride as soon as Flash is ready. Which means he bought himself another year, considering Flash is not even green broke yet, much less big enough to carry Trevor. However, it's an effort and a commitment. It also gives me the extra encouragement to really make Flash the most excellent horse possible for my hubby :) It's so exciting!
Tough Sucker II
Yesterday I volunteered at the Tough Sucker II - and Trevor came with me :) We were going to go the night before so we could attend the meeting and camp, but it just turned out to be way to cold, no showers for Trevor, and I ended up wanting a good night sleep after a week of sleep deprivation. Rather, we left for Oreana around 6:30am and found our way to Regina's (the ride manager) place. Melba is gorgeous, all green with a river in a valley and the mountains right there :)
We took in the scene when we got there, then went and found Regina to figure out what we were doing. She was going to have me take pulses and Trevor record in, down, and out times for the riders since he's not a "horse person". Apparently Trevor thought he'd be following me around all day, not actually put to work. He was a good sport about it though :)
The 75 and 50-milers had already left, and the LD's were about to leave. So I did get to see the start of the race, which was way lower key than I'd expected. Granted, there weren't a TON of people this year, but there were still about 20 people riding in the LD (15 in the 50 and 4 in the 75, though a few had to drop out because of injuries before the race). I think Snickers will do just fine :)
As we were sitting there, there was a very familiar chestnut getting ready to go out a bit later than everyone else. The horses' conformation, size, color, markings, attitude, and behavior were almost identical to Snickers'. Turns out it was his half brother! The horse was a year younger than Snickers and it was really interesting to talk to the owner about the two. We'll have to ride together sometime :) I saw on the SWIT&DR emails that she had won the Tough Sucker I LD with a "Gold N....", so it was exciting to see the horse and rider in person. However, from a few comments made and from her overall behavior, she's not necessarily someone I would trust to mentor me with endurance or would take advice from. Plus, and it may have just been from the race, but the way she was talking about him and watching him seemed like he was where Snickers was a while ago. She's had the horse for a year, but it doesn't seem like there's been a lot of progress made with him, though she bought him with no training and was taking him out to Spencers. On the other hand, Snickers has come so far and learned so much in the last 3 months that I've been with him - and have owned him for less than that. We've worked through pretty much all of his major issues. He can still be a nutcase at times, but for the most part he works though it and is quite a lovely horse that I'm very proud of and can even look very professional in my opinion. But like I said, maybe it's just the race...
We stayed until a fair amount of the LD's had finished as I wanted to see a race from start to finish, so we left around 2. In that time, I learned a LOT about what I need to be doing with Snickers - I have no doubt that what I was told about volunteering at a ride first was absolutely true. I feel much more confident in knowing what I need to do to prepare and how the race will go. Here are some of the nuggets I picked up:
Pulsing down: It all depends on the horse. You may not be pulled from the race as long as you pulse down within the 30 minutes after you get back, but if it takes you even 10 minutes to pulse down, then you're in trouble. You probably need to be riding slower. Rather, most of the horses walk the last 200-300 ft and were already pulsed down (60bpm) by the time they reached the vet check. Some walked further, many got off for that part, but some also trotted all the way up and only stopped trotting and got off when they reached the vet check. Even so, may were pulsed down when the reached the vet check, and the rest pulsed down within 2 minutes, sometimes 3. It was rare for them to take much longer - a couple took 5-6 minutes, but that was because they were heavier muscled quarter horses, black, carrying heavier riders, and the rider couldn't balance themselves as well. One horse took 19 minutes, and was pulled from the race (voluntarily I believe). What I need to be doing: Walk the last stretch before I reach the first gate on the way back, then get off and take his pulse. It should be close to 60bpm, and if it isn't there yet, I need to stay there and wait until it reaches that. Many times, if the horses were around 72 bpm, I was able to keep the stethoscope on their chests and wait until they came down, not taking breaks in between. I was a little worried about that, but I did this yesterday after a 7 mile run (all at a medium trot), and he came right down within a minute or two, just like the well-conditioned horses :)
Boots - A lot of people wear them, a lot of people don't and might wear shoes or even go barefoot. I don't know whether they put boots on later, but I saw quite a few taking off barefoot. I'm still planning on getting Easyboot Gloves, and Beth is coming this week to trim and fit my boys.
Vet Checks and Best Condition - It's hard to really describe the process, but it looks a lot less stressful than I was expecting, especially if you don't come in with a huge group.
Electrolytes and other supplements - Not a lot of people give electrolytes, but some do. I'm not going to worry about it. I did see one person giving their horse some of the beet pulp and bran mixes that I do daily, but I'm sure more people did it at their trailers.
Overnight setup - I really like the portable corrals, but they cost $750 (They were at the same booth as the rope halter stuff at the Horse Expo). Those are probably the best, followed by the high-ties connected to the trailer. Unfortunately, that's not an option for me since I don't have my own trailer, though I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with Snickers tied with how much he can move around and get excited. There were a few people with a portable electric fence set up, but I still don't know how comfortable and competent I'd really feel with those. The best news, at least for now, is that the main managers here actually rent out pens, and that's what I think I will do for our first ride in May. They're pretty cheap - yay!
Trevor helped with the first horse coming in for their vet check on the 75 and then hung out for a while, but it was pretty cold and he was tired, so he stayed in the car for pretty much the rest of the morning. I really appreciated the effort he was making and he wasn't complaining at all, so even though he stayed in the car, I was really appreciated it - especially since it was the beginning of the NBA playoffs :S. All the other people there were really impressed with how much he was supporting me and being a good sport. He did come out to take a few pictures for me, though. He said he'll be more engaged when he's more comfortable with the horses, but he was really a good sport about the whole thing. I have an amazing husband :)
So anyway, it was an exciting day and I learned so much! I absolutely agree that, if you want to do endurance, definitely volunteer at a ride first. It went by really fast and I learned a ton! And now, I'm ready to ride!!
This is what I wrote on Horseforum.com:
The best advice I was told before starting into endurance was to volunteer at a ride before I ever entered one. A second person told me that I'd learn 10x more from volunteering at a ride than I ever would riding in a ride. I figured it was a good suggestion, albeit slightly exaggerated... Turns out it wasn't exaggerated even in the slightest.
If you have any interest in getting into endurance riding, I really suggest you do it. It was an absolutely eye opening experience. Here's what I picked up (key words are bolded for what you might be interested in):
Prep for the ride: Get there the night before - there's a dinner and the ride meeting. We didn't make it to this, but that'll have to wait until our actual ride. You can get to know your way around and plan for what is going to happen the next day, as well as receive last minute information about trails, conditions, cautions, etc. What I did get to see was the variety of ways people camped overnight. It was a bit cold, so everyone was in their trailers (I didn't see a single tent). There were high-tyes, portable panel corrals, and portable electric corrals, all of which I expected. My pleasant surprise was the availability to RENT a pen from the ride manager (depending on the ride) - which I plan on doing. Here, they generally charge $5-10/night for renting a pen. When I do get my own trailer, I also plan on making the investment for a portable corral - those things are frikken nifty and many people used the panels along with their truck and trailer hookup to make a nice, big corral for multiple horses.
Start of the Race: There was an area where the water troughs were located, the table for checking in and out, handing over your vet cards, and the vet checks themselves were located. It's also where the start of the ride was. It was pretty low key with a smaller ride (Four 75-milers, fifteen 50-milers, twenty 25-milers). When the time came for the race to start, riders came up, told us their number from their horses, got checked off, and took off. Everyone kind of came up at their own speed when they were ready, though of course there was an initial group that took off right on time. The 75-milers started around 6AM, 50-milers around 7:30am, and 25-milers around 9am. The trail riders took off a while after that. Had you been watching without knowing what was really going on, you'd just have seen a table with some people around it and bunch of riders that came up to the table every now and then to shout their numbers and head down the trail - not exactly how I imagined the beginning of a race. On the LD's, quite a few people left 15-30 minutes after the race had begun!
Then we waited. Here's where I learned SO much - since all the riders were gone, I was able to observe and ask questions about everything I'd seen and wanted to know. The vet was able to answer any questions I had about the vet check and I was walked through the process of taking pulses, recording times, and the things they watched out for. In addition, quite a few people had their gear like boots there, so I was able to see what tack the riders were using, then ask the other volunteers to show me theirs and explain what and why they were using what they were. I also got to hear the types of things said about the riders and their horses, so I could get a 3rd person perspective about how everyone was doing.
Vet Checks and holds: THe manager and other volunteers had a good idea about who would (and should) come in when and told me why they were expecting that. They also told me about what the riders were doing as they approached the vet check area. Most of them walked their horses (and many dismounted) between 200-300 feet away from the vet check to allow their horses to start to come down. Some that weren't in as good of shape dismounted further away. As soon as they got to the vet check, I took their pulse (though some asked me to wait until their horse was done drinking). The people at the table recorded the arrival time, the "down" time (when the horses pulse was down to 60bpm), and then the time that they were able to leave, which was the "down" time plus the hold time. Most of the horses were down already or within 1-2 minutes. A few took 3-6 minutes to come down, and one LD took 19 minutes to come down. You're not pulled from the race as long as you come down within 30 minutes, but generally if it takes 9-10 minutes or longer to come down it's a red flag and the vet will tell you to slow down or another precaution. That rider voluntarily withdrew from the race (they'd gone 17 miles). Of course, this all depends on the horse (the in-shape Arabs with good conditioning and light riders were down almost immediately, one black QH with a heavy rider who doesn't have good balance took 6 minutes to come down, but that's about normal for that horse and just fine - with the Arabs, it would have been a red flag). You HAVE to know your horse, inside and out. Again, I got a running commentary on each horse and how they were doing and why, as well as recommendations for what I should be doing with my boy during conditioning. After pulsing down, they went to their vet check right next to the tables and water, got their scores on their vet card, then went to hang out for their holds.
Vet cards and maps: DON'T loose these! And pay attention to them! And keep them dry!!! We had to replace a handful of lost/ruined vet cards either because something wasn't zipped up, misplaced, or wet from.... well, you can imagine lol. And one rider missed a sign and did an extra 7 miles on one of her loops - she'd been in first for the 50 and went down to last when she came in about an hour and a half after we would have expected her. She wasn't too happy, obviously, though she did go out for the second loop to complete the ride.
End of the race: We stayed until a lot of the LD's had come in, around 2pm, as well as the 50-milers. The LD's have to pulse down at the end of the race, and their placings are determined by the order in which they pulse down - in other words, you cannot run your horse through an LD, come in first, and win. Even if you are the first back and pulse down in time not to be pulled from the race, you may get second or worse if another horse comes in and pulses down before you do. This is to prevent people from running their horses top speed through an LD without proper conditioning. The endurance races (50+) were placed in the order they arrived. Each was asked whether they want to stand for Best Condition (though the vet's wife, who was riding, was not allowed to for obvious reasons), then did their CRI and weighed themselves, which must be done within 10 minutes of completing I believe.
The 75-milers still had another loop to complete (all the rides are completed in loops that come back to the vet check, then head back out again on a different loop). The awards were given at dinner that night, which we weren't there for.
All in all, it seemed the 25-mile LD's were completing in about 5 hours (the results for the Tough Sucker I, a month ago, had the winning time at just over 4 hours), the first 50-milers were coming in at 6.5 hours, and I have no idea how long the 75-milers were taking. This was a bit of a surprise because I was basing "completion time" on our conditioning time and speed. Of course, this also accounts for the 1 hour hold that the LD's and 50-milers had to have (45 min for the 75-milers), so I guess that makes it 25 miles within 3-4 hours riding time, plus the hold.
Anyway, I really recommend that you volunteer before riding, or if you have been riding, do it anyway! Volunteers make the endurance world go round, but you also get the commentary and see the differences between all the riders and horses. So, instead of learning about just ONE endurance ride experience (like I would have if I'd just gone out and done it), I was able to take in experience from 30-40 different riders on the same ride and learn a LOT of invaluable information. And now, I'm ready and confident for our first ride, hopefully next month!!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/endurance-riding/volunteering-ride-tough-sucker-ii-121747/#ixzz1tSVproDp
We took in the scene when we got there, then went and found Regina to figure out what we were doing. She was going to have me take pulses and Trevor record in, down, and out times for the riders since he's not a "horse person". Apparently Trevor thought he'd be following me around all day, not actually put to work. He was a good sport about it though :)
The 75 and 50-milers had already left, and the LD's were about to leave. So I did get to see the start of the race, which was way lower key than I'd expected. Granted, there weren't a TON of people this year, but there were still about 20 people riding in the LD (15 in the 50 and 4 in the 75, though a few had to drop out because of injuries before the race). I think Snickers will do just fine :)
As we were sitting there, there was a very familiar chestnut getting ready to go out a bit later than everyone else. The horses' conformation, size, color, markings, attitude, and behavior were almost identical to Snickers'. Turns out it was his half brother! The horse was a year younger than Snickers and it was really interesting to talk to the owner about the two. We'll have to ride together sometime :) I saw on the SWIT&DR emails that she had won the Tough Sucker I LD with a "Gold N....", so it was exciting to see the horse and rider in person. However, from a few comments made and from her overall behavior, she's not necessarily someone I would trust to mentor me with endurance or would take advice from. Plus, and it may have just been from the race, but the way she was talking about him and watching him seemed like he was where Snickers was a while ago. She's had the horse for a year, but it doesn't seem like there's been a lot of progress made with him, though she bought him with no training and was taking him out to Spencers. On the other hand, Snickers has come so far and learned so much in the last 3 months that I've been with him - and have owned him for less than that. We've worked through pretty much all of his major issues. He can still be a nutcase at times, but for the most part he works though it and is quite a lovely horse that I'm very proud of and can even look very professional in my opinion. But like I said, maybe it's just the race...
We stayed until a fair amount of the LD's had finished as I wanted to see a race from start to finish, so we left around 2. In that time, I learned a LOT about what I need to be doing with Snickers - I have no doubt that what I was told about volunteering at a ride first was absolutely true. I feel much more confident in knowing what I need to do to prepare and how the race will go. Here are some of the nuggets I picked up:
Pulsing down: It all depends on the horse. You may not be pulled from the race as long as you pulse down within the 30 minutes after you get back, but if it takes you even 10 minutes to pulse down, then you're in trouble. You probably need to be riding slower. Rather, most of the horses walk the last 200-300 ft and were already pulsed down (60bpm) by the time they reached the vet check. Some walked further, many got off for that part, but some also trotted all the way up and only stopped trotting and got off when they reached the vet check. Even so, may were pulsed down when the reached the vet check, and the rest pulsed down within 2 minutes, sometimes 3. It was rare for them to take much longer - a couple took 5-6 minutes, but that was because they were heavier muscled quarter horses, black, carrying heavier riders, and the rider couldn't balance themselves as well. One horse took 19 minutes, and was pulled from the race (voluntarily I believe). What I need to be doing: Walk the last stretch before I reach the first gate on the way back, then get off and take his pulse. It should be close to 60bpm, and if it isn't there yet, I need to stay there and wait until it reaches that. Many times, if the horses were around 72 bpm, I was able to keep the stethoscope on their chests and wait until they came down, not taking breaks in between. I was a little worried about that, but I did this yesterday after a 7 mile run (all at a medium trot), and he came right down within a minute or two, just like the well-conditioned horses :)
Boots - A lot of people wear them, a lot of people don't and might wear shoes or even go barefoot. I don't know whether they put boots on later, but I saw quite a few taking off barefoot. I'm still planning on getting Easyboot Gloves, and Beth is coming this week to trim and fit my boys.
Vet Checks and Best Condition - It's hard to really describe the process, but it looks a lot less stressful than I was expecting, especially if you don't come in with a huge group.
Electrolytes and other supplements - Not a lot of people give electrolytes, but some do. I'm not going to worry about it. I did see one person giving their horse some of the beet pulp and bran mixes that I do daily, but I'm sure more people did it at their trailers.
Overnight setup - I really like the portable corrals, but they cost $750 (They were at the same booth as the rope halter stuff at the Horse Expo). Those are probably the best, followed by the high-ties connected to the trailer. Unfortunately, that's not an option for me since I don't have my own trailer, though I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with Snickers tied with how much he can move around and get excited. There were a few people with a portable electric fence set up, but I still don't know how comfortable and competent I'd really feel with those. The best news, at least for now, is that the main managers here actually rent out pens, and that's what I think I will do for our first ride in May. They're pretty cheap - yay!
Trevor helped with the first horse coming in for their vet check on the 75 and then hung out for a while, but it was pretty cold and he was tired, so he stayed in the car for pretty much the rest of the morning. I really appreciated the effort he was making and he wasn't complaining at all, so even though he stayed in the car, I was really appreciated it - especially since it was the beginning of the NBA playoffs :S. All the other people there were really impressed with how much he was supporting me and being a good sport. He did come out to take a few pictures for me, though. He said he'll be more engaged when he's more comfortable with the horses, but he was really a good sport about the whole thing. I have an amazing husband :)
So anyway, it was an exciting day and I learned so much! I absolutely agree that, if you want to do endurance, definitely volunteer at a ride first. It went by really fast and I learned a ton! And now, I'm ready to ride!!
This is what I wrote on Horseforum.com:
The best advice I was told before starting into endurance was to volunteer at a ride before I ever entered one. A second person told me that I'd learn 10x more from volunteering at a ride than I ever would riding in a ride. I figured it was a good suggestion, albeit slightly exaggerated... Turns out it wasn't exaggerated even in the slightest.
If you have any interest in getting into endurance riding, I really suggest you do it. It was an absolutely eye opening experience. Here's what I picked up (key words are bolded for what you might be interested in):
Prep for the ride: Get there the night before - there's a dinner and the ride meeting. We didn't make it to this, but that'll have to wait until our actual ride. You can get to know your way around and plan for what is going to happen the next day, as well as receive last minute information about trails, conditions, cautions, etc. What I did get to see was the variety of ways people camped overnight. It was a bit cold, so everyone was in their trailers (I didn't see a single tent). There were high-tyes, portable panel corrals, and portable electric corrals, all of which I expected. My pleasant surprise was the availability to RENT a pen from the ride manager (depending on the ride) - which I plan on doing. Here, they generally charge $5-10/night for renting a pen. When I do get my own trailer, I also plan on making the investment for a portable corral - those things are frikken nifty and many people used the panels along with their truck and trailer hookup to make a nice, big corral for multiple horses.
Start of the Race: There was an area where the water troughs were located, the table for checking in and out, handing over your vet cards, and the vet checks themselves were located. It's also where the start of the ride was. It was pretty low key with a smaller ride (Four 75-milers, fifteen 50-milers, twenty 25-milers). When the time came for the race to start, riders came up, told us their number from their horses, got checked off, and took off. Everyone kind of came up at their own speed when they were ready, though of course there was an initial group that took off right on time. The 75-milers started around 6AM, 50-milers around 7:30am, and 25-milers around 9am. The trail riders took off a while after that. Had you been watching without knowing what was really going on, you'd just have seen a table with some people around it and bunch of riders that came up to the table every now and then to shout their numbers and head down the trail - not exactly how I imagined the beginning of a race. On the LD's, quite a few people left 15-30 minutes after the race had begun!
Then we waited. Here's where I learned SO much - since all the riders were gone, I was able to observe and ask questions about everything I'd seen and wanted to know. The vet was able to answer any questions I had about the vet check and I was walked through the process of taking pulses, recording times, and the things they watched out for. In addition, quite a few people had their gear like boots there, so I was able to see what tack the riders were using, then ask the other volunteers to show me theirs and explain what and why they were using what they were. I also got to hear the types of things said about the riders and their horses, so I could get a 3rd person perspective about how everyone was doing.
Vet Checks and holds: THe manager and other volunteers had a good idea about who would (and should) come in when and told me why they were expecting that. They also told me about what the riders were doing as they approached the vet check area. Most of them walked their horses (and many dismounted) between 200-300 feet away from the vet check to allow their horses to start to come down. Some that weren't in as good of shape dismounted further away. As soon as they got to the vet check, I took their pulse (though some asked me to wait until their horse was done drinking). The people at the table recorded the arrival time, the "down" time (when the horses pulse was down to 60bpm), and then the time that they were able to leave, which was the "down" time plus the hold time. Most of the horses were down already or within 1-2 minutes. A few took 3-6 minutes to come down, and one LD took 19 minutes to come down. You're not pulled from the race as long as you come down within 30 minutes, but generally if it takes 9-10 minutes or longer to come down it's a red flag and the vet will tell you to slow down or another precaution. That rider voluntarily withdrew from the race (they'd gone 17 miles). Of course, this all depends on the horse (the in-shape Arabs with good conditioning and light riders were down almost immediately, one black QH with a heavy rider who doesn't have good balance took 6 minutes to come down, but that's about normal for that horse and just fine - with the Arabs, it would have been a red flag). You HAVE to know your horse, inside and out. Again, I got a running commentary on each horse and how they were doing and why, as well as recommendations for what I should be doing with my boy during conditioning. After pulsing down, they went to their vet check right next to the tables and water, got their scores on their vet card, then went to hang out for their holds.
Vet cards and maps: DON'T loose these! And pay attention to them! And keep them dry!!! We had to replace a handful of lost/ruined vet cards either because something wasn't zipped up, misplaced, or wet from.... well, you can imagine lol. And one rider missed a sign and did an extra 7 miles on one of her loops - she'd been in first for the 50 and went down to last when she came in about an hour and a half after we would have expected her. She wasn't too happy, obviously, though she did go out for the second loop to complete the ride.
End of the race: We stayed until a lot of the LD's had come in, around 2pm, as well as the 50-milers. The LD's have to pulse down at the end of the race, and their placings are determined by the order in which they pulse down - in other words, you cannot run your horse through an LD, come in first, and win. Even if you are the first back and pulse down in time not to be pulled from the race, you may get second or worse if another horse comes in and pulses down before you do. This is to prevent people from running their horses top speed through an LD without proper conditioning. The endurance races (50+) were placed in the order they arrived. Each was asked whether they want to stand for Best Condition (though the vet's wife, who was riding, was not allowed to for obvious reasons), then did their CRI and weighed themselves, which must be done within 10 minutes of completing I believe.
The 75-milers still had another loop to complete (all the rides are completed in loops that come back to the vet check, then head back out again on a different loop). The awards were given at dinner that night, which we weren't there for.
All in all, it seemed the 25-mile LD's were completing in about 5 hours (the results for the Tough Sucker I, a month ago, had the winning time at just over 4 hours), the first 50-milers were coming in at 6.5 hours, and I have no idea how long the 75-milers were taking. This was a bit of a surprise because I was basing "completion time" on our conditioning time and speed. Of course, this also accounts for the 1 hour hold that the LD's and 50-milers had to have (45 min for the 75-milers), so I guess that makes it 25 miles within 3-4 hours riding time, plus the hold.
Anyway, I really recommend that you volunteer before riding, or if you have been riding, do it anyway! Volunteers make the endurance world go round, but you also get the commentary and see the differences between all the riders and horses. So, instead of learning about just ONE endurance ride experience (like I would have if I'd just gone out and done it), I was able to take in experience from 30-40 different riders on the same ride and learn a LOT of invaluable information. And now, I'm ready and confident for our first ride, hopefully next month!!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/endurance-riding/volunteering-ride-tough-sucker-ii-121747/#ixzz1tSVproDp
Horse Expo
On April 22, I volunteered at the Diabetes Ride booth, shared with SWIT&DR, at the Horse Expo. I let them borrow my computer and monitor to show videos from the rides and a slide show - it turns out I probably should have been there from the beginning because I had to work out some technical stuff to get it to work smoothly, like turning off the sleep feature and putting the video on loop. It went by pretty fast, especially since I got to wander around and look at stuff. I wanted to find some DAC to help with Snickers gaining weight, but didn't see it. Instead, a booth selling rope and books on how to make your own halters caught my eye, and I got a lot of info. I also got in trouble taking pictures of the decorative knots done on the nose, which weren't in the book, so that I could replicate them. The guy said pretty sternly that I really should ask before I take pictures, but let me continue to take them anyway. Meh, I bought $60 worth of rope and books on how to make the halters for Snicker and Flash, so I think we're good. The halters were pretty easy and fun to make (of course, I'm the little girl who made all those friendship bracelets years ago, so I'd love this!) and I've received lots of compliments for them. I'm going to try to make custom halters for people around here if I can get enough intrest. That would be a fun thing to do to make money :)
I got to talk to a lot of the other SWIT&DR people, including Sandy's husband. Turns out, there are a bunch of rednecks out further east of Dusty Acres, where I haven't made it to just yet, that will shoot first and ask questions later, so I'm going to have to take a little extra precaution if I do venture any further. He basically said I needed to make sure I don't go through any shut gates out there, and avoid areas where there's any Confederate or US flags hung upside down.... weird.
I got to talk to a lot of the other SWIT&DR people, including Sandy's husband. Turns out, there are a bunch of rednecks out further east of Dusty Acres, where I haven't made it to just yet, that will shoot first and ask questions later, so I'm going to have to take a little extra precaution if I do venture any further. He basically said I needed to make sure I don't go through any shut gates out there, and avoid areas where there's any Confederate or US flags hung upside down.... weird.
Naked Flash!
So Flash's fluffball of hair kept on shedding and shedding, with hair going EVERYWHERE and getting all over EVERYTHING (one time, Trevor even saw a hair on the table while eating dinner lol). Of course, this did *wonderful* things for my allergies. I really didn't see brushing him as any solution because I couldn't do it very long and never seemed to make much difference. So, after seeing Crystal shave her horses out at Dusty Acres, I decided I was going to shave my snowball of a horse.
I borrowed my dad's clippers and bought some oil for them and I was off. When I first turned the clippers on, Flash was quite weary of them and backed off. However, I had my trusty clicker handy and ready, and after a click or two he was ready to go. He stood really well :) Unfortunately, the clippers stopped working 2/3 of the way through my horse! It was really stressful because I didn't want to bring broken clippers back to my dad and Flash looked quite ridiculous. However, deciding it must be a dull blade, I had to put him back and come back the next day. This whole ordeal prevented me from riding, unfortunately, and it resulted in a pretty frustrating day :( I had Snickers tied up the whole time, which was a couple of hours, to teach him patience. He seemed to calm down after a while, though got all excited again as soon as he saw Flash walk by.
So then the next day I picked up a new blade ($40! but dad is going to pay for half). It worked wonderfully, and soon I had a naked horse :) His hair isn't THAT much darker :S (I was hoping for a horse that looked more like a palomino when I was done), but it's getting there. You can see darker spots where he's had his nips and whatnot, so I know it'll get darker. It wasn't a very pretty job shaving, as Trevor pointed out, but it's functional, and I got his bridle path done as well (I didn't bother trying to work on that with Snickers...). The next couple of days were going to be in the 80's and even low 90's - I believe we set a few heat records - so I'm glad he got all that hair off. Unfortunately, our wonderful Idaho weather dropped down to have lows in the 30's the following week, but he's ok.
Well, I don't sneeze anymore! And he does seem to be a bit darker now, as his coat is growing out. It can only get darker from now. But I'm so glad I don't have to worry about all that hair anymore :)
I borrowed my dad's clippers and bought some oil for them and I was off. When I first turned the clippers on, Flash was quite weary of them and backed off. However, I had my trusty clicker handy and ready, and after a click or two he was ready to go. He stood really well :) Unfortunately, the clippers stopped working 2/3 of the way through my horse! It was really stressful because I didn't want to bring broken clippers back to my dad and Flash looked quite ridiculous. However, deciding it must be a dull blade, I had to put him back and come back the next day. This whole ordeal prevented me from riding, unfortunately, and it resulted in a pretty frustrating day :( I had Snickers tied up the whole time, which was a couple of hours, to teach him patience. He seemed to calm down after a while, though got all excited again as soon as he saw Flash walk by.
So then the next day I picked up a new blade ($40! but dad is going to pay for half). It worked wonderfully, and soon I had a naked horse :) His hair isn't THAT much darker :S (I was hoping for a horse that looked more like a palomino when I was done), but it's getting there. You can see darker spots where he's had his nips and whatnot, so I know it'll get darker. It wasn't a very pretty job shaving, as Trevor pointed out, but it's functional, and I got his bridle path done as well (I didn't bother trying to work on that with Snickers...). The next couple of days were going to be in the 80's and even low 90's - I believe we set a few heat records - so I'm glad he got all that hair off. Unfortunately, our wonderful Idaho weather dropped down to have lows in the 30's the following week, but he's ok.
Well, I don't sneeze anymore! And he does seem to be a bit darker now, as his coat is growing out. It can only get darker from now. But I'm so glad I don't have to worry about all that hair anymore :)
Before I shaved Flash:
Halfway done:
My blade went dull!!
Back in the pasture to try again tomorrow....
Day 2 (before):
After! All done!
Snickers has come a long way!
Ok, so it's been a while since I've posted, and there's so much to write about! I'm going to separate this into a few posts, since they're different subjects and whatnot over what has happened.
Snickers has come a really long way in the last month and is almost like a whole new horse. He's excited to see me when I come to get him and willing to go to work, though, of course, he still whinnies but only on occasion. I don't think that will ever go away haha. We've been going out on the trails quite a bit (check the miles log!), but that doesn't even come close to reflecting the miles we're ALSO covering in the arena and round pen. His entire attitude and obedience has changed, and he seems to enjoy our down time together when we're brushing rather than being preoccupied about getting back to the pasture.
On the trails, we've been really watching our speed and I started taking his pulse, then waiting for him to come down. I've gotten decent with the stethoscope, at least on his body (sometimes other horses take a bit to figure out). The only trouble is that he has a hard time standing still, though we've been working on that a lot and he's doing much better. I've gotten a little aggressive with him :( but not bad, and it seems to have gotten my point across. Plus, when he does stand still long enough for me to get a good read on his pulse, he gets a treat. I've started carrying apples and carrots on me, which never fail to make him happy (as Trevor recently helped me discover, he actually drops for carrots lol).
It's been raining a lot, which is why we have a lot of miles we've covered in the arena and round pen, but it's helped us get a some good discipline work done. I've been working on his head, neck, and topline (with many questions to and suggestions from the English riders at the barn! Horse people are - generally - so nice), and the other day I set up the poles, a cavaletti, and a low jump to go over. He had to take a look at them first, but after that he worked over all of them quite willingly. I did raise the jump up little by little and was working on jumping a tad at the end (Trevor wasn't too happy about that when I told him....) and Lou took a look and said we were looking good - I just need to sit a little more forward in the seat. Overall, I was really proud of him and have been in general.
Last night the paths had dried up, so we finally got to go out for a trail ride. The trails were good, but there were still a few muddy spots and puddles so we put those to good use. We worked on just powering right on through them without having to stop and sniff every one. He caught on pretty quick and is trusting me more and more, so by the end we were doing pretty good, though he still wanted to dodge around the ones he could of course. On the bigger puddles, we're pretty successful as long as we slow down to a walk just before it, which is safer anyway so he doesn't slip. On the biggest one, he did stop and sniff it, then took a few steps and sniffed it again, then proceeded to get a good drink! I guess he's fine with the water then haha. It'll be interesting to see how he does with actual running water now...
I finally got all of Snicker's papers back and my registration card for AHA. They have the Frequent Rider Program (FRP) and Distance Riders programs, and so I signed us up for both! I need to log my hours and I'm excited to get credit for our competition miles, though I'm tempted to also sign up for the other distance program that requires a competition membership. For the first two, you get certain prizes when you reach the milestones, but this other one sends you a plaque and then little plates for every 500 miles you complete to add to your plaque. That's pretty cool! But it seems pretty expensive - I'll have to check it out later.
Snickers' stall hasn't had any covering on it, and it went from 90 degrees last week to lows in the 30's this week with rain and even some snow and hail, so it's been a tough week. Yesterday, I noticed they've got the first tarp up over the stalls where he is at, so hopefully they'll finish that up soon. It'll be nice for him to have some shade :)
I think that's about it! I'll have to post more often, but we'll see. Life is just so busy!
Snickers has come a really long way in the last month and is almost like a whole new horse. He's excited to see me when I come to get him and willing to go to work, though, of course, he still whinnies but only on occasion. I don't think that will ever go away haha. We've been going out on the trails quite a bit (check the miles log!), but that doesn't even come close to reflecting the miles we're ALSO covering in the arena and round pen. His entire attitude and obedience has changed, and he seems to enjoy our down time together when we're brushing rather than being preoccupied about getting back to the pasture.
On the trails, we've been really watching our speed and I started taking his pulse, then waiting for him to come down. I've gotten decent with the stethoscope, at least on his body (sometimes other horses take a bit to figure out). The only trouble is that he has a hard time standing still, though we've been working on that a lot and he's doing much better. I've gotten a little aggressive with him :( but not bad, and it seems to have gotten my point across. Plus, when he does stand still long enough for me to get a good read on his pulse, he gets a treat. I've started carrying apples and carrots on me, which never fail to make him happy (as Trevor recently helped me discover, he actually drops for carrots lol).
It's been raining a lot, which is why we have a lot of miles we've covered in the arena and round pen, but it's helped us get a some good discipline work done. I've been working on his head, neck, and topline (with many questions to and suggestions from the English riders at the barn! Horse people are - generally - so nice), and the other day I set up the poles, a cavaletti, and a low jump to go over. He had to take a look at them first, but after that he worked over all of them quite willingly. I did raise the jump up little by little and was working on jumping a tad at the end (Trevor wasn't too happy about that when I told him....) and Lou took a look and said we were looking good - I just need to sit a little more forward in the seat. Overall, I was really proud of him and have been in general.
Last night the paths had dried up, so we finally got to go out for a trail ride. The trails were good, but there were still a few muddy spots and puddles so we put those to good use. We worked on just powering right on through them without having to stop and sniff every one. He caught on pretty quick and is trusting me more and more, so by the end we were doing pretty good, though he still wanted to dodge around the ones he could of course. On the bigger puddles, we're pretty successful as long as we slow down to a walk just before it, which is safer anyway so he doesn't slip. On the biggest one, he did stop and sniff it, then took a few steps and sniffed it again, then proceeded to get a good drink! I guess he's fine with the water then haha. It'll be interesting to see how he does with actual running water now...
I finally got all of Snicker's papers back and my registration card for AHA. They have the Frequent Rider Program (FRP) and Distance Riders programs, and so I signed us up for both! I need to log my hours and I'm excited to get credit for our competition miles, though I'm tempted to also sign up for the other distance program that requires a competition membership. For the first two, you get certain prizes when you reach the milestones, but this other one sends you a plaque and then little plates for every 500 miles you complete to add to your plaque. That's pretty cool! But it seems pretty expensive - I'll have to check it out later.
Snickers' stall hasn't had any covering on it, and it went from 90 degrees last week to lows in the 30's this week with rain and even some snow and hail, so it's been a tough week. Yesterday, I noticed they've got the first tarp up over the stalls where he is at, so hopefully they'll finish that up soon. It'll be nice for him to have some shade :)
I think that's about it! I'll have to post more often, but we'll see. Life is just so busy!
Poor Flash waiting patiently...
Still waiting....
All decked out in our endurance gear :)
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Stalling Snickers
Honestly, after all the bonding we've been doing, Snickers is like a whole new horse, and I think it's because I'm a "safe" person that he's comfortable and patient with. Right down to the way he leads with his eyes and ears on me, head lowered and relaxed (as opposed to swinging his head high to look at everything, dancing around, and whinnying for his friends), he acts comfortable with me. Yes, we still get the occasional whinny, but then his attention is right back on me. And guess what? He enjoys just standing there and being brushed! We lunged in the round pen as a warm up/exercise the other day (since he's in the stall), and his ear was on me, paying attention, and definitely not looking for where his friends were. I think being in a stall has also helped, too, since I'm his buddy now and he's not so concerned with the other horses. I'm so happy with where we're at :)
Here's the ironic end to this little incident - though I think (though I wouldn't say I'm confident) I could catch him in the pasture now, the stall is going to be a permanent move. I finally went and got the supplements I need for him to get into shape for endurance, and it would be impossible to have him eat/drink them in a pasture situation, especially boarding. One of my worries for him being in a stall was that he would have too much energy, but as I mentioned above, he's more calm and relaxed than ever. So now the stall, and the two new buckets of supplements I hung up in there today, are his new home!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/horse-training/cant-catch-my-horse-118092/page4/#ixzz1tRM9l9e9
Here's the ironic end to this little incident - though I think (though I wouldn't say I'm confident) I could catch him in the pasture now, the stall is going to be a permanent move. I finally went and got the supplements I need for him to get into shape for endurance, and it would be impossible to have him eat/drink them in a pasture situation, especially boarding. One of my worries for him being in a stall was that he would have too much energy, but as I mentioned above, he's more calm and relaxed than ever. So now the stall, and the two new buckets of supplements I hung up in there today, are his new home!
Read more: http://www.horseforum.com/horse-training/cant-catch-my-horse-118092/page4/#ixzz1tRM9l9e9
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